O Berta (Prison Work Song) With Lyrics

thegreatnoise1, Dec 31, 2011

First recording by Alan Lomax, 1947-1948. Bull & Group.

Second by Branford Marsalis, 1992.  "I Heard You Twice the First Time", Columbia.

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Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Revision: September 13, 2018

This pancocojams post showcases a sound file of the prison work song "O Berta". My partial transcription of the lyrics for that song is also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all the singers who are featured in these sound files, Thanks also to the composers and collectors of these songs. Thanks also to the publishers of these examples on YouTube. 

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SUMMARY STATEMENT ABOUT "O BERTA" (with slight revisions: July 2, 2016)
"O Berta" is an African American cane field work song that is sung by Hollie (Bull) Dew and unidentified prisoners (11-12/1947) at the infamous Parchman farm in Mississippi. http://research.culturalequity.org/get-audio-detailed-recording.do?recordingId=10706

The percussive sound of the singers' swinging their hoes is the only accompaniment to the men's voices in this song.

In that song, "Berta" symbolizes the women they left behind. The men imagine seeing Berta walking toward them, give advice to Berta on who she should marry, and sing about other things they remember about their lives outside of the prison.

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LYRICS: O BERTA
(Hollie (Bull) Dew & unidentified prisoners, Parchman Farm Prison, Mississippi, 1947)

O Berta
Well, Lord gal.
Lord, Berta
Well Lord gal, well.

Ain’t that Berta comin, down that road, well.
She walk like Berta but she, want you so, well.
She want you so baby, she want you so, well.
She walk like Berta but, she want you so, well.

O Lord Berta, well.
Lord gal.
Lord Berta.
Lord, gal, well.

I been called Berta but, the whole day long, well.
And how can she hear me when she,
She ain’t at home, well.
She ain’t at home, Berta
She ain’t at home, well.
And how can she hear me when she,
she ain’t at home well.

Well, O Berta.
Lord, gal.
(Hum, hum, hum it!)
Lord Berta.
Lord gal, well.

Saturday when you marry, marry to the railroad man, well.
well Saturday when you marry, marry to the railroad man, well.
Saturday when you marry marry to the railroad man, well.
‘Cause he gonna find you a dollar, to lay your hand, well.
To lay your hand, baby, to lay your hand well.
'Cause he gonna find you a dollar
To lay your hand well.

Saturday when you marry, don’t marry no farmin man, well.
Saturday when you marry, don’t marry no farmin man, well.
‘Cause Saturday when you marry don’t no farmin men well.
‘Cause he never gonna did find yoou any how*
To lay your hand baby, lay your hand, well.
Lay your hand baby, lay your hand well.
'Cause he’ll never gonna find you a dollar
To lay your hand well.

Well O, Berta.
Lord gal.
Lord, Berta.
Lord gal, well.

????
????
cause I’m gonna find somebody
To roll’em down, baby.
To roll' em down, well.
Mama won’t let nobody
To roll’em down well

Lord Berta, well.
Lord gal.
Lord Berta.
Lord gal, well.

???? ???
To hang around, well.
????
When I’m down baby
????
When I’m down, well
When I’m down, baby
When I’m down, well

Well O Berta.
Lord gal.
Lord, Berta.
Lord gal.

-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell, 6/14/2012 from sound file. Except for the lyrics in parenthesis, this transcription doesn't include any of the overlapping, echoed words that are sung throughout this song.

*unsure about the word or words
? unable to transcribe these words

Corrections and additions welcome.

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VARIOUS COMMENTS ABOUT THE SONG "O BERTA" [UPDATE May 15, 2015]
"O Berta" is part of the family of "Alberta" ("Roberta") family of songs. One relatively common example of this song family is "Alberta, Let Your Hair Hang Low".

The song "Berta Berta" that is included in August Wilson's 1995 play "The Piano Lesson" is a form of "O Berta". (Hat tip to mrks for information about the following song)

Here's the lyrics to "Berta Berta" as published by Matt_R, 18 Feb 01 on http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=31028

BERTA, BERTA

O Lord Berta Berta O Lord gal oh-ah
O Lord Berta Berta O Lord gal well

Go 'head marry don't you wait on me oh-ah
Go 'head marry don't you wait on me well now
Might not want you when I go free oh-ah
Might not want you when I go free well now

O Lord Berta Berta O Lord gal oh-ah
O Lord Berta Berta O Lord gal well now

Raise them up higher, let them drop on down oh-ah
Raise them up higher, let them drop on down well now
Don't know the difference when the sun go down oh-ah
Don't know the difference when the sun go down well now

Berta in Meridian and she living at ease oh-ah
Berta in Meridian and she living at ease well now
I'm on old Parchman, got to work or leave oh-ah
I'm on old Parchman, got to work or leave well now

O Lord Berta Berta O Lord gal oh-ah
O Lord Berta Berta O Lord gal well now

When you marry, don't marry no farming man oh-ah
When you marry, don't marry no farming man well now
Everyday Monday, hoe handle in your hand oh-ah
Everyday Monday, hoe handle in your hand well now

When you marry, marry a railroad man oh-ah
When you marry, marry a railroad man well now
Everyday Sunday, dollar in your hand oh-ah
Everyday Sunday, dollar in your hand well now

O Lord Berta Berta O Lord gal oh-ah
O Lord Berta Berta O Lord gal well

Taken from the play The Piano Lesson by August Wilson, as written in the text and as sung in the Hallmark Hall of Fame by Charles S. Dutton, Courtney B. Vance, Carl Gordon and Lou Myers.
-snip-
Here's that sound file:
"Berta, Berta" by Branford Marsalis



jazzman amos, Uploaded on Mar 21, 2009

From his 1992 release titled "I Heard You Twice The First Time",...here is the GREAT Branford Marsalis featuring vocals by Charles Dutton, Carl Gordon and Roscoe Rocky Carroll from "The Roc". This classic track is from August Wilsons outstanding play "The Piano Lesson".
-snip-
Except for a change in names, "O Berta" has the same chorus as the African American Blues (prison song)"Rosie", and the "every Sunday dollar in your hand" line in "Rosie" is similar to the "lay dollar in your hand" lines in "O Berta". The tunes used for these two songs are also similar. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/05/rosie-african-american-prison-work-song.html for a post about that song.

Also, click http://mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=8067 for the lyrics to another version of "Rosie" that is entitled "Rosie O Ho".

"Old Dollar Mamie" is another prison Blues song
that is related to "O Berta". Click http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=14515 for the lyrics to that song.

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With regard to the word "well" at the end of a number of lines in this song such as "O Lord Berta, well" and "Lord, gal, well":

African Americans still use "well" as an affirming word in religious & non-religious songs. In those contexts, I believe that "well" has the same or a similar meaning as "yeah". "Well" is also used as a response to speech, including conversations and sermons. A longer form of this affirming use of "well" is the phrase "Well, alright now".

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[Slight revision July 2, 2016]
I wrote this comment on that sound file's YouTube discussion thread in response to the song's uploader's comment that it's a shame that African Americans aren't more familiar with this song (and presumably, other prison work songs)
"I think that some of the blame for this is that we African Americans don't treasure most of our old time music - in part because we are forward looking people more interested in new music forms instead of old ones and in part because we don't want to be reminded of the memories of terrible times such as slavery & chain gangs. But there is so much richness of spirit in many of these songs.I appreciate them and honor their composers/performers."
-snip- Revision ended

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As an aside, I wonder if the words "Berta but" in the line "She walk like Berta but she, want you so, well" had any influence whatsoever on the Jimmy Castor's 1975 Pop & Funk song "Bertha But Boogie".

Among African Americans, a person with a "Bertha Butt" usually means a female teenager or woman (usually a Black female) with a large, protruding behind (butt). I wonder if that phrase has its source in this "O Berta" song.

Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LQJYgs1sxc for a sound file of the "Bertha Butt Boogie".

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UPDATE September 13, 2018: LYRICS FOR THE AFRICAN AMERICAN PRISON WORK SONG "O BERTA*

O BERTA

O Berta, well, o Lord, gal
Lord, Berta, well, Lord, gal, well

Ain’t that Berta coming down that road, well
She walk like Berta but she walks too slow, well
She walks too slow, baby, she walks too slow, well
She walk like Berta but she, she walks too slow, well

Lord, Berta, Lord, gal
Lord, Berta, Lord, gal, well

I've been calling Berta, buddy, the whole day long, well
And how can she hear me when she, she ain’t at home, well
She ain’t at home, baby, she ain’t at home, well
And how can she hear me when she, she ain’t at home, well

Lord, Berta, Lord, gal
[Spoken: Hum, hum, hum it!]
Lord, Berta, Lord, gal, well

Saturday when you marry, marry to the railroad man, well
Saturday when you marry, marry to the railroad man, well
Saturday when you marry, marry to the railroad man, well
(he'll have) on Sundays a dollar to lay in your hand, well
To lay in your hand, baby, to lay in your hand, well
(he'll have) on Sundays a dollar to lay your hand, well

Saturday when you marry, don’t marry no, no farmin man,
Saturday when you marry, don’t marry no farmin man, well
‘Cause Saturday when you marry, don’t marry no farmin men-eh
‘Cause he never did have money for to, to lay in your hand, well
To lay in your hand, baby, lay in your hand
Never did have money for to, to lay in your hand, well

Lord, Berta, Lord, gal
Lord, Berta, Lord, gal, well

(Bury 'em deep) when they, they start gettin' down, well
(Mama won't never 'low to, to roll em down, well)
To roll 'em down, baby, to roll 'em down
Mama wouldn't 'low nobody to roll’em down, well

Lord, Berta, Lord, gal
Lord, Berta, Lord, gal, well

When you're gon' leave 'em, don't you hang around, well
[or they would] catch you or hang you, when I'm (down/found), well
When I’m (down/found), baby, when I'm (down/found)
[Or they would] catch you, hang you, when I'm (down/found), well


Lord, Berta, Lord, gal
Lord, Berta, Lord, well

Transcription by Lorenzo Vanelli, University of Bologna, Italy [September 13, 2018]
-snip-
Lorenzo Vanelli, thank you very much for sharing your research on this song and thanks for your transcription.

Pancocojams visitors, please read Lorenzo Vanelli's comments below about the African American prison song "O Berta". Here's two excerpts from two separate comments:
"...But this is just my interpretation: I have no intention of pushing my perspective further than it can reasonably and respectfully go. As I said, the document is very opaque, and the singers could have wanted these words to not be perfectly comprehensible, to avoid retaliation from the guards. To accept and underline the veil of opacity put up by the singers is another way of pointing at the institutionalized violence that they faced."....

"A side note: the last two stanzas are very hard, the parts in (round parentheses) are a suggestion of what I feel like could be there, but am not sure about. The very last stanza is also weird in the way the singers seem to hit a hard spot in the second verse, the one with the word "hang", which by the way you were right in your transcription, I hear it too now.
If you think about it, that's a verse that could get the singers in real trouble. They were black men imprisoned in a Jim Crow state farm singing to a white researcher from Washington D.C. and in the presence of the white guards overlooking the recording, who had absolute power over them and could hold them accountable for every single world they let out. I have the feeling that the singers stumbled "on purpose", as the line they had in mind was not convenient at that moment, and could have got them in trouble, so they murmured something nearly un-intelligible instead. But the key words "catch you" and "hang you" are more or less audible.
Also, the last repeated emistichs "when I'm down", the way the singers spell "down" sounds slightly off. Could it be "found" instead of "down"? I left the two options in the text, feel free to pick the one you deem more correct."...
-snip-
Here are links to two other examples of "O Berta" that Loresnzo Vanelli cited in his comments:

http://research.culturalequity.org/rc-b2/get-audio-detailed-recording.do?recordingId=4236 Alberta (Berta Berta)", by Leroy Miller and unidentified singers, recorded by A. Lomax in 1959 in Parchman ...around 03:40 onward

http://research.culturalequity.org/rc-b2/get-audio-detailed-recording.do?recordingId=4643; around 00:40 onward

Here's a link to a version of the very closely related prison work song "Rosie":

http://research.culturalequity.org/rc-b2/get-audio-detailed-recording.do?recordingId=10539

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OTHER RELATED LINKS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_State_Penitentiary

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http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=121223 "Lyr & Orig: Alberta, Let your hair hang"

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