"Jack The Rabbit, Jack The Bear" Lyrics In (Railroad) Track Lining Songs (information & examples)

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision - Dec 11, 2022

This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series about "Jack the rabbit, Jack the bear" lyrics in early 20th century African American (railroad) track lining song. 

This post presents some information about gandy dancers their track lining songs and  presents some information about the fictional folk characters "Jack the rabbit" and "Jack the bear".

Three references to track lining songs that include the line "Jack the rabbit Jack the bear" are also included in this pancocojams post.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/12/two-youtube-examples-of-railroad-track.html for Part II of this pancocojams series.  That post showcases a 1978s film clip of retired gandy dancer and work-song leader George Johnson s that include the lyrics "Jack the rabbit. Jack the bear".  A transcription of that song is also included in this post.

This post also showcases a 1969 rendition of a track lining song that includes the lyrics "Jack the rabbit, Jack the bear".  A transcription of that song is also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for historical and cultural purposes.

All copyright remains with their owners.

Thanks to the gandy dancers for their work on the railroads and for their work songs. Thanks to Alan Lomax for his cultural legacy and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. 
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This 2022 series should be considered as companion posts to these two 2012 pancocojams post:
 http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/10/early-versions-of-cant-you-line-em.html , Part I of a two part pancocojams series about track lining songs. That post, entitled "Early Versions Of "Can't You Line' Em" ("Linin' Track")", presents three additional examples of track lining songs. Those songs don't include any "Jack the rabbit, Jack the bear" lines.

and http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/10/gandy-dancers-linin-track-sound-files.html for Part II of that 2012 pancocojams post entitled "Gandy Dancers & Linin' Track Sound Files & Videos".

Most of the "Information About Gandy Dancers" section that is presented in this 2022 post was also given in Part I of that 2012 pancocojams series.

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INFORMATION ABOUT GANDY DANCERS
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandy_dancer [retrieved 2019]
"Gandy dancer is a slang term used for early railroad workers who laid and maintained railroad tracks in the years before the work was done by machines...

Most sources refer to gandy dancers as the men who did the difficult physical work of track maintenance under the direction of an overseer.

There are various theories about the derivation of the term, but most refer to the "dancing" movements of the workers using a specially manufactured 5-foot (1.52 m) "lining" bar (which may have come to be called a "gandy") as a lever to keep the tracks in alignment...

Though all gandy dancers sang railroad songs, it may be that black gandy dancers, with a long tradition of using song to coordinate work, were unique in their use of task-related work chants.

Rhythm was necessary both to synchronize the manual labor, and to maintain the morale of workers..."

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From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandy_dancer [retrieved Dec. 10, 2022]
"Gandy dancer is a slang term used for early railroad workers in the United States, more formally referred to as "section hands", who laid and maintained railroad tracks in the years before the work was done by machines. ...

In the United States, early section crews were often made up of recent immigrants and ethnic minorities who vied for steady work despite poor wages and working conditions, and hard physical labor. The Chinese, Mexican Americans, and Native Americans in the Western United States, the Irish in the Midwestern United States, African Americans in the Southern United States, and East Europeans and Italians in the Northeastern United States all worked as gandy dancers.

There are various theories about the derivation of the term, but most refer to the "dancing" movements of the workers using a specially manufactured 5-foot (1.5 m) "lining" bar, which came to be called a "gandy", as a lever to keep the tracks in alignment.[1]"...

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Here's a 2007 article which provides information about Gandy Dancers:
From http://www.vre.org/service/newsletter/2007/may31.pdf [volume 3, issue 11] May 31, 2007 program the Manassas Railway Festival, Virginia Railway Express Update
"This year, a special performance by the Birmingham Lining Bar Gang will also be offered, featuring a group of re-enactors who demonstrate the way railroad tracks were aligned and maintained before the advent of mechanized devices in the 1950s and ’60s. In demonstrating track-lining, one group member serves as a “caller”, offering a two-line rhyme in a loud, clear voice that serves to synchronize the movement of other members so that each heaves with his iron lining bar at the same moment. These calls, which “helped the hard work go easy” according to a retired worker and former caller, served an indispensable function by uniting men’s efforts and easing their minds."

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INFORMATION ABOUT "JACK THE RABBIT" AND "JACK THE BEAR" IN SOME  TRACK LINING SONG

Excerpt #1
From https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095526252;jsessionid=6DEECB6AB32CF717F7D9472013CBD56E
"Brer Rabbit

QUICK REFERENCE

Is the archetypal hero-trickster character from African American oral literature. While Brer Rabbit got much exposure in Joel Chandler Harris's Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings (1881), folklorists and literature scholars are well aware of the rich cycle of tales that circulate around this tricky and cunning figure. These tales thrived especially during the pre- and post-slave era up until the mid-1900s. Resembling the two major tricksters of Africa (Anansi, the Ashanti spider, and Ijapa, the Yoruba turtle), “Buh” Rabbit has always seemed to be the most helpless and most afraid of all the animals in the kingdom.

Brer Rabbit is constantly at odds with the likes of Brer Bear, Brer Wolf, and Sly Brer Fox. This trio, singularly or collectively, attempts to humiliate, outsmart, and sometimes even kill Brer Rabbit. In contrast, Brer Rabbit tries to nullify the plans of his stronger archenemies by using his superior intelligence and his quick thinking. He usually gets the better of the bigger and stronger animals.

Since the Brer Rabbit cycle of tales flourished during the time of slavery and almost always involved the weak in a neverending contest with the strong, scholars view these tales as slave expressions of subversive sentiments against the institution of slavery. It was much too dangerous for slaves to reveal to slave owners the harsh realities and cruelties of slavery. But slaves could vent some of their frustrations and hostilities against their masters by participating in the performance of the Brer Rabbit tales.

As time progressed, criticism of slavery became less indirect in Brer Rabbit literature. African American oral literature gave birth to the “John and Ole Boss Tales”. In this group of tales, John (sometimes known as George, Sam, Jack, Efan, or Rastus) now becomes the human analogue to Brer Rabbit. John is always in conflict with Ole Master (“Massa” or “Marse”) and, like Brer Rabbit, attempts to outwit Ole Boss. Most stories show John winning over the master, but there are a sizable number of tales where “Whitey” outsmarts John."...

Joel Chandler Harris, Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings, 1881.Roger D. Abrahams, ed., Afro-American Folktales: Stories from Black Traditions in the New World, 1985.

Elon A. Kulii and Beverly Threatt Kulii

From:  Brer Rabbit  in  The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature 
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out in that summary.

One takeaway from this summary is that "Jack the rabbit" and "Jack the bear" are later names for the African American folk characters Brer [Brother] Rabbit and "Brer Bear". 

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Excerpt #2
From https://www.sandybrownjazz.co.uk/TracksUnwrapped/JimmyBlantonAndJackTheBear.html

Looking for the origin of the name 'Jack The Bear' takes us way back beyond the title of Duke Ellington's tune*.

One explanation is that Jack The Bear was a character of Black stories and rhymed tales, and crops up in a work-chant used by gandy-dancers (railroad workers laying rails) about "Jack-the-Rabbit/Jack-the-Bear". Apparently there are various theories about the derivation of the term 'Gandy Dancer', but most refer to the "dancing" movements of the workers using a specially manufactured 5-foot (1.5 m) "lining" bar, which came to be called a "gandy", as a lever to keep the tracks in alignment.

Jack de rabbit, Jack de bear.

Shake it back, boys, just a hair!"

There is also reference to two characters from folklore where Jack the Bear, called either Jack or John (and sometimes John the Conqueror), was invisible to the white community. He would arrive suddenly to fix things for folks in distress. He was a hero with magical powers.

The Urban Dictionary describes Jack The Bear as a lazy person: "You like Jack the Bear, Cletus, you ain't done sh-t* all day." The Probert Dictionary echoes this: 'Like Jack The Bear Just Ain' Nowhere' - Black-American slang for an expression of disappointment and worthlessness.

In contradiction there are other references to 'Jack The Bear' being the opposite - someone or something that goes really fast or well: "We were like 'Jack the Bear' for the first five laps of a run, but then the car would get real tight real quick and just wouldn't turn when I needed it to." (Tim Sauter AP Performance Racing)."

Writing in allaboutjazz.com in 2010, Dan Bilawsky quotes Mark Tucker's liner notes for Duke Ellington: The Blanton-Webster Band (Bluebird, 1986), which say that the original Jack The Bear " ... was a Harlem bass-player who, as reed-player Gavin Bushell recently recalled, had a tailor shop at the corner of St. Nicholas and Edgecombe Avenues....If Ellington named the tune after the tailor, Jack The Bear's musical association would be with another bass player - Jimmy Blanton"... The latter [Jimmy Blanton's  performance in the Jack The Bear tune] becoming a concert showpiece for his playing during his tenure with Ellington.'…
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out in this comment.
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In a Mudcat folk music discussion thread about lining track, I remembering read the comment
Jack the rabbit said to Jack the bear/ Cancha line them just one hair"

I added italics to highlight this line.  "cancha: means "can't you" and "just one hair" means "Just a little bit".

Unfortunately, Mudcat discussion forum hasn't been online now for weeks and I add the source of that comment to this pancocojams post. However, the words "said to" provides an explanation for the use of those two folk characters names in those track lining songs.

-snip-  
Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKD-1YvFjkk for a YouTube sound file of Duke Ellington's "Jack The Bear".

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Excerpt #3
From http://www.toonopedia.com/brerrab.jpg
"Folklore was how Negroes dealt with their world. They identified themselves as the characters in the well-known folk tales similar to how the narrator of Invisible Man identifies himself as characters such as Jack the Rabbit and Jack the Bear. These characters come from the stories known by the name "Uncle Remus tales" and were remade by Walt Disney in the movie "Song of the South".

Folklore in Invisible Man

- Jack the Bear

- Buckeye Rabbit / Br'er Rabbit

- The Tortoise with the Pretty Daughter

Jack the Bear:

Jack the Bear is a slow-moving and slow-thinking character. When the narrator of Invisible Man references Jack the Bear, he is referring to his life in his hole: his "hibernation". The narrator, having escaped the bear's den that is Harlem, now hibernates in his own den in which he is located at the beginning of the novel and at the end."...
-snip-
"Negroes" is an outdated reference for African Americans/Black Americans.

In the United States, rabbits are sometimes referred to as "jack rabbits". In African American folklore, "Jack the rabbit" is probably the same as "Bre [brother] rabbit."

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Excerpt #4
From https://prezi.com/rrxfmz2sjhmh/invisible-man-and-uncle-remus-tales/ Invisible Man and Uncle Remus Tales by Elizabeth Jaggi, Feb 19 2015
..."Bre Rabbit, who is later compared to the narrator, goes on a series of adventures in which he comes across characters like Brer Fox, Brer Bear, Jack the Bear, along with many others. Each character resembles a character from Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. The stories depict situations that can be linked to the experiences of the narrator.

Jack the Bear

Jack the Bear is a popular figure in American Folklore that is a trickster. He is able to trick through misdirection.

In the beginning, the narrator refers to himself as Jack the Bear because he is in his hole hibernating."...
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Here's another quote about "Jack the Bear" in reference to African American author Ralph Ellison's 1952 novel Invisible Man:
From https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/i/invisible-man/summary-and-analysis/prologue
"In the Prologue[ to Invisible Man], Ellison also prepares us for the numerous allusions to classic works of fiction, nonfiction, and folklore that appear throughout the novel, at times merging elements of fiction and folkloreThe narrator's statement, "Call me Jack-the-Bear" alludes to the opening line of Herman Melville's Moby Dick, "Call me Ishmael." It also alludes to the Br'er Rabbit folktales based on African folklore, featuring characters such as Jack-the-Bear, Br'er Fox, and Br'er Rabbit."...

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TWO TEXT (WORD ONLY) EXAMPLES OF TRACK LINING SONGS THAT INCLUDE "JACK THE RABBIT JACK THE BEAR" LYRICS

Example #1
Warning: This excerpt includes what is now commonly known as "the n word". That pejorative referent is given in this pancocojams post with modified spelling.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Folk_Visions_and_Voices/YTnsAQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Jack+the+rabbit,+Jack+the+bear,+can%E2%80%99t+you+line+them,+just+a+hair&pg=PA124&printsec=frontcover  Folk Visions And Voices, "Let’s March Around The Wall"  [chapter] p.124

“Track lining

Told and sung by Brudy ”Doc” Barnes, Athens, Clark County, July 3,1983. Doc remembers the chant of the track lining crew and the musical ring of steel on steel as if it was yesterday.  See Library of Congress, LP AAFSL8 and L52, Botkins, p.746, Hurston , pp322-323

Spoken

You know how people used to work on the railroad track with the steel bars, linin’ the track, you know.
Old Jed Early…he was the line-man, otherwise he was the head of the track. They had a bossman, Cap’n Ball was they bossman.

And them nig-ers-I tell you the truth, I say “nig-ers”-I just say that you know! They had those long steel bars, they had about six or eight of them, you know, and just like this here is the track, and you have to cross-ties ever so far apart…those nig’ get those bars, I tell you the truth, they could play a tune with those iron bars, just as good as you could sing a song with ‘em, Cap’n Ball has a thing, you know, peepin’ through, he’d say “This track is out of line-It gotta be lined!

Chanted
“All right boys, get your bars.”

Spoken

That’s Jed, he’s the lead man….they’d just get them bars, you know, he just start a song, and all of them would get the bars set.

Sung

Ain’t but one train run this track—whah!
Run to Macon an right straight
----back------whah!.

Spoken

Now I’m tellin’ you what I stood and watched!  My daddy’s baby brother, he was with ‘em too  And, man, they could take them iron bars:

Sung

Ain’t but one train run this track

Run to Athens and Macon right

----back------whah!.

Spoken
And  they had some of the prettiest tune.  Wasn’t no music [instruments] round there nowhere, but they could make them iron bars.
right on the edge of that track…I’m tellin’ you what I know.  They could make music with them iron bars, and when they got through, it was lined.

And they had a big ol’ man, Cap’n Ball, he was  about 250, and he’s spy down there, and he’d say “Jed”. And he’d hold up one finger, that’d mean about another inch, you know,

Sung

Jus’ move it, boy

Spoken
And he’d do thataway, that’s mean half.!

Sung

Pick it up, line-man---- whah!
Jack the rabbit, Jack the bear
Boys, can’t you jus’ move it
just another hair?---- Whah!

Spoken

I used to follow ‘em up! In that time ….they was hand cars, you had to pump! Has a handle on this side….

Take fo’ men, when the front would go down, the back would come up, and I’m tellin’ you, they could hustle on that thing!

Now, they got motors on ‘em, but then who osh! Sailin’ too!  You get them fo’ men stout, and got power! Good Godalmighty, they could make thirty miles an hour.  The section gang, with the hand cars, I will never forget that."

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Example #2 
From https://www.google.com/books/edition/Long_Steel_Rail/AY7St4-8x10C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=jack+the+rabbit+jack+the+bear&pg=PA646&printsec=frontcover Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folks by Norm Cohen, ‎David Cohen · 2000 · ‎Music
…"Jack the rabbit, Jack the bear, can’t you line them, just a hair

Can’t you line ‘em for the captain, can’t you line ‘em for the straw (i.e. strawboss)

Can’t you line ‘em for the walker, can’t you line ‘em for the boss,

Can’t you line ‘em just a little bit, can’t you line ‘em, to the other side.”…
-snip-
This is the way that this excerpt was written in that article.

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This concludes Part I of this pancocojams post.

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