"I get no kick from champagne...."
“When you guys were slaves, you sang like birds.”
That was close! We almost lost a four hundred dollar hand cart.
There is a grain of truth to that, not just as slaves but as criminals on a chain gang doing labor.
There were work songs to set the pace of the job.
None of it was inherited, it was a rough life but through repetition, singers were made.
Leadbelly was on death row twice.
And chain gangs employed men of all colors. There are probably examples in the country music field too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_songs
A work song is typically a rhythmic a cappella song sung by people working on a physical and often repetitive task. The work song is probably intended to reduce feelings of boredom. Rhythms of work songs also serve to synchronize physical movement in a gang. Frequently, the usage of verses in work songs are often improvised and sung differently each time. The improvisation provided the singers with a sometimes subversive form of expression: improvised verses sung by slaves had verses about escaping, improvised verses sung by sailors had verses complaining about the captain and the work conditions. Work songs also help to create a feeling of familiarity and connection between the workers.
...
Work songs sung by sailors during the 20th, 19th, and to a lesser extent 18th centuries are known as sea shanties. These songs were typically performed while adjusting the rigging, raising anchor, and other tasks where men would need to pull in rhythm. These songs usually have a very punctuated rhythm precisely for this reason, along with a call-and-answer format.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_gang
“When you guys were slaves, you sang like birds.”
“swing low.....”
"I get no kick from champagne...."