Hard Time killing Floor Lyrics
Times is harder than ever been before
Can't find no heaven, I don't care where they go
These hard times will kill you just dry long so
These hard times can last us so very long
I'll never get down this low no more
No-no, no-no, I'll never get down this low no more
'Cause these hard times will drive you from door to door
Sing this song and I ain't gonna sing no more
These hard times will drive you from door to door
There are great contrasts between versions of this song, the 1931 version you can hear skip james singing this song like he means it, and it is very contemparary to his period in time.
This song is basically about being poor and having to move from door to door, or home to home, job to job. a "Killin' Floor" is old 30's slang for a Slaughter house where the blacks would often have the worst jobs of all. The slaughter house was the only placement of work many black americans who migrated north to the illinois region at this time could get a job at.
in the 1960's version he seems to be singing this song in retrospective of his life and in my opinion sounds even sadder.
This would have to be the saddest song I have ever heard...it brings me to tears... It is the only song I have ever actually felt something from, like the guitar and his voice creeps into you and surrounds your soul.
The first time I heard this song was actually the Chris Thomas King version which I would have to say is still good but it isn't the same. The guitar in his version is very haunting though.
Skip James has this eerie voice and he plays the guitar in a way that it seems to be weeping. His songs relate to existential things- You can feel his great sadness of his soul but he also has this hope or something...it is hard to explain.
Beautiful.
Starting to learn this on guitar (beware, VERY funky tuning). The one verse I would like to look at is this:
And the people are driftin' from door to door Can't find no heaven, I don't care where they go
This seems to me awfully dark. The protagonist(?) is looking at the other people and basically saying 'Listen, I'm so poor I got my own stuff to worry about. I don't care where you go.' That's harsh.
Skip James one of the Legends of Delta Blues this is a different song but has the same title as a later electric blues "Killing Floor", the structure is 8 bars, the verses just tell it like it is : a life of hardship and despair, true to the hard times of the 1930's Depression when it was recorded. His singing is haunting and bleak, a dark classic of the blues.