Midnight Special Analysis

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Recommended: History of folk music

“Midnight Special”is a traditional folk song that was originated among southern prisoners in the American South(Lomax 35). The title stems from the passenger train “Midnight Special.”The song is traditionally performed in the country blues style through the eyes of the prisoner. In 1934, Leadbelly recorded a version of this song while he was incarcerated at Angola Prison.(Lomax 27) He recorded the song for John and Alan Lomax. In their book Best Loved American Folk Songs, John and Alan identified the Midnight train as a train from Houston that shined its light into a cell in the sugarland prison. “Let the midnight special, shine the light on me. Let the midnight special, shine the ever-lovin' light on me.”If the light shined on you, it meant salvation and a hope for freedom, which is why it was often sung by man prisoners. They also described Ledbelly’s version as “the negro jailbirds ballad.”(Lomax 44) The imagery in the song is reminiscent of another gospel song “Let the Light from your Lighthouse Shine On Me”, which portrays a similar idea. “If you ever go to Houston, oh you better walk right, And you better not squallow and you better not fight Sheriff Rocko will arrest you, Eddie Boone will take you down, You can bet your bottom dollar, penitentiary bound.”In this stanza, Leadbelly makes reference to the fact that during that time period, Racism in Texas was ever more prominent than in other states during that ime. In 1934, when the song was released, it was only about 70 years since the ending of the Civil War, in which Texas was one of the states that participated in succeeding from the Union. “Sherriff Rocker and “Eddie boone “are white officers that are meant to symbolize many white officers of the law who took part in un...

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...lly in the 1940’s. “It may sound a little funny, But you didn't make very much money In them old cotton fields back home”. In the song, Leadbelly references the story of the typical black negro during that time period who was forced to labor long hours in the sun.

Most of leadbellys songs were covered in later years by white rock and roll groups such as led Zepplin and Johnny Cash (Wolf 69). Often times the new imitated version of the song would be misinterpreted from its intended meaning. This shows how black American folk music later evolved into blues/ rock and roll and then was utilized by white American artists for a profit without owing credit to the original artist or artists.. Each of these songs were the product of American political, social, and economical society in the 1940’s and 50’s. Most of the songs were reminisce of the African American struggle.

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