1001 canciones (18)

Retomo la lista de las mil y unas canciones que hay que escuchar antes de morir con "The Gallis Pole" de  Lead Belly (1.939)

Huddie William Ledbetter, conocido como Leadbelly, fue un músico y compositor estadounidense de blues y folk. Destacó por sus claras y poderosas interpretaciones, por el virtuosismo con que tocaba la guitarra de 12 cuerdas y por haber compuesto canciones que se han convertido en clásicas. Aunque era conocido como Leadbelly, él escribía su sobrenombre Lead Belly,​ y así aparece escrito en su lápida.

"The Gallis Pole", es una vieja balada inglesa que aparentemente había aprendido de los músicos de hillbilly y que  Lead Belly había adaptado, tratando la historia de un hombre condenado a muerte que pregunta desesperadamente a sus seres queridos si trajeron oro, plata y otros sobornos para evitar que ser ejecutado.

Lead Belly - The Gallis Pole

Father, did you bring me the silver

Father, did you bring me the gold?

What did you bring me, dear father

Keep me from the gallows pole?

Yeah, what did you?

Yeah, what did you?

What did you bring me, keep me from the gallows pole?

In olden times years ago, when you put a man in prison behind the bars in a jailhouse

If you had fifteen or twenty-five or thirty dollars

You could save him from the gallows pole 'cause they gonna hang him if you don't bring up a little money

Everybody would come to the jailhouse and boy would ran upside the jail; he was married, too

As for who brang him something, lot of comfort, here comes his mother

Mother, did you bring me the silver

Mother, did you bring me the gold?

What did you bring me, dear mother

Keep me from the gallows pole?

Yeah, what did you?

Yeah, what did you?

What did you bring me, keep me from the gallows pole?