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Meara O'Reilly, Spike Driver Blues, 2007 |
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80. SPIKE DRIVER BLUES BY MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT, 1928 REMIX: MEARA O’REILLY, SPIKE DRIVER BLUES, 2007 Spike Driver Blues is part of a roster of songs about the working man's hero, John Henry. These songs are often traced back to an event that purportedly occurred about ten years after the emancipation proclamation, in which a man challenged a steam engine to a race, and won, only to die of exhaustion. In a bittersweet twist of fate, just as freed slaves began to enter the work force, (often labouring in conditions little better than slavery), their jobs began to be usurped by new forces of technology. The significance of Mississippi John Hurt's intimate version of the story lies partially in this balance: refusing to die like John Henry, a hero, he lays down his hammer and walks away from the mountain. Meara O’Reilly is a member of the US band Feathers. See selection 79. |
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