Gandy Dancers

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Musical traditions and recollections of eight retired African-American railroad track laborers whose occupational folk songs were once heard on railroads that crisscross the South. Watch the entire film on Folkstreams www.folkstreams.net/film,101

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22 июн 2008

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Комментарии : 158

@georgealton5765 10 лет назад

I worked on the Illinois Central Railroad in the summer of 1949 as a "Gandy Dancer". I was 15 years of age. I was one of three white workers. I got along real well with all of the workers. This was in Waterloo Iowa. I am now 79 years of age. I served in the US Army from January 1951 until May of 1979.

@dkl0322 4 года назад

Someone salute this man.

@robbyddurham1624 4 года назад

working with a man in harmony is good.

@tracyheff2641 4 года назад

Thank you for serving our great nation!

@BLUECHET 3 года назад

Marching cadence

@HOODTRACKZ8 3 года назад

Wow Great story. Salute

@OmarAbdulMalikDHEdMPASPACPAPro 3 года назад

My grandfather who was born about 1918 used to do this work. He told me how he would rub his hands in dirt and gravel to make them look rough. That way, he would be picked (i.e. out of a group of men looking for work). His stories about his early life drove me to try to excel. I wanted to honor the sacrifices and hardships his generation (and my dad's) had to endure. Thanks for posting this.

@dustyderrik6358 Год назад

God bless brother.

@OmarAbdulMalikDHEdMPASPACPAPro Год назад

@@dustyderrik6358 Thank you! And YOU, as well! 🙂👋🏽👨🏽‍⚕️

@JJoh4040 Год назад

God bless your family🎉

@OmarAbdulMalikDHEdMPASPACPAPro Год назад

@@JJoh4040 Ameen!😌🤲🏽

@SlickArmor 11 месяцев назад

Then he'd get picked get to site and they found he didn't know what the heck was going on.

@bernardkuharik4181 2 года назад

I worked the summer of 69 on a RR track gang. We had a very mixed crew of Gandy Dancers. Black, White, Puerto Rican, Hillbillies. 100 degrees and one 5gal water container with one beat up tin cup that we all drank from. Didn't care what color you were or where you came from. We all worked together, sweat together, ate together, and learned to respect each other. Great life experience for a young man. My take: Respect is earned.😎👍

@Comin4mine 2 года назад

"Didn't care what color you were or where you came from." That's a great story. Still gotta respect history of how it all started.

@Regalman Год назад

trying to all lives matter Black American history

@gachapinCUEVA 5 месяцев назад

@@RegalmanBuddy, don't live in a narrow mindset. Other cultures have a right to America's history, not just blacks. You're not the only other color in this land.

@wicketuma444 4 года назад

I learned of gandy dancers many years ago watching PBS. To this day, one of the most fascinating group of men.

@paulwhite8235 12 лет назад

My great uncle was a gandy dancer.Worked to the bone,died young .Respect..

@Haven2U 11 лет назад

My father was a section worker for nearly 45 years on the Nickel Plate between Kokomo and Peru, Indiana. It was a tough life of hot summers and bitter cold winters. As a kid I remember him getting up in the middle of the night and going out to clear switches of snow . The maintained the right of way weeds with hand scythes. Track was replaced by hand, and rotted ties were knocked out by hand. Ballast was tamped with heavy steel tamping rods and spikes were driven by hand. Tough life.

@abasis.baruti9819 Год назад

Hard men

@gandydancer22 11 лет назад

I was and forever more be a gandydancer. 1976 I hired on with Conrail NY central side and worked on bridge track and bridge repair until a scaffold buckled under me and I fell 35 feet into the Kanawha rive broke my back. That was 1988 and took me 2 years but I got better. I Loved that job and that is why I am gandydancer 22 forever more. "By god I R A railroader.

@HouseofHungRealness 3 года назад

I remember hearing the older folks brag about a railroad pension.

@mileslong9675 Год назад

My great uncle, Tony, was called “Tony, the gandy dancer,” because he worked with the crew laying railroad track across the state of Michigan, back in the early 1900s. He came from Sicily, under a special agreement. When they finally reached Detroit, and the job was done, he was granted citizenship.

@JohnDope6666 9 лет назад

My grandfather knew 'em all and was state boiler inspector here in Texas. RIP, Pappy (1895-1979).

@homegrowntomatoes1 13 лет назад

I had the pleasure of meeting some of these fellows at Boom Days 2009 in Fort Payne, AL. If you ever have that opportunity then you should take it. There aren't many left to teach that part of American history first hand.

@laidback4sho72 12 лет назад

my dad did this back in the 70s and 80s. i once saw him lift a man off the ground by the throat with one hand. the men who did this work were as tough as the spikes they drove.

@LaurelRidgeRodsPA 12 лет назад

I worked on the railroad in College, there was an old black man that sang songs while we fixed track, I hear them while working all the time now.

@abasis.baruti9819 Год назад

Helps the time go by

@AN-jz3px Год назад

@@abasis.baruti9819 def

@gregorygilliam8339 Год назад

You can look at Mr Cornelius Wright Jr hands and tell he was a very hard working man!👏🏽

@TorisWork 10 лет назад

AMAZING! Such natural, raw talent! Such an eye opener!

@markcarey8426 10 лет назад

Excellent post-thanks a lot. Never heard of gandydancers before but this was great.

@videochris69 10 лет назад

thanks for sharing George! thank you for your service

@afrothuder 13 лет назад

My great grandpapi use to do this in Mississippi

@daveogarf 9 лет назад

Thanks for helping to preserve this bit of Americana!

@jokestermasteroflaughter7754 7 лет назад

A captured time from a corner pocket of the world now left forgotten by most but lives to tell a tale of labor for all races creeds and religions.

@morriswilburn 11 лет назад

There has been debate as to the origin of the blues. In my opinion, work songs is the most likely.

@siennaaiken7109 3 года назад

the slaves only sang when they were the sadest and instead of crying they sing to express their sorry and to distract themselves from the sadness and depression

@joedavis4150 3 года назад

... Could be. They talk about field hollers.

@seanlally7384 3 года назад

The algorithm flies me from island to island never letting me settle in one place.

@StevenTorrey 5 лет назад

The songs were sung to create a work rhythm as well as to follow the proper job sequence.

@blackether5094 21 день назад

Salute to the Elders ✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽💎

@AsymptoteInverse 7 лет назад

I like these guys.

@redfootwalking 13 лет назад

Amazing!

@bedornfeld 12 лет назад

Respect indeed! Very interesting to read this strong of comments, and glad the film resonates with people and their history. Barry Dornfeld

@miamivicepastels83 12 лет назад

ah......ty for posting this

@lynnrivell6600 2 года назад

Awesome needs to be more published

@jazmynbrown6820 3 года назад

Love it!

@darwindarwin141 2 года назад

Big love for the working man from the UK ❤️

@Billfisher3121 Год назад

Got a job on a Soo Line all white section crew right out of the Army in Wisconsin 1946- -hardest job I ever had replacing 200 # railroad ties, tamping gravel in place by jumping in rythym on a flat tamping shovel, spiking spikes in place and prying track in place with a heavy, long steel prybar in rythym to the caller. Crew was mostly all drifters who did not stay very long- -after 5 months I had enough and got to college on the GI Bill- -graduated with a BSME fro U. Of Wis in 1950. Great experience on the section crew but awfully hard.

@InsertName125 10 лет назад

My dad was a white gandy dancer too. I thought I'd be the 1st one to say that, until I saw so many other comments about the same.

@robbyddurham1624 4 года назад

anyone else trying to move those rails with them while watching. I was turning my head and shoulder.

@DNatureofDTrain 15 лет назад

I would sure love to see more Gandy Dancer songs... I always wanted to work for the railroad but since I can not. I would love to learn Gandy Dancers songs, and mimic their work movements in Dances.. - DNatureofDTrain

@crorivpro 13 лет назад

Hard working men, American Hero's in their own right.

@elizabethdizzles3212 2 года назад

Yes Hero's and builder of America ✊🏿

@shawnchen795 5 лет назад

Question. Is there an album or record records these working songs? Thanks!

@audreywilborn2018 2 года назад

My father did this work for 33 years . Retired in 1963 . He didn't work for anyone else until he died in 1987 at the age of 92 .

@eriegamewell 12 лет назад

Very interesting stuff.

@paducahandlouisvillerailro1694 4 года назад

I have a Louisville and Nashville railroad spike from 1925

@Gandygoodsandgames 16 лет назад

they really do... the roots of the blues... I'm a gandy and i'm pretty sure that where i got my name from

@julioinglasses 13 лет назад

Great stuff to watch during wait in Dr. office to check my hurting back. Now you have to check out the U Utah Phillips soliloquy on gandy dancers and the railroad meal car...

@Lankster1000 8 лет назад

Two generations of Lankster men worked on the L & N.

@chemnitz6834 6 лет назад

Albert Lankster Cool! The L&N is one of my favorite Southern railroads, does your family have any stories from their working experience?

@stephaniejohnson4401 7 месяцев назад

My dad was one L&N railway mobile Alabama all up the in Mississippi I remember riding on passenger train as a kid on my dad annual pass my mother rode and worked in New York as a maid

@dancingtrout6719 Год назад

promontory point connection was only 25 years before my grandpa was Born .. long times ago was shorter back than you think

@ostlandr 7 лет назад

My Granddad worked as a section hand for the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern, and later for the Erie. (The Erie paid 5 cents more an hour.)

@dnvnquinn 14 лет назад

The term Gandy Dancer came from Irish rail workers and then was applied to all rail workers.

@Tyee234 2 года назад

Bull shit

@xilla99 3 года назад

Sweet💕

@cgirl111 Год назад

There is no record of a railroad supply company called Gandy. Many people have devoted a lot of time time trying to find such records but they don't exist.

@morrisparrish76 Год назад

Just like there’s no record of the hundreds of shots wilt chamberlain & bill Russell blocked in the ‘60s

@roberthitchcock6086 11 месяцев назад

HARD WORKING MEN!

@mattmurfy 11 лет назад

In England, where the railroad boom started, the workers were called fettlers. I heard that in the Victorian era, the pay was lousy - (though better than city labourers) - and they were often paid in booze. From the number of work-related deaths and derailments back then, I daresay their rails were just as bad.

@tereseduffy6591 5 лет назад

Too short. They were a vital to keeping the railroad running.

@leehill5489 11 лет назад

You don't get it. The singing had two purposes. One was to make the long, hot day go faster but the most critical reason for the singing was to get the men to all exert their power at the same time to move the extremely heavy rails. The beat of the music cued them to all push or pull at the exact same moment. Less snark and more thinking please.

@ink3539 3 года назад

Same goes for sea shanties. Each had its own rythm for each task. (Answering to a 7 y.o comment but who knows haha)

@theafroalien3169 Месяц назад

Everything they sang sound like sounded like a hymn to TheMostHigh…even if it wasn’t. But that’s the manifestation of being an instrument created initially for His praise and worship

@rodbrown6434 3 года назад

I Gandy Danced on the South Buffalo railroad in 1950 It was the smallest and wealthiest RR IN THE WORLD Rod

@NitNgrit 2 года назад

Small world I work for former conrail now Csx in south Buffalo

@brucehain 4 года назад

O thank you, Karen!

@gmo1515 4 года назад

Something has happened on the folkstream sight where the narration has been removed from the video.

@yuwonder80 11 лет назад

boy we built this country hot damn blacks my oh my

@esobed1 Год назад

Reparations are way past due!

@akytilop 15 лет назад

Most of the railroad workers in the North were Irish or Italian.

@joedavis4150 3 года назад

... When I was a Gandy Dancer on the CB and Q,, four men would use Square bladed shovels in unison,, packing gravel beneath railroad ties, to raise them up to the rails

@joedavis4150 3 года назад

... Continued... there would be two men, facing each other,, on each end of the tie. We didn't sing, but we worked in perfect unison, and rhythm.

@avelinacruz4594 3 года назад

Hi among us

@loganreckley6364 4 года назад

Makes ya proud to be a apart of this heritage.

@morrisparrish76 Год назад

I know; I worked track repair 68-69 in central Illinois

@leehill5489 11 лет назад

African Americans built a lot of this country both during enslavement and after, with little or no compensation and not much credit, railroad work, the White House and US Capital building for example,

@KoolerThanYou2 6 лет назад

Lee Hill The whole District of Columbia

@dancingtrout6719 Год назад

i read that in Alabama its illegal to put salt on a Rail Road tracks.! ..how it was done = accidently by salt trucks going over the rail tracks and salt falling from the truck .. but they dont get much snow there.. but why is it illegal,? cause salt is a conductor of Electricity..! and there is low current going through the Rails ,Electricity that set off Rail Road Crossing Gates When Train is Coming.. ??

@ValLeeWeblog 4 года назад

We knew a white man who was a gandy dancer when he was young. He was a man who enjoyed working with his hands.

@albertknabe3713 Год назад

The tracks needed straightening because of the 1751 Earthquake…not use.

@moneyshot239 5 месяцев назад

Had to be hard to sing and work

@gumii_.1 3 года назад

...

@hurchgoer 6 лет назад

@robertbdesmond 3 года назад

They did more singing than work, based on this video...

@lamwen03 Год назад

This was just a couple of very old men. Here is a real crew ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3r_cI3kYYhM.html

@williamboyd1050 Год назад

0:27

@bytorbusch 10 лет назад

My dad was white and he was a Gandy Dancer

@coyotetrail2124 10 лет назад

I believe there were more white gandy dancers than this video portrays.

@scarefaceleslie8033 8 лет назад

+ABC I 10 cents a day back then was good pay because it was so hard to come by. We were looking through some old papers in the old house on our property and back then the house was lost three times for over due tax's in the amount of 5 cents one and 15 cents twice more. Can you imagine losing your home for 5 penny's?

@josephdoss5440 6 лет назад

The sooner you learn it's wrong to be white the sooner they can change this great country to Africa and ship the Whitney over seas to new America. It's all a bunch of racism. But remember black can't be racist only the victim.

@blackvaginafinda2706 6 лет назад

Amanda Doss u sound dumb😂 people like u should go back to where u came from

@LuvMyRoadKingClassic 5 лет назад

True Dat!

@oldschool1993 2 года назад

Going west, the majority were Irish, going east the majority were Chinese.

@jimh9617 6 лет назад

lol what a weird song about susies belly.

@PhilR720 11 лет назад

Modern day, 16+ hours hard labor daily for months, same tools (what he's pushing his shoulder into is called a "needle bar," and some "lining bars," still in use), less men, few more machines. What she's saying they're expected to as "custodians," those "Section crews," today are still called section crews/gangs. Basically, all she said was Gandy Dancers were railroad workers. Cool to see, but I tell ya all the rail I pull from the '30s - '70s has been shoddy and some of it embarrassingly bad.

@davidwiita7054 6 лет назад

My dad and uncle told me all about Gandy Dancers on the old B and M in Massachusetts, way back when! Oh, and they was both white! Workin' hard.

@valeriaeberhardt6940 5 лет назад

This is a lie right here.

@663rainmaker 3 года назад

Families Matter EVRAZ Russia 🇷🇺 and Dance ? EVRAZ Pueblo Colorado USA 🇺🇸 railroad 🛤 history USA 🇺🇸 and Facts EVRAZ North America Chicago Illinois USA 🇺🇸 PoliticiaL Science 🧬

@ronniegandy9435 6 месяцев назад

Gandy but I damn sure can’t dance

@toddreeder8010 10 лет назад

They got it wrong. A majority of early railway workers were Irish. The Irish were the original gandy dancers.

@lorriehiner4049 9 лет назад

***** Where do you think tap dancin' came from? Ireland lassie!

@lorriehiner4049 9 лет назад

Stop it! This is just stupid...Anne, the fact, is that the original rail workers were primarily Irish potato famine immigrants. They sang songs to hit the rails in unison...a gandy is the tool they use to align the rails and being a Gandy Dancer actually has nothing to do with dancing actually...it merely refers to their movements as they align the rails with a Gandy rod. It's also what the British called people who built rails or waterways, navigators so to speak. Slaves had a tradition of singing as they worked and it carried into their jobs as Gandy Dancer, of which they were paid the same wage as an Irishman...only the Chinese made more. You can hear an example of prisoners in an Angola Prison Chaingang singing the same type of rhythmic, spiritual songs on the album from the movie Oh Brother Where Art Thou. As far as bluegrass and country music... it came directly from Irish and Scots. Please listen to the Cheiftans or watch the Irish step dancers and then the Appalachian cloggers...of which, I am one. I've given examples that can be easily accessed through iTunes or youTube. I'm not going to argue with either of you about nonsense but I will enlighten you as to the history of certain things. You can research this yourself, but please stop arguing on my thread...both of you. Here...read this please and take note of the pictures provided. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandy_dancer

@lorriehiner4049 9 лет назад

Oh...and tap dance is a culmination of African Roots mixed with the predominantly Irish/Scot slave owner's traditional styles of dance and music. Consider that tribal Africans did not usually wear hard enough shoes to produce a tapping sound and they didn't have wooden floors on which to tap...but, like you pointed out they brought other aspects to art of tap dance so please, we are a melting pot in all things. I'm a bellydancer, but know that it's historical lineage goes far beyond the Middle East...from India, Spain (Flamenco), Middle East, North Africa, San Francisco, CA (American Tribal Style and Tribal Fusion), European Gypsies as well.

@lorriehiner4049 9 лет назад

Oh...and the bagpipes were brought to Scotland via the Middle Eastern/North African tin traders like Joseph of Arimathea who was the uncle of Jesus Christ. We are all in this wondrous craphole together!