My editor and I were recently discussing my use of music in achieving a writing trance and then whether or not I use music for nonfiction as well as fiction. The answer is yes. I told her that I was listening to “Choppin” for my nonfiction writing and she cringed—being a French teacher—and said, “James, might you be listening to Showpaun,” or some such sissy frog name, and I corrected my barbarous diction to, “You mean it’s pronounced “Cho-pan?” and she winced visibly.
In any case, she was curious as to my musical choice for the remainder of the white slavery project, and here it is, the song that was sung the longest on these hallowed Shores of the Lie, from 1617 [being my best estimate for the Virginia Company’s adoption of an outright chattel system for the management of its indentured servants] until these long-haired stoners sang it for the last time.
In a nation whose historians deny white slavery our only mention of the surrogate mast that back-talking and slacking servants were tied to and whipped comes from these guys?
Of course, in the old days, that faithless woman the Allman Brothers are singing about was not a local gall, and she had a name—Britannia.
Damn Son, I got stone just listening to this old song. I had forgot how great the Allman Brothers were. I use to listen to them a lot back in my younger days . Who would of thought a band based out of Macon Ga. could play music like this. One of the brothers ,Duane Allman ,was killed in a motorcycle accident before the band hit it's peak in popularity .
And for some after work music i recommend Frankie Yankovic, who played the Whitest music there is, accordion polka:
youtube.com/watch?v=Yeb08cbUswk
The Purple Heart awarded polka king was considered the premier artist to play and rarely strayed from Slovenian-style polka. At his peak, Yankovic traveled extensively and performed 325 shows a year. He sold 30 million records during his lifetime and won the first Grammy awarded for a polka album in 1986. Apparently the best-selling musical instrument in America was, until the 1960s, not the guitar, but the accordion!