3:43
Black And White, 1969
Written by Tony Joe White
This song is about the titular girl who lives down in Louisiana, collecting polk, or poke weed in a tote sack for a meager supper for her family. Her mama ("a wretched, spiteful, straight-razor-totin' woman") was working on a chain gang, and her dad was lazy and no-count ("he claimed he had a bad back"). The song describes a very real life of poverty; White said in an interview, "My folks raised cotton and corn. There were lotsa times when there weren't too much to eat, and I ain't ashamed to admit that we've often whipped up a mess of poke sallet." Despite the very real poverty, the song is leavened by some dark humor "gators got her Granny — chomp chomp chomp") The song's intro is spoken, while the verses are sung, and lively horns punctuate the choruses. It's a starnge but groovy hybrid of humorous novelty and true-to-life, blue-eyed-soul social justice song.
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