Before I post lyrics, I like to make sure I have the correct composer --- so many lyrics sites list the singer as the composer, which is usually very flattering to the singer.
So, I looked up the composer of "Reuben James," and found a Wiki article on the name Reuben James. Seems there's the fictional one in the song, and another, who was a hero of the Marines' victory in the Barbary Wars. (Lord, everything old is new again --- just saw a news story about the Navy and Marines training to take on Somali pirates.)
More on that later, maybe. Right now, I'm interested in the song lyrics, and the fictional Reuben James.
Barry Etris, the man who wrote "Reuben James," is a white Southerner who wrote the song partly as a tribute to his own father, who plowed fields with a mule and was found dead in those self-same fields, the mule's reins still in his hands.
Mr. Etris is a visual artist, as well as an auditory one. He has sketched his vision of Reuben James, the religious share-cropper in the song.
I have always loved this song ... it was one of the few country songs about a black man that I heard when I was growing up. It's nice to know more about it.
So, I looked up the composer of "Reuben James," and found a Wiki article on the name Reuben James. Seems there's the fictional one in the song, and another, who was a hero of the Marines' victory in the Barbary Wars. (Lord, everything old is new again --- just saw a news story about the Navy and Marines training to take on Somali pirates.)
More on that later, maybe. Right now, I'm interested in the song lyrics, and the fictional Reuben James.
Barry Etris, the man who wrote "Reuben James," is a white Southerner who wrote the song partly as a tribute to his own father, who plowed fields with a mule and was found dead in those self-same fields, the mule's reins still in his hands.
Mr. Etris is a visual artist, as well as an auditory one. He has sketched his vision of Reuben James, the religious share-cropper in the song.
I have always loved this song ... it was one of the few country songs about a black man that I heard when I was growing up. It's nice to know more about it.
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