Skip James - Hardtime Killing Floor Blues free for downloading

A "killing floor" is where stock (animals) were killed and butchered. It is very difficult to work in these places because of the suffering of both the (very poor) people who had to do this, and the animals that went through this. This song is a metaphor of the suffering of an awful condition in every way,

"If I ever get off this hard killin' floor I'll never get down this low no more" gets me everytime

Post Covid-19 this might replace current national anthem.

Hard time's is here An ev'rywhere you go Times are harder Than th'ever been befo' Um, hm-hm Um-hm Um, hm-hm Um, hm-hm-hm You know that people They are driftin' from do' to do' But they can't find no heaven I don't care where they go Um, hm-hm Um-uh-hm Mm-hm-hm Um, hm-hm-hm People, if I ever can get up Off a-this old hard killin' flo' Lord, I'll never get down This low no mo' Um, hm-hm-hm Hm, um-hm Hm, hm-hm Hm, hm-hm-hm Well, you hear me singin' This old lonesome song People, you know these hard times Can't last us so long Hm, hm-hm Hmm, hmm Hm, hm-hm Hm, hm-hm, oh Lord You know, you'll say you had money You better be sho' But these hard times gon' kill you Just drive a lonely soul Um, hm-hm Umm, hmm Umm, hm-hm Hm, hm-hm-hm (guitar) Umm-hm Hmm-hm-hm Umm-hm Hm-hm-hm Hmm, hm-hm-hm (guitar to end)

i am 58y.o japanese man ,i felt some memory about when i was a child my great granpa said to me " let give water and meal to a worn out cow" ( usualy cow work hardly every day  finaly  when get old ,cow selled and killed) " because  a cow cannot say something" after i grew up and work for a company. one day  i came back to my dark and narrow room i  was remenber  great granpa's above word's , this song gave  me great granpa's mind thannk you.

I can't even comprehend why someone would give this incredible song a thumbs down. just wow!

this song gives me chills right down to the core

Got my cigar, whiskey, and my six string playing along

Just read "Slavery By Another Name" by Douglas Blackmon. The book covers what Black people all throughout the South (and in the North) experienced directly after the Civil War up until the 1940s. One can only imagine the sorts of hardships that birthed this song and the Blues itself. Ain't nothing but sorrow, pain and resolve in his voice.

this is all the evidence and proof that I require to know that music is alchemy. It certainly turned my base mercurial desires to nuggets of delight.

I am a 60 year old Indian man who grew up since 10 in UK. when I was 13 I went out and bought a Kapok guitar for £13 new. You had to tune it depending where you wanted to play it. My dad left and I used to tootle around on the guitar whilst me and my mum watched TV ( thanks for indulging me mother ) . I played the blues for the next 47 years and still do. Still when I hear stuff like this, what I call the dark side of the blues, its like a serpent rising inside me. I listen to all kinds of music now from Orchestra makassy, to Miles Davis to Amjhad Ali khan , some of this music takes me to a different place but blues ..its like its in me and has to come out. Its not a medicine, it wont make you feel better and it scares women away, its just something that lives inside you then becomes part of you. Its not good or bad, it just is. Its intense and sometimes nothing else will do.

I lived in a broke down van, my girlfriend, my child and myself were about starving. I begged a man to let me have a job..I literally begged him, on my hands and knees. He gave me a shot...that was 23 years ago. I'm now the shift supervisor l, with 40 peeps under me. I'll never forget where I came from..or that man.

Skip James is the scariest blues singer there is. It just seems his voice snuffs out the sun and summons up these dark, sulphurous birds to swirl around in the dimness. IfRobert Johnson had to sell his soul t0  play guitar the way he did, what must Skip James have given to sing like that?

58 year old japanese man, I am 60 years old . I feel like that cow. Your words touch my soul.. It is a strange time in life. Blues music digs deep and stirs a lot of emotions. I have always loved blues. maybe some of us are born blue.

My tears are dried up but I fell their ghosts crawl down my cheek when I hear this song.

This is almost as haunting as Blind Willie Johnson's "Dark was the Night, Cold was the Ground"-- both numbers sound like they're being transmitted from from a world long gone. Johnson's song was actually shot into space in some kinda cultural time capsule.

Aah. So this is where the real people hang out.

ONe of the masterpieces of early blues.  The older he grows, the deeper his blues go.  Heartbreaking voice, profound poetry  and at the same time playing such unforgettable guitar. Skip James died not long after he made this recording, and we are all so lucky to be able to hear him.