There are great contrasts between versions of this song, the 1931 version you can hear skip james singing this song like he means it, and it is very contemparary to his period in time.
This song is basically about being poor and having to move from door to door, or home to home, job to job. a "Killin' Floor" is old 30's slang for a Slaughter house where the blacks would often have the worst jobs of all. The slaughter house was the only placement of work many black americans who migrated north to the illinois region at this time could get a job at.
in the 1960's version he seems to be singing this song in retrospective of his life and in my opinion sounds even sadder.
There are great contrasts between versions of this song, the 1931 version you can hear skip james singing this song like he means it, and it is very contemparary to his period in time.
This song is basically about being poor and having to move from door to door, or home to home, job to job. a "Killin' Floor" is old 30's slang for a Slaughter house where the blacks would often have the worst jobs of all. The slaughter house was the only placement of work many black americans who migrated north to the illinois region at this time could get a job at.
in the 1960's version he seems to be singing this song in retrospective of his life and in my opinion sounds even sadder.