Clifton Hicks - You Shall Be Free (Bill & Belle Reed)

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I learned "You Shall Be Free" from a 1920s recording of Bill and Belle Reed. Little is known of the duo beyond their stage names, yet they were libeled by the owners of @Dust-to-Digital in a recent @The New York Times interview.

Original 1928 recording: https://youtu.be/oKrRTTTTcsM

While the song does contain racial epithets, it does not contain any reference to lynching, as was falsely claimed by April and Lance Ledbetter. I contacted the Ledbetters and NYT to explain their error and request a correction, to no avail.

The verse in question is used twice:
"Some folks say a ****** won't steal
But I caught three in my corn field,
One had a bushel the other had a peck
One had a ROASTING EAR around his neck."

"... One had a CRIB TIED around his neck."

This was misquoted by the Ledbetters as:
"... One had a ROPE TIED around his neck."

The Reeds never "jubilantly harmonized about a lynching," as the Ledbetters maintain. In truth, the verse references traditional maize agriculture. Red roasting ears were a prize shown off during corn-shucking parties, and a "crib" is a small manger used to feed livestock.

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