1) The Highwaymen was an Am… Read Full Bio ↴There are two artists sharing this name;
1) The Highwaymen was an American country music supergroup, composed of four of the genre's biggest artists, known for their pioneering influence on the outlaw country subgenre: Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson. Active between 1985 and 1995, the group recorded three major label albums as The Highwaymen: two on Columbia Records and one for Liberty Records. Their Columbia works produced three chart singles, including the number one "Highwayman" in 1985.
Between 1996 and 1999, Nelson, Kristofferson, Cash, and Jennings also provided the voice and dramatization for the Louis L'Amour Collection, a four-CD box set of seven Louis L'Amour stories published by the HighBridge Company, although the four were not credited as "The Highwaymen" in this work.
Besides the four formal members of the group, only one other vocal recording artist appeared on a Highwaymen recording: Johnny Rodriguez, who provided Spanish vocal on "Deportee", a Woody Guthrie composition, from "Highwayman".
The four original members starred in a movie together: the 1986 film Stagecoach.
2) The Highwaymen were a collegiate folk group from the 1960s who had a significant impact on the folk scene of that time and remain famous for the song "Michael" and "Cotton Fields." Formed in 1958 while the band members were at college, the group broke up in 1964 after releasing eight albums and ten singles. They reunited in 1987, minus Chan Daniels (who died in 1975), for a concert for their 25th college reunion. Between then and 2009, the band has performed ten to twelve concerts a year. Today, two of the original five members (Steve Butts and Steve Trott) are still alive, with Dave Fisher dying on May 7, 2010, Gil Robbins (father of actor Tim Robbins) dying on April 5, 2011, and Bob Burnett dying on December 8, 2011.
Cotton Fields
The Highwaymen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
My mama would rock me in the cradle
In them old cotton fields back home
When I was a little bitty baby
My mama would rock me in the cradle
In them old cotton fields back home
Oh, when them cotton balls get rotten
In them old cotton fields back home
It was down in Louisiana
Just about a mile from Texarkana
And them old cotton fields back home
When I was a little bitty baby
My mama would rock me in the cradle
In them old cotton fields back home
When I was a little bitty baby
My mama would rock me in the cradle
In them old cotton fields back home
Oh, when them cotton balls get rotten
You can't pick very much cotton
In them old cotton fields back home
It was down in Louisiana
Just about a mile from Texarkana
And them old cotton fields back home
And them old cotton fields back home
And them old cotton fields back home
The lyrics to The Highwaymen's song Cotton Fields are reflective of the traditional way of life in the South during the early to mid-20th century. The song tells the story of someone reminiscing about their childhood memories of being rocked in a cradle by their mother in the cotton fields back home. The lyrics evoke a sense of nostalgia and longing for the simpler times of their youth.
The second half of the song speaks to the realities of life in the cotton fields. The phrase "when them cotton balls get rotten, you can't pick very much cotton" speaks to the hardships and struggles that many people faced when working in the cotton fields. This line highlights the difficulties of working in agriculture where one's livelihood is wholly dependent on the success of the crops they are working with.
Overall, the lyrics of the song Cotton Fields by The Highwaymen capture the experiences and challenges of life in the South during the early to mid-20th century. It speaks to the joys of childhood and the memories of a simpler time which are contrasted with the harsh realities of life in the cotton fields.
Line by Line Meaning
When I was a little bitty baby
As a young child, still in my infancy
My mama would rock me in the cradle
My mother would gently sway me back and forth in my crib
In them old cotton fields back home
In the rural, southern parts of the United States where cotton was commonly grown
Oh, when them cotton balls get rotten
When the cotton bolls, or capsules that hold the cotton, begin to decay
You can't pick very much cotton
It becomes difficult to gather a significant amount of cotton from the plants
It was down in Louisiana
The setting of this story is in the southern state of Louisiana
Just about a mile from Texarkana
The cotton fields are located less than a mile away from the city of Texarkana
And them old cotton fields back home
The narrative is focusing on the traditional cotton fields commonly found in rural southern regions
And them old cotton fields back home
The story continues to portray the familiar, historical backdrop of southern cotton fields
Lyrics © Bluewater Music Corp.
Written by: Huddie Ledbetter
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind