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David Gray performs an beautiful acoustic cover of Bob Dylan's "No More Auction Block"
http://youtu.be/3rpFqakPeic



David Gray at Tate Modern, London, England for ONE's agit8 campaign.

Thanks, Mr Basecamp. Interesting.

It is indeed a great interpretation but I would not call it Bob Dylan's "No More Auction Block". Here is a short clip of Paul Robeson singing the same song - an old spiritual - and pre-dating Dylan by a few decades. The song itself probably pre-dates Robeson by a 150 years or so.

http://www.amazon.com/No-More-Auction-B ... B0013JZC00

I think I've read somewhere that Dylan used the melody of "No More Auction Block" for one of his more famous songs. "Like a Rolling Stone", probably ... Yes, that sounds very similar.

Thanks Hartmut and Kush! Very interesting!

another great version by Shirley Verrett titled

No More Slavery Chains For Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJHcPXwoJdU

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/twh/higg.html

An article from 1867 discussing some of the origins of Negro Spirituals, including one that with some variations becomes No More Auction Block:

MANY THOUSAND GO

No more peck o' corn for me,
No more, no more, --
No more peck o' corn for me,
Many tousand go.
No more driver's lash for me, (Twice.)
No more, &c.
No more pint o' salt for me, (Twice.)
No more, &c.
No more mistress' call for me,
No more, no more, --
No more mistress' call for me,
Many tousand go

BTW, the evolution of Charles Albert Tindley's I"ll Overcome Someday (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TassVI10wqM) into We Shall Overcome includes taking on the melody used for No More Auction Block/Many Tousand Go ... Pete Seeger points out that Blowin' In The Wind also borrows the melody ...

Thanks Eskimo. That was very interesting and enlightening.