Yesterday I posted a short video of a crew of four men driving a heavy iron tent stake into the ground. A small number liked it and a couple commented. It got me to thinking about the old time gandy dancers. They were the men who built the railroads and, in a sense, the country. I had the privilege of watching them lay track through Wimauma, Florida (just south of Tampa) back in the fifties. My father saw how fascinated I was so he parked me there and left me for the day. It was a day that I will not forget. Those men were not common labor. They were not men down on their luck and willing to do that job just until they could get on their feet. No. They were professional gandy dancers. Thats what and who they were. No less professional then a doctor or a lawyer, the only difference being that they sold their bodies rather than their brains. Ive always had a great respect for men like them. Here is a short video of some of the last of the gandy dancers. It doesnt really catch the heart of them. That takes hours in the sun, watching their coordinated movements and listening to their hammers strike the time of the music that they made. I can tell you one true thing about them: There werent no fat gandy dancers. https://youtube/watch?v=3r_cI3kYYhM
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 15:07:35 +0000
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