555. Baptist, Baptist Is My Name
["Baptist, Baptist is my Name" appears in Fenner's 1874 as "Hard Trials" and in the ballad index as "Gabriel's Trumpet." In the UNC-CH alma mater "Hark the Sound" April 30, 1997 -- No. 303 there's a quote:
Snider quoted the late J. Maryon Saunders, a longtime executive secretary of the UNC Alumni Association, who wrote that the spirited ending derived from an old camp meeting spiritual:
“Baptist, Baptist is my name,
And Baptist till I die
When I am dead it can be said
You've laid a Baptist by.”
From EC Perrow The Journal of American folk-lore, Volumes 25-26 By American Folklore Society in 1913:
14. METHODIST
(From Virginia; country whites; from memory; 1912)
Methodist, Methodist, while I live,
Methodist till I die;
Been baptized in the faith,
An' fed on Methodist pie.
Hard Trials- Fenner 1874
With Fifty Cabin and Plantation Songs, Arranged by Thomas P. Fenner:
De fox hab hole in de groun',
An' de bird hab nest in de air,
An' ebry t'ing hab a hiding-place,
But we, poor sinner, hab none.
Now aint dat hard trials, great tribulation,
Aint dat hard trials I'm boun' to leabe dis world.
1. Baptist, Baptist is my name,
Baptist till I die,
I'll be baptize in de Baptist name,
An' I'll lib on de Baptist side.
BAPTIST IS MY NAME- Lomax from American Folk Songs 1940:
Baptist, Baptist is my name,
Baptist till I die;
I'll be baptized in de Baptist faith
And live on the Baptist side. ]
555. Baptist, Baptist Is My Name
A variant of the first four lines is to be found in 'Hard Trials,' J. B. T. Marsh, The Story of the Jubilee Singers; with Their Songs
(Boston, 1881), p. 207, which also has a stanza, "Oh, Methodist, Methodist is my name," etc. In 'Jesus Lock' De Lion's Jaw' in
Emily Hallowell, Calhoun Plantation Songs (Boston, 1901), p. 19, two lines resemble the first two of 'Baptist, Baptist Is My Name.'
'Roll, Jordan, Roll.' With music. From Mrs. Alice Cooke, Boone, Watauga county; undated, but about 1922, when a phonograph recording was made at Boone.
Baptist, Baptist is my name,
And Baptist till I die :
When I am dead it can he said
You've laid one Baptist by.
Come along to the meeting in here tonight.
Come along to the meeting in here tonight.
To the meeting in
Roll, Jordan, roll. roll. Jordan, roll;
I'm going to Heaven when I die.
-----------------
555
Baptist, Baptist Is My Name
'Roll, Jordan, Roll.' Sung by Mrs. Alice Cooke, Boone, Watauga county,
about 1922. Judging from the tune as recorded, the last two lines of the
printed text (III 612) constitute the chorus, although they are not so in-
dicated there. Furthermore, according to the tune, there must either be a
repetition of a line or some additional words. Cf. F-476.
F-492
Bap - tist, Bap - tist is my name,
And Bap - tist 'till die;
When I am dead it can be said
You've laid one Bap - tist by.
Come a - long to the meet - ing in here
to- night, Come a - long to the meet - ing
here to night,
To the meet - ing to the meet - ing in-
Roll, Jor - dan, roll,- roll,
Jor - dan, roll;
I'm goin' to Heav - en when I die. ---------------
For melodic relationship cf. ***Dett 222, first eight measures; ASb, our
chorus and the tune given there; WSSU 264, chorus; Dett 52, chorus: **ANS
199, chorus; SS i, chorus; BANS i 105, chorus; SCS 51, chorus; *JAFL
XLi 583, our initial two measures of the chorus with the first measure there.
Scale: Hexachordal. Tonal Center: c. Structure: aa^bcde (4,4,4,4,4,4). There
is an evident relationship between the beginnings of c and d, as well as the
endings of c and e. Our tune presents several possibilities of analysis: aa^
(4,4) = strophe (the elisions in measures 4 and 8 are evident) ; bb^ (2,2)
= Stollen, StoUen, and c(4) epode = bar; the chorus abed (2,2,2,2) =
strophe. This is a compound form. One could, however, consider the first
eight measures as two Stollen and then the last eight as epode. This would
then be strophe plus bar. The tonal center is the lowest tone.