609
LiTTi.K David. Plav ox Your I1.\ri'
This version is more elaborate than those in White ANF'.S 66-8
and Jackson WN.S 226-7. f" stanzas i and 2 it picks up figures
from 'All God's Chillun Got Shoes,' just as Jackson's No. cxiv
attracts a figure from 'Go Down, Moses.' (Both White and Jack-
648 NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE
son cite otlier traditional appearances.) Cf. Chappell FSRA 143
(from North Carolina).
Text from Julian P. Boyd, as collected from Catherine Bennett, a pupil
of the school at .Alliance, Pamlico county; undated, but c. 1927-28.
"Negro fragment." Music by Newman I. White, Durham, N. C. As
copied by Mr. Boyd, it is not clear whether the first four lines of stanza
I are repeated at the beginning of each succeeding stanza ; it is assumed
that they are.
1 ]\Iath and Mark, and Luke and John ;
Jeremiah, Malachi, Stephen, and Tom ;
EH and Closes, Zachariah and Joseph :
When we git up in Heben
I'm goin' to march around.
Have on a robe come flowin' down.
Cho7'i(s:
Little David, plav on vour harp!
Hallelujah, hallelujah!
2 Den I will move at God's command,
Wid a golden harp in my hand.
3 I will acknowledge and I do say so,
Talkin' wid de prophets gone on befo'.
4 With Paul and Cephas. Stephen and John ,
(Jid brother Noah, and Ten Thousand more.
5 Some join the church for to sing and shout ;
Before six months they's all turned otit.
6 Fo' six months rolled around again.
Come back a-gigging,^ 'Take me in!"
7 Deacon stops and studies a while.
Asks dat sinner has he reconciled.
8 I've been tempted and I've been tried;
Devil have tried me on every side.
9 Feet been fettered, and my hands been crossed.
But dungeon been shaken and my chain fell ofif !
^ Thus in typescript — for "a-jigging"?
--------------------
609
Little David, Play on Your Harp
'Little David, Play on Your Harp.' The MS score by Newman I. White,
Durham, referred to in III 648 as having been copied by Mr. Boyd is incom-
plete, and the tune evidently not clearly recalled. The notation, being very
amateurish, is not usable as it stands. It seems best not to alter or improve
what there is. Even the text given in Dr. White's ANFS could not be
used with this score.
609(1) Little David, Play on Your Harp.' Sung by Bascom Lamar Lunsford, Turkey
Creek, Buncombe county, probably 1921. This version has an entirely dif-
ferent text from that in III 648. Cf : ANFS 68, 7 F. For additional texts
of: EAS 38; ANS 124; BANS i 65; RFSN 139. Dett 64, and JAFL xxvii
263.
F-S22
Da - vid had a harp- with a thou - sand strings,-
Touch jes' one — string-
an' de whole thing ring. Lit - tie
Da - vid play on your harp,- Hal le - lu, hal - le -
lu, lit - tie Da - vid, Play on your harp,- Hal - le - lu.
Scale: Mode III, plagal. Tonal Center: g. Structure: aa^bbi (4,4,7,5); the first phrase of the chorus is terminally incremented, the second initially modified.