761. Oh, Where Shall I Be?
'Oh, Where Shall I Be?' Anonymous singer. MS score, about 1919 or 1920. No place given. For additional related texts cf. ANFS 80; JAFL xxvi 155, and XXVII 257; 'Oh, where shall I be when the first trumpet sounds?' The latter version* was collected in Tennessee and edited by Mrs. Anna Kranz Odum. The beginning of our tune recalls 'You take the high road and I'll take the low road.'
F-660
Chorus: Oh, where shall I be when that last trum - pet sounds?
Oh, where shall I be when it sounds loud?
When it sounds so loud as to wake up the dead.
Oh, where shall be when it sounds so loud?
For melodic relationship cf. ***NASb 14; BANS i 136; RFSN 172; FSRA 147-9; WNS 206-7, No. 85, chorus; ASoWS 17, No. 30, chorus; note the Irish final cadence.
Scale: Mode III, plagal. Tonal Center: g. Structure: aa1ba1 (2,2,2,2) = Reprisenbar.
[* The author refers here to another version from Mississippi previously published by Dr. Howard W. Odum.]