|
Bell Da Ring/
See also: Live A-Humble/Brother Jonah/Jonah And The Whale
See also: Bell Da Ring/Humble Yourself
Traditional Old-Time Gospel;
ARTIST: Collected in Georgia- 1921 Journal of American Folk-Lore
CATEGORY: Traditional and Public Domain Gospel;
DATE: 1800s; 1921 Journal of American Folk-Lore
RECORDING INFO: Live Humble
Rt - Brother Jonah
At - Humble Yourself the Bell Done Rung
Work, John W. / American Negro Songs and Spirituals, Dover, Bk (1998/1940), p184 (Live A-Humble)
Georgia Sea Island Singers. Georgia Sea Island Songs, New World NW 278, LP (1977), trk# A.04 [1960ca]
Georgia Sea Island Singers. Southern Journey. Vol. 13: Earliest Times, Rounder 1713, CD (1998), trk# 1 [1959/10]
Ian and Sylvia. Ian & Sylvia, Vanguard VSD 2113, LP (1962), trk# B.06 (Live A-Humble)
Wayside Trio. Winners. California State Fair Exposition, Ikon IER 106, LP (1964), trk# B.03a (Live A-Humble)
Live A-Humble (John Work 1915)
Can't You Live Humble (Work, John W. / American Negro Songs and Spirituals, Dover, Bk (1998/1940), p151b)
Humble Yourself the Bell Done Rung (Fisk Jubilee Singers- Two versions)
RECORDING INFO: Brother Jonah
Rt - Live Humble; Ninevah Land; Bell Done Rung
Famous Blue Jay Singers. Birmingham Quartet Anthology. Jefferson County Alabama (1926-53), Clanka Lanka CL 144,001/002, LP (1980), trk# B.03 [1932/01]
Stikeleather, James G.. Folk Songs of America. The Robert Winslow Gordon Collection...., Library of Congress AFS L68, LP (1978), trk# 4a [1925/11/11]
RELATED TO: "Bell Da Ring;" "Wake Up Jonah" "Humble Yourself the Bell Done Rung"
OTHER NAMES: "Bell Done Ring" "De Bell Ring"
SOURCES: Folk Index; Ballad Index;
NOTES: "Bell Da Ring" is a traditional African-American spiritual that was published in the 1867 book, Slave Songs of the United States." It's related to a group of songs that use the word "humble":
"Live Humble," or "Live A-Humble" (John Work 1915)
"Humble Yourself, The Bell Done Rung"
"Bell Da Ring" or "Bell Done Rung"
"Brother Jonah" (Gordon)
"Jonah And The Whale" (Brown Collection)
"Can’t you live humble?"
Several spirituals use "Bell Done Ring" or"Bell Ring" or "Heaven-bell ring" and in this song the word, "humble" could replace the words "heaven-bell."
Laura Towne was a missionary that came to St. Helen's Island in SC during the Civil War. Early in her diary, April 1862, she writes:
“On Sunday I was much pleased with one of the hymns the negroes spontaneously set up, of which the refrain was—“No man can hinder me.” It was, I believe, saying that nothing could prevent access to Jesus…. Another song is, “The Bell done ring.” Another, “Bound to go.” Another, “Come to Jesus.” They sing the tune of “John Brown’s Body” to other words, and in church or out of it, whenever they begin one of these songs, they keep time with their feet and bodies. It sounded very strange in the church.”
Here's the Ballad Index info on the related song, Jonah:
BALLAD INDEX Jonah and the Whale (Living Humble)
DESCRIPTION: The story of Jonah in song, recognized by the chorus, "Living humble, humble, humble, Living humble all your days" or "Humble, humble, humble my soul." Unlike most Jonah songs, this appears to be "straight"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious Bible whale
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 346, "Jonah and the Whale" (6 text and/or fragments, but only the "A" and "B" texts, both short, are this piece; "C" is "Hide Away" and "D"-"F" are "Who Did Swallow Jonah?")
Roud #15215
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Hide Away (Jonah and the Whale)" (subject) and references there
Besides the above-mentioned songs there are other songs like "New Burying Ground" found in Barton's 1899 "Old plantation Hymns" that have a "Want you to live humble, humble; humble yourselves" section.
Here's typical lyrics for Live Humble/Humble Yourself, The Bell Done Rung:
Live humble, humble, humble yourselves,
De bell done ring,
Live humble, humble, humble yourselves,
De bell done ring.
BELL DA RING-1867 Slave Songs of the United States (1867): Allen, William Francis, 1830-1889, Charles Pickard Ware, 1840-1921,and Lucy McKim Garrison 1842-1877
I know member, know Lord,
I know I yedde de bell da ring. [I know I hear de bell done ring]
1. Want to go to meeting,
Bell da ring,
Want to go to meeting,
Bell da ring.
2. (Say) Road so stormy,*
Bell da ring,
(Say) Road so stormy,
Bell da ring.]
3. I can't get to meetin'. +
4. De church mos' ober.
5. De heaven-bell a heaven-bell.
6. De heaven-bell I gwine home.
7. I shout for de heaven-bell.
8. Heaven 'nough for me one.
9. (Brudder) hain't you a member?
* Boggy, Tedious.
+ 'ciety, Lecter, Praise-house.
BELL DA RING-1867 (Version 2) [The following words were sung in Col. Higginson's regiment:
Do my brudder, O yes, yes, member,
De bell done ring.
You can't get to heaben
When de bell done ring.
If you want to get to heaven,
Fo' de bell, etc.
You had better follow Jesus,
Fo' de bell, etc.
O yes, my Jesus, yes, I member,
De bell etc.
O come in, Christians,
Fo' de bell, etc.
For the gates are all shut,
When de bell, etc.
And you can't get to heaben
When de bell, etc.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES: Col. Higginson suggests that this refrain may have originated in Virginia, and gone South with our army, because "'done' is a Virginia shibboleth, quite distinct from the 'been' which replaces it in South Carolina. In the proper South Carolina dialect, would have been substituted 'De bell been-a ring.'" We have, however, shown in the preface, that "done" is used on St. Helena; and at any rate the very general use of this refrain there in the present tense, "Bell da ring," would indicate that it was of local origin, while we have never met with anything at all like it in any other part of the country. As given above, it is one of the most characteristic "shouting" tunes.
In singing "Heaven-bell a heaven-bell," the v and n were so run together that the words sounded like "hum-bell a hum-bell," with strong emphasis and dwelling upon the m.
|