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Bow Low Mary
Tradtional Old-Time, Spiritual;
ARTIST: from Thomas Wentworth Higginson from the Atlantic Monthly, June 1867
CATEGORY: Traditional and Public Domain Bluegrass Gospel;
DATE: June 1867; Thomas Wentworth Higginson from the Atlantic Monthly
RECORDING INFO: Bow Low Mary
OTHER NAMES:
RELATED TO: All My Sins
SOURCES: from Thomas Wentworth Higginson's article in the Atlantic Monthly, June 1867.
NOTES: “Bow Low Mary” is found in Thomas Wentworth Higginson's article in the Atlantic Monthly, June 1867:
THE war brought to some of us, besides its direct experiences, many a strange fulfilment of dreams of other days. For instance, the present writer has been a faithful student of the Scottish ballads, and had always envied Sir Walter the delight of tracing them out amid their own heather, and of writing them down piecemeal from the lips of aged crones. It was a strange enjoyment, therefore, to be suddenly brought into the midst of a kindred world of unwritten songs, as simple and indigenous as the Border Minstrelsy, more uniformly plaintive, almost always more quaint, and often as essentially poetic.
This interest was rather increased by the fact that I had for many years heard of this class of songs under the name of "Negro Spirituals," and had even heard some of them sung by friends from South Carolina. I could now gather on their own soil these strange plants, which I had before seen as in museums alone. True, the individual songs rarely coincided; there was a line here, a chorus there,-just enough to fix the class, but this was unmistakable. It was not strange that they differed, for the range seemed almost endless, and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida seemed to have nothing but the generic character in common, until all were mingled in the united stock of camp-melodies.
The next is very graceful and lyrical, and with more variety of rhythm than usual:-
XVII. BOW LOW, MARY.
"Bow low, Mary, bow low, Martha,
For Jesus come and lock de door,
And carry de keys away.
Sail, sail, over yonder,
And view de promised land.
For Jesus come, &c.
Weep, O Mary, bow low, Martha,
For Jesus come, &c.
Sail, sail, my true believer;
Sail, sail over yonder;
Mary bow low, Martha, bow low,
For Jesus come and lock de door
And carry de keys away."
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