Negro Songs from Barbados
by Charles P. Bowditch
The Folk-Lore Journal, Vol. 5, No. 2 (1887), pp. 130-133
NEGRO SONGS FROM BARBADOS
IN the last number of the Folk-Lore Journal (ante, pp. 5-10) there is an article on " Negro Songs from Barbados," by l| the Countess M artinengo-Cesarescion, which the impression is conveyed that though the American negroes are losing their characteristic melody, in the Barbados " the African race has not lost its light-heartedness," as evidenced by the songs given in
the text. Of the six songs so given, I think that there are but two which have the least resemblance to original negro songs. The others appear to be of that class which, written by various song-writers in a dialect more or less like that of the negroes, are sung at what are known here as " Negro Minstrel Entertainments," or "Variety Shows." In the former, white men dress as negroes, having blackened their faces and hands; and in the latter, character dances and songs are given, in which the peculiarities of various nations or races (German, French, Irish, Negro) are shown.
The song No. 4, "Angelina Baker," is probably of this type, while that numbered 3, and called " The Darkies' Song," I have been able to trace with absolute certainty. The words and music were written about the second year of our Civil War (1862), under the name of " Kingdom Coming," by Henry C. Work, who died about two years ago. I have a letter from Mr. Geo. F. Root, of Chicago, in which he says, " Nothing can be more certain than that Mr. Work wrote the words and music of ' Kingdom Coming.' I published all his songs of those years, and always went over them with him before publication."
I send you the words of the song, which you will see corresponds with song No. 3 of the article referred to, though the latter omits several verses of the original. It may be of interest to know that during the early years of our war, as the sea-coast was taken possession of by the Northern navy-" de Linkum gunboats "-the whites fled, and left the negroes in full possession of the plantations on the shore and islands ; and that the word " countryman," as given in the Journal, is really "contraband "-a name given early in the war to coloured men who came into the Union lines, and who were detained there as "contraband of war," so that they need not be returned to their masters. This explains why the "massa," by getting tanned, could hope to be taken for a "contraband." The "moutstatch," which puzzled you in No. 3, is, as you will see, "muffstach," or "moustache."
Song No. 1 is evidently the introduction of a variety or minstrel show, and No. 6 is also probably of the same brood. I hope to be able later to send you further proof of the correctness of my opinion regarding Nos. 1 to 6. Song No. 5 has but little resemblance to the negro character, but I am not prepared to say whence it comes. Song No. 2 is the only one which appears to me to have distinctively negro characteristics; and of these characteristics, that of the chorus is one of the most noticeable. This frequent interposition of the chorus is very common in negro songs (as in some of the early English ballads and songs),
and is found constantly in those of a religious character. I send you copies of one or two of them, taken down from the mouths of negro boys and men at Hampton College (an industrial institution for the education of negroes and Indians), and published, in 1874, in Hampton and its Students, a volume which I will endeavour to obtain, and to send you for the library of the Society. I copy these, not, perhaps, as belonging to true folk-lore, but as giving an example of what is more nearly the true negro manner of song than anything I know.
SWING LOW, SWEET CHARIOT
"Oh, swing low, sweet chariot,
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Swing low, sweet chariot,
I don't want to leave me behind.
"Oh, de good ole chariot swing so low,
Good ole chariot, swing so low,
Oh, de good ole chariot swing so low,
I don't want to leave me behind.
"Oh, de good ole chariot will take us all home.
Good ole chariot take us all home,
Oh, de good ole chariot will take us all home,
I don't want to leave me behind.
Chorus. "Oh, swing low, sweet chariot," &c.
NOBODY KNOWS DE TROUBLE I'VE SEEN
"Oh, nobody knows de trouble I've seen,
Nobody knows but Jesus;
Nobody knows de trouble I've seen,
Glory, hallelujah !
"Sometimes I'm up, sometimes I'm down; oh, yes, Lord;
Sometimes I'm almost to de groun'; oh, yes, Lord;
Although you see us goin' 'long so; oh, yes, Lord;
I have my trials here below; oh, yes, Lord.
"One day when I was walkin' along; oh, yes, Lord;
De element opened an' de Love came down; oh, yes, Lord;
I never shall forget dat day; oh, yes, Lord;
When Jesus washed my sins away; oh, yes, Lord.
Chorus. "Oh, nobody knows de trouble I've seen," &c.
KINGDOM COMING
I. "Say, darkeys, hab you seen de massa
Wid de mufstash on his face,
Go 'long de road some time dis mornin',
Like he gwine to leab de place?
He seen a smoke, way up de ribber,
Whar de Linkum gunboats lay;
He took his hat, and lef' berry sudden,
An' I spec he's run away!
Chorus. " De massa run! ha-ha!
De darkey stay! ho-ho!
It mus' be now de kingdom comin',
An' de year ob jubilo.
II. "He six foot one way, two foot tudder,
An' he weigh tree hundred pound;
His coat so big, he couldn't pay de tailor,
An' it won't go half way round.
He drill so much dey call him Cap'an,
An' he got so drefful tann'd,
I 'spect he try an' fool dem Yankees
For to tink he's contraband.
Chorus.
III. "De darkeys feel so lonesome libing
In de log-house on de lawn,
Dey move der tings to massa's parlor
For to keep it while he's gone.
Dar's wine an' cider in de kitchen,
An' de darkey's dey'll hab some;
I 'spose dey'll all be confiscated
When de Linkum sojers come.
Chorus.
IV. "De oberseer he make us trouble,
An' he dribe us round a spell;
We lock him up in de smoke-house celler,
Wid de key trown in de well.
De whip is lost, de han' cuff broken,
But de massa '11 hab his pay;
He's ole enough, big enough, ought to know better
Dan to went an' run away."
Chorus.
CHARLES P. BOWDITCH.
28, State St., Boston, Mass., U.S.A.,
March 7th, 1887.