The African-American Roots
of Rock
1450-c.1850 Era of the Middle
Passage; by some estimates, 22 million Africans are transported as slaves to
the
Materials below are from the
Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture; The Alan Lomax
Collection; Ella Jenkins' African American Folk Rhythms;Slave
Songs, by Jerry Silverman, Chelsea House Publishers, 1994; and Slave
Songs of the United States, by William Francis Allen et al, Dover
Publications, (1995; first published 1867).
GAME SONGS, RING SHOUTS, SPIRITUALS, AND WORK SONGS
1) Seal Lion Woman (African) (:38)
2) Run, Nigger, Run (game song) (:42)
This song "speaks of the 'patrollers' who watched the roads in many parts of the South on the lookout for slaves who were away from their plantations without passes or who had overstayed the time allowed them in their passes for visits to neighboring plantations. The patrol system was set up partly to guard against slave uprisings."
3) Run, Old Jeremiah (shout; earliest type of Afro-American
religious song; you can hear sort of a rough call & response here; also a lot of the old African fireside) (
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By myself.
(5) |
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4) Choose Your Seat and Set Down (religious meeting; spiritual) (
5) Handwriting on the
Wall (religious meeting;
spiritual) (
6) Trouble So Hard (spiritual) (
7) No More Auction Block for Me (or Many Thousand Go) (spiritual) (
8) Wade in the Water (spiritual) (
9) Ol' Cotton-Eyed Joe (
Not on disk: Follow the Drinking
Gourd (spiritual)
(An example of a song with coded
meaning. The "drinking gourd" is the Big Dipper, and a directional aide for slaves in the Underground
Railroad)
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My old master promised me Chorus: Come along little
children, come along. |
My old mistress promised me, Yes, they both done promised
me |
10) Black Woman (work song) (
11) Old
12) Did You Feed My
Cow? (call and response work
song, here highly polished) (:041)
13) What Makes A Work
Song Leader? (prison
conversation) (
HOLLERS
"Out of this singing
style...the blues have developed. The listener will notice the same use of falsetto
stops, the same drop of the voice at the end of the lines that characterize the
blues. The singers generally do not refer to these work songs as singing at
all. They say they are 'just hollerin'" (Shirley
10).
"The words are improvised
each time the songs are sung, the lines coming out of a stock of phrases and
verses that have been sung before or else directly out of the immediate
thoughts of the singer. Each singer generally has his own melody or 'holler';
but these melodies are so free that each time the song is enunciated it is a
new recreation of the singer's feelings at the moment of performance. The
'hollers' on this record were recorded in the penitentiary and for this reason
the texts are colored by the thoughts of the convict."
14) Whoa Buck (lots of virtuoso improvising) (
15) Lost John (
16) I Don't Mind the
Weather (
17) Joe the Grinder ( one of the most mournful of these recordings; almost just moaning) (
i. O Lord, a few days longer, now, man. (3x)
ii. They call me Joe the Grinder, O baby.
iii. When I roll my long time down, I'm goin' home.
18) Tangle Eye Blues (
A holler by "a
cross-eyed prisoner whose mates had named him Tangle Eye." "Often
these tunes are kin to the blues, often they are composed of free yodeling
tones with African roots. The wild, free melodies permit the singers literally
to think and free-associate out loud."
VERY EARLY BLUES
Notice how elements of the
holler, work song, and spiritual can be heard in these early blues.
On Southern Journey disk, #7: Keep Your Lamps Trimmed (excellent example of spiritual leading into
blues. The lyrics are structured as blues verses but the piece is referred to
as a spiritual) (
19) Two White Horses (
This piece has a typical
blues stanza: one line repeated two or more times, followed by an end line. The
final word of the end line may, or may not, rhyme with the final word of the
previous lines. The presence of repeated lines harks back to the various
complex types of call-and-response (or leading and basing) in slave songs out
in the fields or at religious meetings. Also evident here, and
typical of blues verse, is a caesura (or pause) about mid-way through each
line.
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Now, two white horses standin' in a line. Did you ever hear that coffin
sound? Please dig my grave with a
silver spade. It's one kind favor I'll ask of you. |
Did you ever hear that church
bell tone? Now, two white horses standin' in a line. Did you ever hear a coffin
sound? |
20) Another Man Done Gone (
This is another of the very earliest blues (between 1890 and 1910). In this piece, one line is repeated four times in each stanza. This song is coded, about the escape of a negro from a chain gang. "I'm going to walk your log" = "I'm going to chastise you."
21) Boll Weevil Blues
(
CLASSIC BLUES AND RHYTHM & BLUES
22) If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day (Robert Johnson) (
If
I had possession over judgment day,
If I had possession over judgment
day.
Lord the little woman I'm lovin'
wouldn't have no right to pray.
And I went to the
mountain lookin' far as my eyes could see.
And I went to the mountain lookin'
far as my eyes could see.
Some other man got my woman and the lonesome blues
got me.
And I rolled an' I
tumbled and I cried the whole night long.
And I rolled an' I tumbled and I cried the whole
night long.
Boy, I woke up this mornin'
and my biscuit roller gone.
Had to fold my arms
and I slowly walked away.
[Spoken] (I didn't like the way she done.
Had to fold my arms and I slowly walked away.
I said in my mind, "Yo'
trouble gonna come some day."
Now run here baby,
set down on my knee.
Now run here baby, set down on my knee.
I wanna tell you all about
the way they treated me .
23)
Crossroad Blues (Robert Johnson) (
I went to the crossroads, fell
down on my knees.
I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees.
Asked the Lord above, have mercy now, save poor Bob if you please.
Standin'
at the crossroads, tried to flag a ride. I tried to flag a ride.
Didn't nobody seem to know me, everybody passed me by.
Standin' at the crossroads, risin' sun goin'
down.
Standin' at the crossroads baby, the risin' sun goin' down.
I believe to my soul
now, po' Bob is sinkin'
down.
You can run, you can run, tell my friend Willie Brown.
You can run, you can run, tell my friend Willie Brown.
That I got the crossroad blues this mornin', Lord,
I'm sinkin' down.
I went to the
crossroad, mama, I looked east and west.
I went to the crossroad, babe, I looked east and west.
Lord, I didn't have no sweet woman, ooh well, babe, in my distress.
Crossroad Blues (alternate version) (not on disk)
I went to the
crossroad, fell down on my knees.
I went to the crossroad, fell down on my knees.
Asked the lord above, "Have mercy, save poor Bob, if you
please."
Mmmmm, standin' at the
crossroad, I tried to flag a ride.
Standin' at the crossroad, I tried to flag a ride.
Didn't nobody seem to know me, everybody pass me by.
Mmmm, the sun goin' down,
boy, dark gon' catch me here.
Dark gon' catch me here.
I haven't got no lovin'
sweet woman that love and feel my care.
You can run, you can run, tell
my friend-boy Willie Brown.
You can run, tell my friend-boy Willie Brown.
Lord I'm standin' at the crossroad, babe, I believe
I'm sinkin' down.
24) Country Blues (Muddy Waters) (
An' it's gettin'
late over in the evenin', chile,
I feel like blowin' my horn,
I woke up this mornin', find my baby gone.
Late up in the evenin', man, I feel like blowin' my horn.
Well, I woke up this mornin', baby, find my little
baby gone.
Well, now, some folks say the
worried ol' blues ain 't
bad.
That's the miseriest feelin',
child, I most ever had.
Some folks tell me, man, that the worried ol' blues ain 't bad.
Well, that's the miseriest ol'
feelin', honey now, I most ever had.
Well, brook's runnin' into
the ocean, the ocean runnin' into the sea.
If I don't find my baby, somebody gonna bury me.
Well, brook's runnin' into the ocean, the ocean runnin' into the sea.
If I don't find my baby, somebody gonna bury me.
Yes, minutes seem like hours an'
hours seem like days.
Seems like my baby would stop her lowdown ways.
Minutes seem like hours, chil', an' hours seem like
days.
Yes, seems like my woman, now, she might stop her lowdown ways.
Well, now, I'm leavin' this morning, if I hadda
ride the blinds.*
I feel mistreated, girl, you know now I don't mind dyin'—ha!
Leavin' this mornin', if I hadda ride the blinds.
Yes, I been mistreated baby, now, an' I don't mind dyin'.
· "To go on the bum; to hobo."
25) I's Be Troubled (Muddy Waters) (
Not on disk: Chauffeur's
Blues (Lightnin'
You're lookin' happy, baby, drivin'
around in your brand new automobile.
You're lookin' happy, baby,
drivin' around in your brand new automobile.
You know I seen you, baby, I seen your handsome
driver at the wheel.
I don't mean to
cause no trouble; Baby can I drive sometime?
She says, "Your chauffeur's a good chauffeur,
Daddy, no, but he ain 't
like mine, like mine."
C'mon on and get me. Mama, let's go and have some fun.
I just wanna see Mama with
that new car on.
Everything would be
all right 'long about the break of dawn.
I see you drivin' around, Mama, in your brand new
automobile. (2x)
You're lookin' happy, baby,
with your handsome driver at the wheel.
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I woke up this mornin' with an awful achin'
head Bought me a coffee grinder,
got the best one I could find He's a deep sea diver with a
stroke that can't go wrong He knows how to thrill me and
he thrills me night and day Lord, he's got that sweet somethin', and I told my gal friend Lou When my bed get empty, make me
feel awful mean and blue |
Bought him a blanket, pillow
for his head at night He came home one evening with
his spirit way up high He gave me a lesson that I
never had before He boiled my first cabbage and
he made it awful hot When you get good lovin', never go and spread the news |
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Not on disk: Wild
Women Don't Have the Blues
(Ida Cox) I've got a disposition and a
way of my own, |
You
never get nothing by being an angel child, |
26) Hound Dog (Big Mama Thornton) (rhythm
& blues) (
You ain’t nuthin’ but a hounddog, quit snoopin’ around my
door.
You ain’t nuthin’ but a hounddog, been snoopin’ around my
door.
Well you can wag your tail but I ain’t gonna feed you no more.
You told me you was high class, but I can see through that.
You told me you was high class, but I can see through
that.
And daddy I know you ain’t no
real cool cat.
Ah play it. You know you make me
feel good.
Ah don’t mess around. I’ll wag your tail.
Ah get it. You’re an old hound dog.
You made me feel so blue, you made me weep and moan.
You made me feel so blue, yeah you made me weep and
moan.
Cuz you ain’t lookin’ for a woman—all you’re lookin’
is for a whore.
27) Hound Dog (Elvis's version; author unknown) (
You ain 't nuthin' but a hound dog, cryin' all the time.
You ain 't nuthin' but a
hound dog, cryin' all the time.
Well you never caught a rabbit, and you ain 't no
friend of mine.
Well you know
you said you was high class; well that was just a lie.
Well you know you said you was high class; well that was just a lie.
Well you never caught a rabbit, you ain 't no friend of mine.