THE TRUE NEGRO MUSIC AND ITS DECLINE 1723 m f ntombmt Vol. LV NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1903 No 2851 The True Negro Music and Its Decline By Jeannette Robinson Murphy [Mrs. Murphy is, of course, a Southerner. She has therefore been familiar with the negro from chiidhood. During the past few years she has earned an enviable reputation as a portrayer of negro music and character before Northern audiences, and those of us who have heard her would not hesitate to accord her the very foremost rank of negro foils lorists. — Editor.] SOME day we who are so fortunate as to have been rocked to sleep on the broad, tender bosoms of old black mammies will be the envy of our great-grandchildren. There is a danger that they will clamor in vain for truthful representation of those old days when loving black tyrants ruled and reigned over their broods of white nurslings, and claimed, with the mothers, the hearts and fealty of their confiding charges. These trustworthy old retainers, but a few years ago so universally known and loved throughout our great Southland, are rapidly being replaced by a far less worthy class, and, with them, their quaint customs are fast disappearing and their soul-stirring songs becoming obsolete. It would seem that we of this generation owe it to posterity to see that the genuine African music be handed down in all its purity. Many people in America to-day, not discerning the wealth and beauty of the true negro songs, not only tolerate the manufactured " coon songs," but fail to recognize their spurious quality, and per- mit these attempted imitations with which the country is flooded to pass un- challenged as the true article. Even poets of the colored race are adding to this great wrong, and are creating a false, flippant new song to be put into the mouths of a guiltless people. There are writers whose vaporings at- tract attention, and who think nothing of composing so-called negro songs and passing them off on a credulous public, confident that their careless readers can- not tell the counterfeit from the genuine music. The only plan which will effectually preserve the old slave music in all its beauty, its power, its quaint and irresist- ible swing will be for' the negroes them- selves, by the aid of skilled annotists, by phonographs and by every art available, to awaken to the real value of this won- 1/24 THE INDEPENDENT derful music. They alone can work in every corner of the unique and varied field, creating a new interest among their race alike in their camp meeting " spirit- uals," the crooning lullabies of the nur- sery and the roustabout songs of the river. The sporadic efforts of a few far see- ing negroes will avail little. The negro preachers over the entire South should be encouraged to lead in this grand work. Our judicious praise of their " spirit- uals " might do much to prolong their life, but without united effort on our part looking to that end, and an increased in- terest and desire on theirs to sing those songs, they must surely die. Their songs, which need no instrumental aid of any kind, are even now, in our iconoclastic cities, being supplanted by hymns from regular English hymn books, to the ac- companiment of an organ — an innovation to be deplored, since this new singing is not to be compared in heart power to their own spontaneous outpourings. There never yet has been a song which could touch the heart more in evangelis- tic meetings than their beautiful " Prod- de prod -i -gal son he left liome, by. 2 Faddcr, gib mo ma portion ob goods, by myself, by myself, Fadder, gib me ma portion ob ma goods, Fadder gib me ma portion ob goods, by myself. 3 And I'll go into de country, by myself, by myself, And I'll go into de country. And I'll go into de country, by my.self. 4 An' he wasted all he libbcn, by himself, by him.sclf. An' he wasted all he libben. An' he wasted all he libben, by himself. 5 An' de Prodigal Son he got hungry, by liimself, by luinself, An' de Prodigal Son he got hungry, An' de Prodigal Son he got hungry, by himself. 6 An' de Prodigal Son returned, by himself, by himself, An' de Prodigal Son returned. An' de Prodigal Son returned, by himself. 7 Wid no .shoes upon his feet, by himself, by himself, Wid no coat upon his back, Wid no hat upon his head, by himself. 8 An' de Prodigal Son made merry, by himself, by liimself, An' do Prodigal Son made merr^-, An' de Prodigal Son made merry, bj' himself. 9 AVid de shoes upon his feet, by himself, by him.self, An' dey put de rings on his fingers. An' dey killed de fatted calf, by himself. 10 An' dey crucitied my Jesus, by himself, t)y himself, An' dey crucified my Jesus, An' dey crucified my Jesus, by himself. *11 An' de Prodigal Sou was lonely, by himself, l)y him.sclf. An' my Je.sus Ilim was lonely. An' de CnrLstian liim am lonely, by iumself. ^(f If the leading singer is in a hurry, lie will sing Ihree verses in one. ited number of verses. This . ^^ ^-t^ :W: - P ■ * -^ — ^ i=tt She's loaded down with timber. She's loaded down witii tim - ber, Slie's ^- ^^ -A ^. > J>^— N- ^.^^^^ loaded down with tim - ber. She's loaded down with tim-ber, a- Hal-le -In! ^ It's all gos- pel tim - ber. It'? all gos - i)el tim - ber, It's /TV ?=- r r^ l *— ^ ^ — •— "— • — •- all gos - pel tim - ber. It's all gos - pel tim - ber, a Hal - le - In ' i -p^- -#-^—5- 1^^ Git yer tick - et read - y. Git yer tick - et read - y, s ^— i^^N- N— l- Dt=^ ^ S^t^^E^te^ Git yer tick- et read - y. Git yer tick-et read - y, a - Hal - le - lu ! m m S^^E^^ -#— •- -I — I — 0- fj Shout trouble o ber, Shout trou - ble o - ber. —0--^0 • H-" — J- Shout trou-ble o - ber, Shout trou-ble o - ber, a - Hal - le - lu ! 1726 THE INDEPENDENT igal Son," with its winding, appealing measures and soul-satisfying, plaintive words, words which tell out the whole beautiful Bible story. In this song alone there are sometimes rendered fully one hundred different verses, all used, it would seem, according to the mood and the inspiration of the leading singer. This " spiritual," like all of their oth- ers, is sung differently in every locality, and furthermore, no negro ever sings the same song twice in just the same way. The version of " The Prodigal Son," singers hit any note that comes easiest, and the great chorus of worshipers glo- riously join in with them, singing the remainder of the tune in a higher or a lower key, generally a higher. This song has no refrain, which is a rarity, for most of their " spirituals " have very stirring and plaintive refrains. In the fascinating " Sinners, Yer Walkin' on er Slender Stran'," the words and melody are used for the body of the song and also for the refrain, the words to the first verse being repeated for the latter. (See below.) ffil -L^ — • — « -j — m — + — m- — N- -± m 1. Sin- nail! yer walk -in' on cr sk-n - der stnui' Shall T. ^ — IV N 1 1- I (:5 1 0- -H-# * "——•- • *^ -I -«— 0-^ ^ #-l Sin - nail! yer walk -in' on or f > > ^^ "^ 1 r 1 * • Li '^ ' ^ *< ' 9 - m m * Some - times my troub - les make trem - ble, trem - ble, trem be bur - ied storm. 2 I dont want ter cross de red sea by myself, by myself, I dont want ter cross de red sea by myself, by my.self. — Ref. 3 Dont you lieali dem ho.s.ses feet, Slippin' an er slidin' on de golden street? — Ref. 4 When I gits on ma golden shoes, Gwine trot about Hebben and shout de news. — Ref. 5 Some .say Peter, an er some .say Paul, Alut but one Gawd sabe us all. — Ref. Note.— Fi'fquently sung while washing windows. Since this hymn is not infrequently employed by servants while washing windows, an interested listener has a fine opportunity to catch every syllable and typical quirk, for we all know that the negro servant, if left alone to " sing and git happy," will occupy an hour or more in the cleaning of a single window. It is often stated that there is a con- tinuous note of sadness running through all the negro music, and that the songs are usually in minor keys. I should say, on the contrary, that the majority of them are in the major keys, and that there is a ring of jollity, wild abandon and uni- versal happiness in most of them. There are doleful passages occurring occasion- ally, and some sad minor songs, but even This seems to be characteristic of the Irish race, while, on the contrary, we find the old aunties and uncles repeatedly dropping the voice even two octaves. An example of this is given on page 1730, in that most fascinating of all their lullabies, " A Christmas Song." " Mary, What Yer Gwine er Name Dat Purty Leetle Baby ? " The old maniiny did not quite under- stand the meaning of that verse in Isaiah (9, 6) where he says: "And the gov- ernment shall be upon his shoulder." So she reasons it out that some one is rid- ing the baby Jesus on her shoulders and " calling Him dare Governor." It is a pretty conceit, the way she carries out the whole touching song. I730 THE INDEPENDENT We can easily imagine inquisitive shepherds and adoring wise men asking the Virgin Mary what she intends to name her precious little baby. We can see her hesitate, since she had been told he was to be called " Jesus," " Son of God " and also " Son of the Highest." So the mammy thinks, with all these prophecies concerning the naming of the baby, it must be finally left with the They surely must have some occult te- lepathy among them, for they never make mistakes — viz., some singing one verse and some another. The old slave loved best the miracu- lous points and dramatic passages in the Bible, and if the negro could be trained along his natural lines, and his race blood kept perfectly pure, there would come some day from this people one of the 2 Mary, what yer gwine er name dal. jnirty lectlc baby? Uiii, (iat jniily lectlc baby? Um, liat piirty leetle baby? Glory be to yer new-bawn King! — Ref. 3 Some calls 'Im one ting, I link I'll call 'Im Jesus, Um, I fink I'll call 'Im Jesus, Um, I link I'll call 'Im Jesus, Glory be to ray new-bawn King! — Ref. 4 Some calls I'm one ting, I link I'll call I'm 'Manuel, Um, I link I'll call I'm ']\Ianuel, Um, I link I'll call I'm Manuel, Glory be to my new-bawn King! — Ref. f) Dey's ridin' 'Im on dare shoulders and callin' 'Im dare Governor! Um, and callin' 'Im dare Governor! Um, and callin' 'Im dare Governor! Glory be to my new-bawn King! — Rep. 6 Mary, what yer gwine cr name dat purty leetle baby? Um, dat purty leetle baby? Um, dat jnirty leetle baby? Glory be to yer new-bawn King! — Ref. 7 Um, I link Ise gwine cr call 'Im Free Salvation, Um, Free Salvation, Um, Free Salvation, Glory be to my new-baw^n King! — Ref. N. E.— Note two peculiarities of negro liymnology; viz. tlie repetition of the same line three times, ami the occasional tran.sposition of a few bars to a lower or higher octave. Blessed Mary to decide. The negroes will sing a great many answers to this most natural question, giving the in- numerable names by which the Son of God was called until the satisfactory name is reached, which distinguishes Christianity from all ther religions. They all seem to know by the most won- derful instinct every " spiritual " which was ever born. Let a colored stranger from Kentucky go to a Louisiana church and begin to sing a new song ; none of those present may ever have heard this song, and yet in a few moments they are all singing and patting it like mad, and the inost singular, inexplicable thing about it is that each member of the con- gregation seems to know almost to a man as quickly as the singer himself exactly what words he is going to sing. No " lining out " is ever practiced in their singing; only with the "hymn book hymns " is this quaint custom followed. greatest orators, one of the greatest ac- tors, one of the greatest romance writ- ers, and surely the very greatest musi- cian who ever lived. But side by side with the too highly civilized white race the negro must in time have eliminated from him all his God-given best instincts and so fail ut- terly. For are they not already ashamed in our large cities of their old African music? They should be taught that slavery, with its occasional abuses, was simply a valuable training in their evolu- tion from savagery, and not look upon their bondage and their slave music with shame. For during that period these songs could develop because the negro was kept in such perfect segregation, and his instincts and talents had full play. He received then those things which he needed most — viz., work for his hands and God's revealed Word for his hea't and mind. Nbw York City.