Alan Lomax Archive, Jan 17, 2011
Bessie Jones, lead vocal, with Nat Rahmings, drum; Hobart Smith, banjo; Ed Young, fife; and John Davis, Henry Morrison, Albert Ramsay, and Emma Ramsay, vocals. Recorded by Alan Lomax in Williamsburg, Virginia. April 28, 1959. From "Wave the Ocean, Wave the Sea," one of five albums commemorating the 50th anniversary of Lomax's "Southern Journey" field recording trip. Released in 2010 digitally by Global Jukebox (GJ 1001) and on LP by Mississippi Records (MR 057).
Lomax's "Southern Journey" field recording trip ended in October of 1959, but by April of the next year Alan was back recording in the South, this time in the capacity of music supervisor to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's film, Music of Williamsburg. The aim was to recreate the sound of African American music as it might have been heard in Colonial Williamsburg, and, according to a strikingly progressive 1962 press release from the Foundation, "to portray the important contributions of the Negro race to the nation's heritage." Lomax assembled a novel cast, comprised of many musicians he'd recorded several months earlier, and drawn from disparate locales. Ed Young came north from Como, Mississippi, to provide the necessary fife-blowing. Hobart Smith traveled east from Saltville, Virginia, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with his four-string banjo and a clawhammer technique learned, in part, from an African American. Nat Rahmings, a Bahamian drummer and drum-maker, was brought in from Miami. And the Georgia Sea Island Singers were the vocal group at the ensemble's core. After filming was completed, Lomax wrote, the "musicians stayed on for what turned out to be a day of extraordinary music-making and musical cross-fertilization." Alan had turned up this tune years before, having gone looking for the oldest published black dance songs in Virginia----its references to the drinking gourd evince its slavery-time origin----and he taught it to the group. "I cannot swear to the authenticity of this reconstructed material," Lomax continued. "But the musically conservative Sea Island singers gave it their enthusiastic approval." The Foundation approved of it too, and featured it in the film.
Lomax's "Southern Journey" field recording trip ended in October of 1959, but by April of the next year Alan was back recording in the South, this time in the capacity of music supervisor to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's film, Music of Williamsburg. The aim was to recreate the sound of African American music as it might have been heard in Colonial Williamsburg, and, according to a strikingly progressive 1962 press release from the Foundation, "to portray the important contributions of the Negro race to the nation's heritage." Lomax assembled a novel cast, comprised of many musicians he'd recorded several months earlier, and drawn from disparate locales. Ed Young came north from Como, Mississippi, to provide the necessary fife-blowing. Hobart Smith traveled east from Saltville, Virginia, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with his four-string banjo and a clawhammer technique learned, in part, from an African American. Nat Rahmings, a Bahamian drummer and drum-maker, was brought in from Miami. And the Georgia Sea Island Singers were the vocal group at the ensemble's core. After filming was completed, Lomax wrote, the "musicians stayed on for what turned out to be a day of extraordinary music-making and musical cross-fertilization." Alan had turned up this tune years before, having gone looking for the oldest published black dance songs in Virginia----its references to the drinking gourd evince its slavery-time origin----and he taught it to the group. "I cannot swear to the authenticity of this reconstructed material," Lomax continued. "But the musically conservative Sea Island singers gave it their enthusiastic approval." The Foundation approved of it too, and featured it in the film.
****
Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest revision: September 28, 2024
Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest revision: September 28, 2024
This pancocojams post presents information aand speculation about the Black American song "Reg'lar, Reg'lar Rollin' Under" (also known as "Give Me The Gourd".)
Lyrics and sound files of this song are also included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the unknown composer(s) of the song "Reg'lar, Reg'lar Rollin' Under" and thanks to the singers and musicians who performed it on these showcased examples. Thanks also to all those who were associated with this recording, all those who published these sound files on YouTube, and all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Thanks to jillian mary for her comment below that "Reg'lar, Reg'lar Rollin' Under" ("Give Me The Gourd") was first recorded sung by both Aunt Florida Hampton and Hettie Godfrey (two different version) in 1939 and 1940 in Livingston Alabama.
***
PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S COMMENTS
I've read that the song "Reg'lar, Reg'lar Rollin' Under" (also known as "Give Me The Gourd" is an old Virginia Black dance song, and/or a game song, and/or a "slavery song".
"A slavery song" could be a dance song and/or a game song. Perhaps the only reason why no one has categorized "Reg'lar, Reg'lar Rollin' Under" as a religious song is because its lyrics have no religious references.
Then again, "Reg'lar, Reg'lar Rollin Under" might not be a slavery song at all. Read the quote from Alan Lomax Archive, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcRB062Ay1M, in the summary for the video given as Example #1 above.
Here's a quote regarding White American folk song collector Alan Lomax: "Alan had turned up this tune years before*, having gone looking for the oldest published black dance songs in Virginia----its references to the drinking gourd evince its slavery-time origin----and he taught it to the group."
References to drinking gourds aren't enough evidence that a song has a "slavery time origin". And if that statement alludes to the relatively well known song "escape from slavery" song "Follow The Drinking Gourd", there are a number of people-including me-that believe that song to be historically inauthentic. Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/10/excerpts-from-book-follow-drinking.html for Part II of a three part pancocojams series about "Follow The Drinking Gourd".
I think it's more likely that "Reg'lar, Reg'lar Rollin" ("Give Me The Gourd") is a song that was composed in the mid 20th century. Notice that in that quote from Alan Lomax Archive, Lomax had some doubts about whether "Reg'lar, Reg'lar Rollin" was really a Black American slavery song, saying "I cannot swear to the authenticity of this reconstructed material," Lomax continued. "But the musically conservative Sea Island singers gave it their enthusiastic approval." The Foundation approved of it too, and featured it in the film.
Regardless of whether "Reg'lar, Reg'lar Rollin" ("Give Me The Gourd") is an authentic Black slavery song or is instead a post slavery dance song that is modeled after a ring shout"**, that song still rocks, or -as I think people are still saying now- it's still fire.
-snip-
*Commenter jillian mary wrote that Alan Lomax probably heard this song from either or both Aunt Florida Hampton and Hettie Godfrey in 1939 and 1940 in Livingston, Alabama.
*A dance ring that is modeled after a ring shout" is somewhat of a contradiction since shouters absolutely don't dance.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT AND LYRICS FOR THE SONG "REG'LAR, REG'LAR ROLLIN' UNDER" ("Give Me The Gourd")
From http://research.culturalequity.org/get-audio-detailed-recording.do?recordingId=6348
Title :: Give Me The Gourd (Reg'lar, Reg'lar, Rollin' Under)
Genre :: game song, slavery song
Performers & Instruments ::
Wood, Hally [vocal]
Setting :: Probably at Hally Wood's home at or near the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras
Location :: Rio Piedras (San Juan), Puerto Rico (United States)
Language :: English
Culture :: Southern U.S., Anglo-American, Texas
Session :: Rio Piedras 5/60
Date :: 5/23/1960
Reference Information :: T943.0, Track 19 (00:01:15)
Original Format :: Reel to Reel
Recording Notes :: [lyrics]
Reglar, reglar rolling under,
Gimme the gourd to drink water Reglar,
reglar rolling under, Gimme the gourd to drink water.
I don't want no gopher snow water,
Gimme the gourd to drink water
I don't want no gopher snow water,
Gimme the gourd to drink water.
According to Bessie Jones "during slavery, white people on the plantation drank out of glass dippers, and they forbade their slaves to drink out of those dippers. The slaves made dippers out of gourds and the water in the gourd dipper was cooler than the water in the glass dipper. 'Gopher snow water' is another way of saying white people's water. 'Reglar reglar rolling under' is a response to a greeting inquiring how you are doing. Someone would come in the house and you'd asked them how they were doing, and they would say, 'Ah -reglar rolling under,' meaning . . . I am being rolled under by the wheel of life. And in this phrase you get the feeling of trouble or challenge of one's daily life just turning you under, and in that turning, in spite of it all, you are still moving." –If You Don’t Go, Don't Hinder Me: The African American Sacred Song Tradition* by Bernice Johnson Reagon ( University of Nebraska Press, 2001).
-snip-
An audio file of Hally Wood singing "Reg'lar, Reg'lar Under" is included on this page.
*Title corrected – That title was incorrectly given in this article as -"Ycu Don't Go, Don't Hinder Me: The African American Sacred Song Tradition".
****
Song: Reg'lar, Reg'lar, Rolling Under
Monkey D. Sound, Sep 7, 2018
Artist: Bessie Jones
Album: Wave the Ocean, Wave the Sea: Alan Lomax's "Southern Journey," 1959—1960
-snip-
This is the same recording that is found above, but the sound seems clearer.
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S COMMENTS
I've read that the song "Reg'lar, Reg'lar Rollin' Under" (also known as "Give Me The Gourd" is an old Virginia Black dance song, and/or a game song, and/or a "slavery song".
"A slavery song" could be a dance song and/or a game song. Perhaps the only reason why no one has categorized "Reg'lar, Reg'lar Rollin' Under" as a religious song is because its lyrics have no religious references.
Then again, "Reg'lar, Reg'lar Rollin Under" might not be a slavery song at all. Read the quote from Alan Lomax Archive, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcRB062Ay1M, in the summary for the video given as Example #1 above.
Here's a quote regarding White American folk song collector Alan Lomax: "Alan had turned up this tune years before*, having gone looking for the oldest published black dance songs in Virginia----its references to the drinking gourd evince its slavery-time origin----and he taught it to the group."
References to drinking gourds aren't enough evidence that a song has a "slavery time origin". And if that statement alludes to the relatively well known song "escape from slavery" song "Follow The Drinking Gourd", there are a number of people-including me-that believe that song to be historically inauthentic. Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/10/excerpts-from-book-follow-drinking.html for Part II of a three part pancocojams series about "Follow The Drinking Gourd".
I think it's more likely that "Reg'lar, Reg'lar Rollin" ("Give Me The Gourd") is a song that was composed in the mid 20th century. Notice that in that quote from Alan Lomax Archive, Lomax had some doubts about whether "Reg'lar, Reg'lar Rollin" was really a Black American slavery song, saying "I cannot swear to the authenticity of this reconstructed material," Lomax continued. "But the musically conservative Sea Island singers gave it their enthusiastic approval." The Foundation approved of it too, and featured it in the film.
Regardless of whether "Reg'lar, Reg'lar Rollin" ("Give Me The Gourd") is an authentic Black slavery song or is instead a post slavery dance song that is modeled after a ring shout"**, that song still rocks, or -as I think people are still saying now- it's still fire.
-snip-
*Commenter jillian mary wrote that Alan Lomax probably heard this song from either or both Aunt Florida Hampton and Hettie Godfrey in 1939 and 1940 in Livingston, Alabama.
*A dance ring that is modeled after a ring shout" is somewhat of a contradiction since shouters absolutely don't dance.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT AND LYRICS FOR THE SONG "REG'LAR, REG'LAR ROLLIN' UNDER" ("Give Me The Gourd")
From http://research.culturalequity.org/get-audio-detailed-recording.do?recordingId=6348
Title :: Give Me The Gourd (Reg'lar, Reg'lar, Rollin' Under)
Genre :: game song, slavery song
Performers & Instruments ::
Wood, Hally [vocal]
Setting :: Probably at Hally Wood's home at or near the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras
Location :: Rio Piedras (San Juan), Puerto Rico (United States)
Language :: English
Culture :: Southern U.S., Anglo-American, Texas
Session :: Rio Piedras 5/60
Date :: 5/23/1960
Reference Information :: T943.0, Track 19 (00:01:15)
Original Format :: Reel to Reel
Recording Notes :: [lyrics]
Reglar, reglar rolling under,
Gimme the gourd to drink water Reglar,
reglar rolling under, Gimme the gourd to drink water.
I don't want no gopher snow water,
Gimme the gourd to drink water
I don't want no gopher snow water,
Gimme the gourd to drink water.
According to Bessie Jones "during slavery, white people on the plantation drank out of glass dippers, and they forbade their slaves to drink out of those dippers. The slaves made dippers out of gourds and the water in the gourd dipper was cooler than the water in the glass dipper. 'Gopher snow water' is another way of saying white people's water. 'Reglar reglar rolling under' is a response to a greeting inquiring how you are doing. Someone would come in the house and you'd asked them how they were doing, and they would say, 'Ah -reglar rolling under,' meaning . . . I am being rolled under by the wheel of life. And in this phrase you get the feeling of trouble or challenge of one's daily life just turning you under, and in that turning, in spite of it all, you are still moving." –If You Don’t Go, Don't Hinder Me: The African American Sacred Song Tradition* by Bernice Johnson Reagon ( University of Nebraska Press, 2001).
-snip-
An audio file of Hally Wood singing "Reg'lar, Reg'lar Under" is included on this page.
*Title corrected – That title was incorrectly given in this article as -"Ycu Don't Go, Don't Hinder Me: The African American Sacred Song Tradition".
****
Song: Reg'lar, Reg'lar, Rolling Under
Monkey D. Sound, Sep 7, 2018
Artist: Bessie Jones
Album: Wave the Ocean, Wave the Sea: Alan Lomax's "Southern Journey," 1959—1960
-snip-
This is the same recording that is found above, but the sound seems clearer.
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This song was recorded sung by both Aunt Florida Hampton and Hettie Godfrey (two different version) in 1939 and 1940 in Livingston AL -- that is probably how Alan Lomax learned it. http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/southern-recording-trip-2--john--ruby-lomax-1939.aspx https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1940003_afs04018a/
ReplyDeletejillian mary, thanks for your comment.
DeleteI apologize that I'm just reading it more than two months later when I happened to click on a YouTube sound file of one of the examples in this post.
Thanks for sharing that information.
Best wishes!
As a result of reading jillian mary's comment, I revised some of what I had originally written in this post.
DeleteThanks again, jillian mary!