19th Century African American Spiritual/Ring Shout "You Got A Right To The Tree Of Life" (also known as "Run, Mary Run") -Part I: Information & Lyrics

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series on the 19th century African American Spiritual/Ring Shout "You Got A Right To The Tree Of Life" (also known as "Run, Mary Run" and "Ain't You Got A Right To The Tree Of Life").

Part I presents information about and a few text (word only) versions of the 19th century Southern African American Spiritual/Ring Shout "You Got A Right To The tree Of Life" (also known as "Run, Mary Run" and "Ain't You Got A Right To The Tree Of Life").

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/04/19th-century-african-american_86.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. Part II showcases several YouTube examples about the religious song "You Got A Right To The Tree Of Life" (also known as "Run, Mary Run" and "Ain't You Got A Right To The Tree Of Life").

Selected comments from one of these video's discussion thread are also included in that post.

The Addendum to that post presents information about the Gullah Geechee people, the population of African Americans who are most often associated with the ring shout.

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The content of this post is presented for folkloric and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the unknown composer/s) of this song. Thanks also to the collectors of versions of this song and the known adapters/arrangers of this song and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

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INFORMATION AND SEVERAL LYRIC EXAMPLES OF THE SONG "YOU GOT A RIGHT TO THE TREE OF LIFE" (ALSO KNOWN AS "RUN MARY RUN" & "AIN'T YOU GOT A RIGHT TO THE TREE OF LIFE"

This post only features a few versions of this song.

These examples are given in relative chronological order with the oldest documented date given first.
Version #1 (with an excerpt from this article)
From http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/ain%E2%80%99t-you-got-a-right-to-the-tree-of-life--versions.aspx

You Got A Right/Run Mary Run/Ain't You Got a Right to the Tree of Life

Traditional Old-Time Spiritual;

ARTIST: Senior Lights from Johns Island, South Carolina (Bernice Johnson Reagon)/ People of St. John Island (Carawan)/Ashley Bryant

[...]

DATE: 1900s; First Recorded

[...]

Guy Carawan, wrote the book, Ain't You Got a Right to the Tree of Life?: The People of Johns Island from his stay on St. John's Island in the late 1950s and ealry 1960s. It was reissued in 1989. Sheet music Carawan: http://books.google.com/books?id=_JB9WDAfK_wC&pg=PA170&lpg=PP1&dq=right+to+the+tree+of+life+Carawan&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html

Ain't You Got a Right to the Tree of Life? The People of Johns Island

Leader: Hey Lord
Chorus: Ain't You Got a Right
Leader: Hey Lord
Chorus: Ain't You Got a Right
Leader: Hey Lord
Chorus: Ain't You Got a Right
All: Ain't you got a right to the Tree of Life?

Leader: Tell my Mother
Chorus: Ain't You Got a Right
Leader: Tell my Mother
Chorus: Ain't You Got a Right
Leader: Tell my Mother
Chorus: Ain't You Got a Right
All: Ain't you got a right to the Tree of Life?

Leader: Tell my father
Chorus: Ain't You Got a Right
Leader: Tell my father
Chorus: Ain't You Got a Right
Leader: Tell my father
Chorus: Ain't You Got a Right
All: Ain't you got a right to the Tree of Life?

[Repeat first stanza]

Senior Lights from John's Island do a version [see below]* of the song titled, Run Mary Run. The song in different form is found in Scarborough 1925 (as a chorus) and Johnson 1926 as a song with a different tag: "I know de oder worl' 'm not like dis" instead of "You got a right to the tree of life." "
-snip-
*That version is given as examples 1a or 1b below.


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Version #2a
From https://www.negrospirituals.com/songs/run_mary_run.htm
"from “The Book of American Negro Spirituals” by J. W. Johnson, J. R. Johnson, 1926
"RUN, MARY, RUN
Run, Mary, run
Run, Mary, run
Oh, run, Mary, run
I know de udder world is not like dis

Fire in de Eas’ an’ fire in de Wes’
I know de udder world is not like dis
Boun’ to burn de wilderness

I know de udder world is not like dis
Jordan river is a river to cross
I know de udder world is not like dis
Stretch yo’ rod an’ come across
I know de udder world is not like dis

Swing low, sweet chariot into de Eas’
I know de udder world is not like dis
Let God’s children have some peace
I know de udder world is not like dis
Swing low, sweet chariot in de Wes
I know de udder world is not like dis
Let God’s children have some res’
I know de udder world is not like dis

Swing low, sweet chariot in de Norf
I know de udder world is not like dis
Give me de gol’ widout de dross
I know de udder world is not like dis
Swing low, sweet chariot in de Sou’
I know de udder world is not like dis
Let God’s children sing and shout
I know de udder world is not like dis

If it was de judgment day
I know de udder world is not like dis
Ev’ry sinner would want to pray
I know de udder world is not like dis
Ol’ trouble it come like a gloomy cloud
I know de udder world is not like dis
Gadder thick an’ thunder loud
I know de udder world is not like dis"

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Version 2b
From https://www.negrospirituals.com/songs/run_mary_run.htm
"RUN, MARY, RUN
Fire in the east and fire in the west
I know the other world is not like this
Bound to burn the wilderness
I know the other world is not like this

Run, Mary, run
Run, Mary, run
Oh, run, Mary, run
I know the other world is not like this

Jordan's river is a river to cross
I know the other world is not like this
Stretch your rod and come across
I know the other world is not like this"

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Version #3a & 3b
From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=98303 Lyr Add: More African American Spirituals
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: You Got A Right
From: Azizi
Date: 22 Jan 07 - 06:27 PM

"YOU GOT A RIGHT

You got a right
I got a right
We all got a right to the tree of life
Yes, tree of life.

The very time I thought I was lost
The dungeon shook
and the chain fell off.
O bretheren

You may hinder me here
But you can not there
'Cause God in heaven
going to answer prayer"

Ashley Bryant "I'm Going To Sing-Black American Spirituals Volume II." {New York, Atheneum, 1982; p. 47

-snip-

See what might be a related song:
"Aint You Got A Right"
Digitrad
@displaysong.cfm?SongID=165
https://mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=165 https://mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=165
"AIN'T YOU GOT A RIGHT

Ain't you got a right
Ain't you got a right
Ain't you got a right
Ain't you got a right
Ain't you got a right
Ain't you got a right
To the tree of life

Go tell my brothers
Go tell my sisters

You come from a distance
I know you've had a hard time

So rocky was the road
So tedious was the journey"

There's almost certainly more to this. Guy and Candy Carawan
adapted it from an old Southern hymn. JN
-snip-
"The Digitrad" (also known as the "Dt" & "The Digital Tradition" is a collection of song lyrics for (mostly American & European) folk songs. With regard to that collection, the referent "folk songs" includes African American Spirituals.

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Version #3c
From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=98303 Lyr Add: More African American Spirituals
From: Azizi
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 11:54 PM

"Run, Mary, Run

Run, Mary, run,
Run, Martha, run,
Tell, Mary, run, I say,
You got a right to the tree of life.

Run, Mary, run,
Run, Martha, run,
Tell, Mary, run, I say,
You got a right to the tree of life.

Little Mary you got a right,
You got a right to the tree of life.
You got a right, you got a right,
You got a right to the tree of life.

The Hebrew Children got a right,
You got a right to the tree of life.
Paul and Silas you got a right,
You got a right to the tree of life.

Got a right, you got a right,
You got a right to the tree of life.
I come to tell you, you got a right
You got a right to the tree of life.
I come to tell you, you got a right,
You got a right to the tree of life.

The voice is heavy but you got a right,
You got a right to the tree of life.
Ups and down but you got a right,
You got a right to the tree of life.
True hard born, but you got a right,
You got a right to the tree of life.

You got a right, you got a right,
You got a right to the tree of life.
You got a right, you got a right,
You got a right to the tree of life.
You got a right, you got a right,
You got a right to the tree of life.

Oh Weepin' Mary,
You got a right to the tree of life.
Oh Weepin' Mary,
You got a right to the tree of life.

I come to tell you, you got a right,
You got a right to the tree of life.
I come to tell you, you got a right,
You got a right to the tree of life.

You got a right, you got a right,
You got a right to the tree of life.
Ups and down, but you got a right,
You got a right to the tree of life.
Ups and down, but you got a right,
You got a right to the tree of life.

Run, Mary, run,
Run, Martha, run,
Tell, Mary, run, I say,
You got a right to the tree of life.

Run, Mary, run, I say,
You got a right to the tree of life.
Run, Mary, run, I say,
You got a right to the tree of life.

You got a right, you got a right,
You got a right to the tree of life.
You got a right, you got a right,
You got a right to the tree of life.
You got a right, you got a right,
You got a right to the tree of life.

Mary and Martha got a right,
You got a right to the tree of life.
Mary and Martha, you got a right,
You got a right to the tree of life.

Life!

-snip-

Song sample: "Run, Mary, Run, You Got a Right to the Tree of Life," recorded by The Seniorlites and included in Wade in the Water, Volume II: African American Congregational Singing, Bernice Johnson Reagon, compiler, Smithsonian/Folkways Recordings & National Public Radio, 1994."
-snip-
A YouTube sound file of this version is showcased as Example #3 in Part II of this pancocojams series.
-snip-
Those same lyrics are also found in https://wsmamusic.org/files/2015/10/Spirituals-as-an-Expression-of-Democratic-Values-and-Community-Solidarity.pdf SPIRITUALS AS AN EXPRESSION OF DEMOCRATIC VALUES AND COMMUNITY
SOLIDARITY
Here's the commentary that was included with those lyrics:
"During the period leading up to the American Revolution of the 1770s, enslaved African singers
mirrored in their songs the democratic ideals that were being developed by the British colonists who
were themselves fighting for independence from the oppressive rule of England. As the Declaration of
Independence asserted that “Every person is endowed with God-given inalienable rights . . . Life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” enslaved Africans believed that they too were entitled to these
same rights. Many of their songs revealed the strength of their convictions. The following example,
“Run, Mary, Run,” which is also a ring shout song, provides a good illustration."...

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This concludes Part I of this two part pancocojams series.

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