"Go Around The Corn, Sally" (19th Century Black American Corn Husking Work Song: information, lyrics, video examples)

2nd Grade "Go Around the Corn Sally"

Winding Ridge, Jun 8, 2012

2nd Graders singing "Go Around the Corn, Sally" during their spring concert.

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Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest update- July 19, 2026

Most of this pancocojams post is a reprint of Part II of a three part pancocojams 2014 series about the African American corn husking song "Round De Corn, Sally". https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/06/four-examples-of-round-corn-sally.html 

This post (Part II) presents some background information about the song "Round The Corn, Sally" and presents four early text (word only) examples of "Around The Corn, Sally". That 2014 post has no pancocojams visitor comments

Three YouTube videos have been added to that 2014 post: two videos of the song "Go Around The Corn, Sally" and one video of the sea shanty "Go Around The Corner, Sally" which has its source in that corn husking work song. No changes have been made to the word only content of that 2014 post.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/06/descriptions-of-corn-husking-corn-songs.html for Part I of this series. Part I provides excerpts from two online books about corn husking in the Southern United States during slavery. Part I also includes some comments about pre-mechanical corn husking in the United States apart from United States slavery.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/06/three-examples-of-childrens-song-go.html for Part III of this series. Part III provides video examples and lyrics of the children's song "Go Around The Corn, Sally" which is adapted from the work song "Around The Corn ,Sally".

The content of this post is provided for historical, folkloric, cultural, and entertainment purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the performers and collectors of this song. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks to all those who are featured in the videos that are embedded in this post and thanks to the publishers of those videos on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE AFRICAN AMERICAN WORK SONG "ROUND THE CORN SALLY"

Excerpt #1
From https://voices.pitt.edu/TeachersGuide/Unit1/Round%20the%20Corn(er)%20Sally.htm

"Round the Corn(er), Sally

Traditional, 1700s

Song Background

Often novels and memoirs are the only sources for learning the history of a song. Such is the case with “Round the Corn, Sally.” Because it is mentioned in several early American novels, it is one of the earliest known examples of an African American slave song. Dena Epstein notes the presence of “Round the Corn, Sally” in one of the first novels of plantation life, George Tucker’s The Valley of Shenandoah (1824). In the novel The Old Plantation and What I Gathered There in an Autumn Month (1859), James Hungerford cites it as a rowing song. It is also mentioned in Richard Dana’s Two Years Before the Mast (1840).

Eileen Southern notes that “Round the Corn, Sally” was used to coordinate the movements of work teams. Enslaved people loading cotton along the Eastern Seaboard or Mississippi River likely sang “Round the Corn, Sally,” where it was adapted by the seafaring population and turned into a sea chanty. Interaction between various singing populations often gave rise to new songs. The melodies and rhythms of the two versions are similar, and they share a call-and-response structure. The expert chantyman improvised lyrics of the repeating phrase, while the sailors, hard at work, would repeat the chorus. This chanty was likely used to coordinate the crew’s movement raising sails, a strenuous effort made easier by singing. This version of the sea chanty probably dates from the mid-1800s (after California became a US territory), but “Round the Corn, Sally” is a much earlier slave song."
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's Note: "Round The Corner, Sally" is the title of the sea shanties (chanties) versions of "Round The Corn, Sally". Except for the refrain "round the corner, Sally", there are no fixed lyrics for that shanty.  Some people believe that "the corner" that is referred to in that song is Cape Horn" at the tip of South America. Some people believe that "Sally" in this song is a general referent for sailors' girlfriends, and others believe that "Sally" is a referent for a loose woman who stands on street corners luring men."     

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Excerpt #2 [Information about the shanty "Round The Corner, Sally"]  
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNvk3gsCkok&ab_channel=hultonclint [from that YouTube video's summary]
..."Another song is a candidate as a source for "Round the Corner, Sally."  It appears in the text of a James Hungerford, in which the author describes a visit to his cousin's plantation in Maryland in 1832.  With it's musical notations, it is considered to be the first extant text to contain slave songs. "Roun' De Corn, Sally" is described in the context of rowing a boat, but properly attributed as a corn-husking song.  In his 1989 book, ORIGINS OF THE POPULAR STYLE, pg.206, Peter Van der Merwe makes a connection between the similar phrase in the slave song and the chantey, thinking that "round the corn" was a corruption of the chantey phrase, due to confounding the "corn" context with the original meaning.  The original phrase, as supposed by Hugill, was a sort of "gal on the street," later reinterpreted as a sailor's lady-friend of locales that were around the "corner": Cape Horn.  However, some recent interpreters seem to suggest that the plantation song was a source"...

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EARLY EXAMPLES OF THE SONG "ROUND THE CORN, SALLY"

Example #1:
From http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/afro-american/afro-american-folksongs%20-%200148.htm Afro-American Folksongs, A Study In Racial And National Music by Henry Edward Krehbiel (1914, p. 48) [online book]
...“The paucity of secular working songs has already been commented on. Of songs referring to labor in the field the editors of "Slave Songs of the United States" were able to collect only two examples. Both of them are "corn songs," and the first is a mere fragment, the only words of which have been preserved being "Shock along, John." The second defied interpretation fifty years ago and is still incomprehensible:

Five can't ketch me and tea can't hold me—
Ho, round the corn, Sally I Here's your iggle-quarter and here's your count-aquils—
Ho round the corn, Sally] I can bank, 'ginny bank, 'gmny bank the weaver—
Ho, round the corn, Sally!" "

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Example #2
From http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/allen/fig111.html Slave Songs of the United States edited by William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison (1867)
[Musical Notation for "Round the Corn, Sally"]
68
"Five can’t catch me and ten can’t hold me
Ho, round the corn Sally
Ho, round the corn, round the corn, round the corn
Ho ,Ho, Ho round the corn Sally."

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Example #3:
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=52717
Posted By: Charley Noble
23-Oct-02 - 11:27 AM
Thread Name: Origin: Johnny Come Down to Hilo
Subject: Lyr.Add. Round' de Corn, Sally
...Most of us nautical singers are familar with the old sea shanty "Round the Corner, Sally" in which the corner refered to has been ascribed to Cape Horn. Well, try this old plantation corn husking song on for size:

ROUN' DE CORN, SALLY

(corn husking song collected by slaveholder James Hungerford's The Old Plantation and What I Gathered There in an Autumn Month, c. 1832, quoted in THE MUSIC OF BLACK AMERICANS by Eileen Southern, pp. 180)

Grand Chorus:

Hooray, hooray, ho! Roun' de corn, Sally!
Hooray for all de lubly (lovely) ladies! Roun' de corn, Sally!
Hooray, hooray, ho! Roun' de corn, Sally!
Hooray for all de lubly ladies! Roun' de corn, Sally!

Dis lub's er (a) thing dat's sure to hab you, Roun' de corn, Sally!
He hole (hold) you tight, when once he grab you, Roun' de corn, Sally!
Un (an) ole (old) un (one) ugly, young un (one) pretty, Roun' de corn, Sally!
You needen try when once he git you, Roun' de corn, Sally! (CHO)

Dere's Mr. Travers lub Miss Jinny, Roun' de corn, Sally!
He thinks she is us (as) good us any, Roun' de corn, Sally!
He comes from church wid her er (on) Sunday, Roun' de corn, Sally!
Un (He) don't go back ter town till Monday, Roun' de corn, Sally! (CHO)

My interpretations in ()'s.
Cheerily,
Charley Noble

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Example #4:
[This excerpt of "Round De Corn, Sally" was documented to have been sung by Black people while they marched around the plantation as part of their Christmas festivities, after going to the main house to receive gifts from their former master/mistress.]

From http://books.google.com/books?id=SHRAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA236&lpg=PA236&dq=round+de+corn+sally&source=bl&ots=7d8Yta7mK6&sig=0WAtB-T5dvoAu1mzkfKSPlnZ-3k&hl=en&sa=X&ei=aHiYU47ZFIWdyATsx4KIBA&ved=0CCwQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=round%20de%20corn%20sally&f=false The Literary Digest, Volume 10 1895 “Christmas In The South Long Ago”[p 236]

Hooray, hooray, ho
Round de corn, Sally
Hooray for all de lubly ladies
Round de corn, Sally
Dere a Master Howard lub Miss Betty
Round de corn, Sally
I tell you what, she a mighty pretty
Round de corn, Sally...
-snip-
This is followed by other lines that are difficult for me to decipher. However, it appears that those lines are other complementary comments about other (White) people on the plantation.

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ADDITIONAL YOUTUBE VIDEO EXAMPLES OF SCHOOL CHILDREN SINGING "GO AROUND THE CORN, SALLY"

YOUTUBE VIDEO # 2 - River & Relic 2013 concert - Go Around The Corn, Sally

 

Arcege, Dec 6, 2013
-snip-
Here's the only comment (besides mine alerting people to this 2024 post) from this video's discussion thread:

@michaelbaker602, 2024
"Published in “Slave Songs of the United States” in 1867."

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YOUTUBE VIDEO #3 -  Grove 2nd Grade Music Class

Union Public Schools,  Nov 17, 2016

Grove second graders practice a folk song, starting in on the floor and then creating circles over and over until everyone is in a large circle, singing and dance. Music teacher Stephanie Farlow said the song "Go Around the Corn, Sally" is a timely Thanksgiving folk song because of the harvest theme.
-snip-
My guess is that Grove Elementary School is part of the Union Public School district of Tulsa, Oklahoma.  

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A YOUTUBE VIDEO EXAMPLE OF THE SEA SHANTY "GO AROUND THE CORNER, SALLY"
 
Round the corner Sally (Halyard Shanty)

YANKEE SAILOR,  Jan 14, 2021  #seashanties #seachanties #maritimehistory

These Halyard shanties can always be recognised by the two successive short pulls in the chorus. (ROUND) the corner (Sally)  for example.

Please help us grow this channel and share Maritime History with the world before it vanishes from our collective culture. Like and Subscribe!

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The American Saying "Boom Shakalaka" And South Africa's "Chakalaka" Food (Information & YouTube Videos)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents information about the African American vocable and exclamation "boom shakalaka" and the food dish "chakalaka" from the nation of South Africa. 

Part I of this post showcases YouTube examples of two songs that may be early influences for the vocable and exclamation for "boom shakalaka". Part I also showcases two YouTube videos about the use of the words "boom shakalaka" in a military cadence and in the video game "NBA Jam".

Part II of this pancocojams post showcases a YouTube video and comments about the use of the exclamation "Boom vocable also includes a YouTube vlog of a South African woman preparing her version of chakalaka as well as a few comments from that vlog's discussion thread.   

The content of this post is presented for linguistic and socio-cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to all those who were or are associated with the showcased YouTube examples.  

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
These two words are spelled the same-usually except for their beginning letter, but probably have completely different etymologies (origins and developments).

PART I - INFORMATION ABOUT "BOOM SHAKALAKA"
Boom shakalaka" may have its origin in the early 20th century track lining vocable* "tracka lack" :

Ho, boys, cancha line 'em –track
Ho, boys, cancha line 'em –tracka lack
Ho, boys, cancha line 'em –tracka lack
Here we go linin track
-snip-
-snip-
"Vocables" are usually nonsense word/s that are vocalized (sung or chanted). 

"Lining track" means to laying railroad (train) lines.  "Gandy dancers" is the referent for the Black men and men of other races sung songs to help coordinate their movements when they were laying down (lining) (railroad) tracks. 

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/10/gandy-dancers-linin-track-sound-files.html for the 2012 pancocojams post entitled  "Gandy Dancers & Linin' Track Sound Files & Videos". Here's one YouTube video from that post:

Video #1: Can't You Line "Em - Lead Belly

Malcalum, Sep 12, 2008

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The vocable "boom shakalaka" is usually attributed to a folk processed form of the vocable boom-laka-laka-laka"in the 1968/1969 soul, rock, funk band Sly & The Family Stone's song "l Want To Take you Higher".

Here's an excerpt of a dictionary.com page about "boom shakalaka":

From https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/boomshakalaka/#:~:text=Boomshakalaka%20is%20an%20exclamation%20that,toward%20the%20basket%20and%E2%80%94BOOMSHAKALAKA! March 16, 2021
"boomshakalaka 

WHAT DOES BOOMSHAKALAKA MEAN?

Boomshakalaka is an exclamation that can express dominance, triumph, excitement, or joy. It is especially used when commenting on big dunks in basketball.

Example: LeBron charges toward the basket and—BOOMSHAKALAKA!—slams down a dunk!

Boomshakalaka may have roots in the 1969 song “I Want to Take You Higher” by Sly and the Family Stone. The song includes the funky and sexy nonsense vocables boom-laka-laka-laka."...

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A FEW OTHER EXAMPLES OF YOUTUBE "BOOM SHAKALAKA" VIDEOS 

Video #2 -Sly And The Family Stone "I Want To Take You Higher" on The Ed Sullivan Show

The Ed Sullivan Show, Nov. 14, 2021

Sly And The Family Stone "I Want To Take You Higher" on The Ed Sullivan Show, December 29, 1968.

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Video #2 - Stripes -Graduation Scene



logan8020, Feb. 5, 2008
-snip-
Stripes is a 1981 American war comedy film starring Bill Murray and others.
The "boom shakalaka" vocable is heard at 1:09-1:10 in this film clip.

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Video #3 - NBA JAM returns, BOOMSHAKALAKA!

GameZone, March 17, 2010

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"NBA Jam is a long-running basketball video game series based on the National Basketball Association (NBA). Initially developed as arcade games by Midway, the game found popularity with its photorealistic digitized graphics, over-the-top presentation and exaggerated style of two-on-two basketball play....

First released -1993"...

 -snip-
Here are three comments from the discussion thread for a YouTube interview of the announcer who voiced the "boom shakalaka" exclamation and the other exclamations for the NBA Jam  video games. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GV874wydU4

1.Shrunken Head, 2018
"Boom Shakalak by apache indian. Ya welcome..."
-snip-
Here's information about Apache Indian's Reggae song "Boom Shakalak" 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boom_Shack-A-Lak
" "Boom Shack-A-Lak" is a song by British singer-songwriter and reggae DJ Apache Indian, released in August 1993 and also included on his EP Nuff Vibes. The song gave him his biggest hit in the United Kingdom, reaching number five on the UK Singles Chart. The single and EP were also released worldwide, reaching the top 10 in both Ireland (8) and the Netherlands (10), while reaching the top 20 in Austria (13) and New Zealand (19). The promotional video for the track won the Best Reggae Video award at the 1994 Black Music Awards in London.[3]Hawksfan88

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2. musashi06, 2020
" "Boom shakalaka" was first said by the Da Lench Mob in their song Guerillas In The Mist in 1992, which was 2 years before Apache Indian made his song. The phrase is actually "Boom-shakalaka-boom" which is the sound of a shotgun being fired, reloaded, and fired again."
-snip-
The Hip Hop group Da Lench Mob's 1992 record "Guerillas In The Mist" is a violent, racist, song with profanity and sexually explicit lyrics. Here's the "boom shakalaka" words from that record:
"Give me some elbow room, I need some elbow room So I can boom shak-a-lak boom That's the sound of the twenty gauge".

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Reply
3. Schmaltzy the Golem, 2021
"Wrong...Bill Murray in stripes."
-snip-
The movie Stripes was released in 1981.

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PART Ii - INFORMATION ABOUT "CHAKALAKA" (SOUTH AFRICAN FOOD)
Excerpt #1
From https://www.whats4eats.com/vegetables/chakalaka-recipe (SOUTH AFRICAN SPICY TOMATO, PEPPER AND ONION DISH)
"Born in the townships of South Africa, chakalaka is a simple, spicy dish of onions, tomatoes and often beans. It has been a staple for generations of black South Africans and is a required condiment at South African braais, or barbecues. And what a fun name!

Chakalaka can be served hot or cold, over mealie pap, with slices of bread, or as a condiment for grilled meats."

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From  https://www.whats4eats.com/vegetables/chakalaka-recipe [no author or publishing date given, retrieved May 24, 2023] INTERNATIONAL RECIPES AND COOKING AROUND THE WORLD

"CHAKALAKA

What is Chakalaka

Chakalaka is a South African vegetable and bean relish, but I would like to call it vegetable and bean curry. And it’s more like a curry with all the spices and vegetables. I served it along with rice and paired it with a raita for a complete meal.

The Origin

The word chakalaka comes from the Zulu language, and it means “all together.” * This chakalaka is a staple dish throughout the country, but what I learned is that this dish has originated from the townships of Johannesburg.  The goldmine workers there cooked some canned beans, tomatoes, and whatever fresh vegetables they had and spiced it up. And that’s chakalaka. Interesting right?

[…]

Vegetables: Apart from onion, tomatoes, garlic, ginger, and green chili/ green chili peppers. We also need green cabbage, carrot, and colored bell peppers. Adjust the veggies as per your preference.

Spice and condiments: These spices and condiments make this chakalaka more delicious. I have used curry powder, smoked paprika, and cayenne pepper. We also use brown sugar, ketchup, and vegan Worcestershire sauce to balance the spice.

Beans and broth: I have used a can of cannellini beans and vegetable broth. You can use canned baked beans. In that case, you can skip the brown sugar and the vegan Worcestershire sauce.”…
-snip-
Question for Zulus speakers: Does the word "chakalaka" come from isiZulu and does it really mean "all together"?  Google translate gives this Zulu to English result for the word "chakalaka" = "it's crazy".  Is that (also) correct?  

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Here's a YouTube video of a South African woman cooking her version of chakalaka:

South African Chakalaka with Nandos sauce|| Du indulge

Du Indulge, Mar 1, 2020

I love how versatile chakalaka is,will definitely try this,thank you

South African Chakalaka with Nandos sauce|| Du indulge
-snip-
Here are a few comments from that vlog's discussion thread with numbers added for referencing purposes only:

1.Kiki Gondolo, 2020
"Thats your own recipe in Chakalaka we dont add Green beans !"

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Reply
2. Rediah Nyarangi, 2020
"Love that. Cooking is art. Creative

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Reply
3. Prudence Dikiza,2020
"You don't add green beans but we do."

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4. Thogrin, 2020
"Am I right that chakalaka is not one and only recipe, and it depends of what you want in your chakalaka ? I'm looking for the basic recipe"

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Reply
5. _Thee Real Nono_,2022
"Chakalaka mainly has baked beans, onions, tomatoes and green chillies in its simplest form -- this is a different variant. She chose to add cabbage, artcha, green beans, bell peppers and Nandos sauce. Some make the basic kind I mentioned above, but add bell peppers as well, and maybe green beans."

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6. Gauri Bhide, 2021
"What do u have this with? Like rice or bread?"

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Reply
7. nkagiseng mabangula, 2021
"It's usually served as a salad, side dish for our BBQ or Braai dish as we call it,but it's so good you can have it with anything."

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8.  Wishpicker, 2021
"Hi, do you serve this hot or chilled down in the fridge and cold? And what do you serve it with please? Thank you 🥀

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Reply
9. _Thee Real Nono_,2022
"Let it cool, then place it in the fridge. We (here in South Africa) normally serve it as a side dish when braai'ing (barbecue) -- either with rolls, pap or steamed bread. You may even have it with rice, your choice of meat and other veges."

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10. Jonathan van den Berg, 2022
"weh da chilliii?:("
-snip-
"Where are the chillis? " (Chakalala recipes often include chilli peppers.)

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Visitor comments are welcome. 

"Jack The Rabbit, Jack The Bear" Lyrics In (Railroad) Track Lining Songs (information & examples)

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision - Dec 11, 2022

This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series about "Jack the rabbit, Jack the bear" lyrics in early 20th century African American (railroad) track lining song. 

This post presents some information about gandy dancers their track lining songs and  presents some information about the fictional folk characters "Jack the rabbit" and "Jack the bear".

Three references to track lining songs that include the line "Jack the rabbit Jack the bear" are also included in this pancocojams post.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/12/two-youtube-examples-of-railroad-track.html for Part II of this pancocojams series.  That post showcases a 1978s film clip of retired gandy dancer and work-song leader George Johnson s that include the lyrics "Jack the rabbit. Jack the bear".  A transcription of that song is also included in this post.

This post also showcases a 1969 rendition of a track lining song that includes the lyrics "Jack the rabbit, Jack the bear".  A transcription of that song is also included in this post.

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

All copyright remains with their owners.

Thanks to the gandy dancers for their work on the railroads and for their work songs. Thanks to Alan Lomax for his cultural legacy and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. 
-snip-
This 2022 series should be considered as companion posts to these two 2012 pancocojams post:
 http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/10/early-versions-of-cant-you-line-em.html , Part I of a two part pancocojams series about track lining songs. That post, entitled "Early Versions Of "Can't You Line' Em" ("Linin' Track")", presents three additional examples of track lining songs. Those songs don't include any "Jack the rabbit, Jack the bear" lines.

and http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/10/gandy-dancers-linin-track-sound-files.html for Part II of that 2012 pancocojams post entitled "Gandy Dancers & Linin' Track Sound Files & Videos".

Most of the "Information About Gandy Dancers" section that is presented in this 2022 post was also given in Part I of that 2012 pancocojams series.

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INFORMATION ABOUT GANDY DANCERS
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandy_dancer [retrieved 2019]
"Gandy dancer is a slang term used for early railroad workers who laid and maintained railroad tracks in the years before the work was done by machines...

Most sources refer to gandy dancers as the men who did the difficult physical work of track maintenance under the direction of an overseer.

There are various theories about the derivation of the term, but most refer to the "dancing" movements of the workers using a specially manufactured 5-foot (1.52 m) "lining" bar (which may have come to be called a "gandy") as a lever to keep the tracks in alignment...

Though all gandy dancers sang railroad songs, it may be that black gandy dancers, with a long tradition of using song to coordinate work, were unique in their use of task-related work chants.

Rhythm was necessary both to synchronize the manual labor, and to maintain the morale of workers..."

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From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandy_dancer [retrieved Dec. 10, 2022]
"Gandy dancer is a slang term used for early railroad workers in the United States, more formally referred to as "section hands", who laid and maintained railroad tracks in the years before the work was done by machines. ...

In the United States, early section crews were often made up of recent immigrants and ethnic minorities who vied for steady work despite poor wages and working conditions, and hard physical labor. The Chinese, Mexican Americans, and Native Americans in the Western United States, the Irish in the Midwestern United States, African Americans in the Southern United States, and East Europeans and Italians in the Northeastern United States all worked as gandy dancers.

There are various theories about the derivation of the term, but most refer to the "dancing" movements of the workers using a specially manufactured 5-foot (1.5 m) "lining" bar, which came to be called a "gandy", as a lever to keep the tracks in alignment.[1]"...

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Here's a 2007 article which provides information about Gandy Dancers:
From http://www.vre.org/service/newsletter/2007/may31.pdf [volume 3, issue 11] May 31, 2007 program the Manassas Railway Festival, Virginia Railway Express Update
"This year, a special performance by the Birmingham Lining Bar Gang will also be offered, featuring a group of re-enactors who demonstrate the way railroad tracks were aligned and maintained before the advent of mechanized devices in the 1950s and ’60s. In demonstrating track-lining, one group member serves as a “caller”, offering a two-line rhyme in a loud, clear voice that serves to synchronize the movement of other members so that each heaves with his iron lining bar at the same moment. These calls, which “helped the hard work go easy” according to a retired worker and former caller, served an indispensable function by uniting men’s efforts and easing their minds."

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INFORMATION ABOUT "JACK THE RABBIT" AND "JACK THE BEAR" IN SOME  TRACK LINING SONG

Excerpt #1
From https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095526252;jsessionid=6DEECB6AB32CF717F7D9472013CBD56E
"Brer Rabbit

QUICK REFERENCE

Is the archetypal hero-trickster character from African American oral literature. While Brer Rabbit got much exposure in Joel Chandler Harris's Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings (1881), folklorists and literature scholars are well aware of the rich cycle of tales that circulate around this tricky and cunning figure. These tales thrived especially during the pre- and post-slave era up until the mid-1900s. Resembling the two major tricksters of Africa (Anansi, the Ashanti spider, and Ijapa, the Yoruba turtle), “Buh” Rabbit has always seemed to be the most helpless and most afraid of all the animals in the kingdom.

Brer Rabbit is constantly at odds with the likes of Brer Bear, Brer Wolf, and Sly Brer Fox. This trio, singularly or collectively, attempts to humiliate, outsmart, and sometimes even kill Brer Rabbit. In contrast, Brer Rabbit tries to nullify the plans of his stronger archenemies by using his superior intelligence and his quick thinking. He usually gets the better of the bigger and stronger animals.

Since the Brer Rabbit cycle of tales flourished during the time of slavery and almost always involved the weak in a neverending contest with the strong, scholars view these tales as slave expressions of subversive sentiments against the institution of slavery. It was much too dangerous for slaves to reveal to slave owners the harsh realities and cruelties of slavery. But slaves could vent some of their frustrations and hostilities against their masters by participating in the performance of the Brer Rabbit tales.

As time progressed, criticism of slavery became less indirect in Brer Rabbit literature. African American oral literature gave birth to the “John and Ole Boss Tales”. In this group of tales, John (sometimes known as George, Sam, Jack, Efan, or Rastus) now becomes the human analogue to Brer Rabbit. John is always in conflict with Ole Master (“Massa” or “Marse”) and, like Brer Rabbit, attempts to outwit Ole Boss. Most stories show John winning over the master, but there are a sizable number of tales where “Whitey” outsmarts John."...

Joel Chandler Harris, Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings, 1881.Roger D. Abrahams, ed., Afro-American Folktales: Stories from Black Traditions in the New World, 1985.

Elon A. Kulii and Beverly Threatt Kulii

From:  Brer Rabbit  in  The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature 
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out in that summary.

One takeaway from this summary is that "Jack the rabbit" and "Jack the bear" are later names for the African American folk characters Brer [Brother] Rabbit and "Brer Bear". 

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Excerpt #2
From https://www.sandybrownjazz.co.uk/TracksUnwrapped/JimmyBlantonAndJackTheBear.html

Looking for the origin of the name 'Jack The Bear' takes us way back beyond the title of Duke Ellington's tune*.

One explanation is that Jack The Bear was a character of Black stories and rhymed tales, and crops up in a work-chant used by gandy-dancers (railroad workers laying rails) about "Jack-the-Rabbit/Jack-the-Bear". Apparently there are various theories about the derivation of the term 'Gandy Dancer', but most refer to the "dancing" movements of the workers using a specially manufactured 5-foot (1.5 m) "lining" bar, which came to be called a "gandy", as a lever to keep the tracks in alignment.

Jack de rabbit, Jack de bear.

Shake it back, boys, just a hair!"

There is also reference to two characters from folklore where Jack the Bear, called either Jack or John (and sometimes John the Conqueror), was invisible to the white community. He would arrive suddenly to fix things for folks in distress. He was a hero with magical powers.

The Urban Dictionary describes Jack The Bear as a lazy person: "You like Jack the Bear, Cletus, you ain't done sh-t* all day." The Probert Dictionary echoes this: 'Like Jack The Bear Just Ain' Nowhere' - Black-American slang for an expression of disappointment and worthlessness.

In contradiction there are other references to 'Jack The Bear' being the opposite - someone or something that goes really fast or well: "We were like 'Jack the Bear' for the first five laps of a run, but then the car would get real tight real quick and just wouldn't turn when I needed it to." (Tim Sauter AP Performance Racing)."

Writing in allaboutjazz.com in 2010, Dan Bilawsky quotes Mark Tucker's liner notes for Duke Ellington: The Blanton-Webster Band (Bluebird, 1986), which say that the original Jack The Bear " ... was a Harlem bass-player who, as reed-player Gavin Bushell recently recalled, had a tailor shop at the corner of St. Nicholas and Edgecombe Avenues....If Ellington named the tune after the tailor, Jack The Bear's musical association would be with another bass player - Jimmy Blanton"... The latter [Jimmy Blanton's  performance in the Jack The Bear tune] becoming a concert showpiece for his playing during his tenure with Ellington.'…
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out in this comment.
-snip-
In a Mudcat folk music discussion thread about lining track, I remembering read the comment
Jack the rabbit said to Jack the bear/ Cancha line them just one hair"

I added italics to highlight this line.  "cancha: means "can't you" and "just one hair" means "Just a little bit".

Unfortunately, Mudcat discussion forum hasn't been online now for weeks and I add the source of that comment to this pancocojams post. However, the words "said to" provides an explanation for the use of those two folk characters names in those track lining songs.

-snip-  
Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKD-1YvFjkk for a YouTube sound file of Duke Ellington's "Jack The Bear".

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Excerpt #3
From http://www.toonopedia.com/brerrab.jpg
"Folklore was how Negroes dealt with their world. They identified themselves as the characters in the well-known folk tales similar to how the narrator of Invisible Man identifies himself as characters such as Jack the Rabbit and Jack the Bear. These characters come from the stories known by the name "Uncle Remus tales" and were remade by Walt Disney in the movie "Song of the South".

Folklore in Invisible Man

- Jack the Bear

- Buckeye Rabbit / Br'er Rabbit

- The Tortoise with the Pretty Daughter

Jack the Bear:

Jack the Bear is a slow-moving and slow-thinking character. When the narrator of Invisible Man references Jack the Bear, he is referring to his life in his hole: his "hibernation". The narrator, having escaped the bear's den that is Harlem, now hibernates in his own den in which he is located at the beginning of the novel and at the end."...
-snip-
"Negroes" is an outdated reference for African Americans/Black Americans.

In the United States, rabbits are sometimes referred to as "jack rabbits". In African American folklore, "Jack the rabbit" is probably the same as "Bre [brother] rabbit."

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Excerpt #4
From https://prezi.com/rrxfmz2sjhmh/invisible-man-and-uncle-remus-tales/ Invisible Man and Uncle Remus Tales by Elizabeth Jaggi, Feb 19 2015
..."Bre Rabbit, who is later compared to the narrator, goes on a series of adventures in which he comes across characters like Brer Fox, Brer Bear, Jack the Bear, along with many others. Each character resembles a character from Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. The stories depict situations that can be linked to the experiences of the narrator.

Jack the Bear

Jack the Bear is a popular figure in American Folklore that is a trickster. He is able to trick through misdirection.

In the beginning, the narrator refers to himself as Jack the Bear because he is in his hole hibernating."...
-snip-
Here's another quote about "Jack the Bear" in reference to African American author Ralph Ellison's 1952 novel Invisible Man:
From https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/i/invisible-man/summary-and-analysis/prologue
"In the Prologue[ to Invisible Man], Ellison also prepares us for the numerous allusions to classic works of fiction, nonfiction, and folklore that appear throughout the novel, at times merging elements of fiction and folkloreThe narrator's statement, "Call me Jack-the-Bear" alludes to the opening line of Herman Melville's Moby Dick, "Call me Ishmael." It also alludes to the Br'er Rabbit folktales based on African folklore, featuring characters such as Jack-the-Bear, Br'er Fox, and Br'er Rabbit."...

***
TWO TEXT (WORD ONLY) EXAMPLES OF TRACK LINING SONGS THAT INCLUDE "JACK THE RABBIT JACK THE BEAR" LYRICS

Example #1
Warning: This excerpt includes what is now commonly known as "the n word". That pejorative referent is given in this pancocojams post with modified spelling.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Folk_Visions_and_Voices/YTnsAQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Jack+the+rabbit,+Jack+the+bear,+can%E2%80%99t+you+line+them,+just+a+hair&pg=PA124&printsec=frontcover  Folk Visions And Voices, "Let’s March Around The Wall"  [chapter] p.124

“Track lining

Told and sung by Brudy ”Doc” Barnes, Athens, Clark County, July 3,1983. Doc remembers the chant of the track lining crew and the musical ring of steel on steel as if it was yesterday.  See Library of Congress, LP AAFSL8 and L52, Botkins, p.746, Hurston , pp322-323

Spoken

You know how people used to work on the railroad track with the steel bars, linin’ the track, you know.
Old Jed Early…he was the line-man, otherwise he was the head of the track. They had a bossman, Cap’n Ball was they bossman.

And them nig-ers-I tell you the truth, I say “nig-ers”-I just say that you know! They had those long steel bars, they had about six or eight of them, you know, and just like this here is the track, and you have to cross-ties ever so far apart…those nig’ get those bars, I tell you the truth, they could play a tune with those iron bars, just as good as you could sing a song with ‘em, Cap’n Ball has a thing, you know, peepin’ through, he’d say “This track is out of line-It gotta be lined!

Chanted
“All right boys, get your bars.”

Spoken

That’s Jed, he’s the lead man….they’d just get them bars, you know, he just start a song, and all of them would get the bars set.

Sung

Ain’t but one train run this track—whah!
Run to Macon an right straight
----back------whah!.

Spoken

Now I’m tellin’ you what I stood and watched!  My daddy’s baby brother, he was with ‘em too  And, man, they could take them iron bars:

Sung

Ain’t but one train run this track

Run to Athens and Macon right

----back------whah!.

Spoken
And  they had some of the prettiest tune.  Wasn’t no music [instruments] round there nowhere, but they could make them iron bars.
right on the edge of that track…I’m tellin’ you what I know.  They could make music with them iron bars, and when they got through, it was lined.

And they had a big ol’ man, Cap’n Ball, he was  about 250, and he’s spy down there, and he’d say “Jed”. And he’d hold up one finger, that’d mean about another inch, you know,

Sung

Jus’ move it, boy

Spoken
And he’d do thataway, that’s mean half.!

Sung

Pick it up, line-man---- whah!
Jack the rabbit, Jack the bear
Boys, can’t you jus’ move it
just another hair?---- Whah!

Spoken

I used to follow ‘em up! In that time ….they was hand cars, you had to pump! Has a handle on this side….

Take fo’ men, when the front would go down, the back would come up, and I’m tellin’ you, they could hustle on that thing!

Now, they got motors on ‘em, but then who osh! Sailin’ too!  You get them fo’ men stout, and got power! Good Godalmighty, they could make thirty miles an hour.  The section gang, with the hand cars, I will never forget that."

****
Example #2 
From https://www.google.com/books/edition/Long_Steel_Rail/AY7St4-8x10C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=jack+the+rabbit+jack+the+bear&pg=PA646&printsec=frontcover Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folks by Norm Cohen, ‎David Cohen · 2000 · ‎Music
…"Jack the rabbit, Jack the bear, can’t you line them, just a hair

Can’t you line ‘em for the captain, can’t you line ‘em for the straw (i.e. strawboss)

Can’t you line ‘em for the walker, can’t you line ‘em for the boss,

Can’t you line ‘em just a little bit, can’t you line ‘em, to the other side.”…
-snip-
This is the way that this excerpt was written in that article.

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This concludes Part I of this pancocojams post.

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Visitor comments are welcome.

"Round The Corn, Sally" Performed As A Children's Singing Game & As A Children's Concert Song

UnionPublicSchools, Nov 17, 2016

Grove second graders practice a folk song, starting in on the floor and then creating circles over and over until everyone is in a large circle, singing and dance. Music teacher Stephanie Farlow said the song "Go Around the Corn, Sally" is a timely Thanksgiving folk song because of the harvest theme.

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases four YouTube videos of the African American work song 
"Round The Corn, Sally" performed as a children's singing game.

Some historical information about "Round The Corn, Sally" is included in this post along with the  lyrics to these showcased videos and performance directions. An explanation of the words "corn husking" is also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, recreational, and educational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the unknow composers of the original "Round The Corn, Sally" song. Thanks to all those who are featured in these showcased videos and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.

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SOME INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "ROUND THE CORN, SALLY"
From https://voices.pitt.edu/TeachersGuide/Unit1/Round%20the%20Corn(er)%20Sally.htm

"Round the Corn(er), Sally

Traditional, 1700s

Song Background

Often novels and memoirs are the only sources for learning the history of a song. Such is the case with “Round the Corn, Sally.” Because it is mentioned in several early American novels, it is one of the earliest known examples of an African American slave song. Dena Epstein notes the presence of “Round the Corn, Sally” in one of the first novels of plantation life, George Tucker’s The Valley of Shenandoah (1824). In the novel The Old Plantation and What I Gathered There in an Autumn Month (1859), James Hungerford cites it as a rowing song. It is also mentioned in Richard Dana’s Two Years Before the Mast (1840).

Eileen Southern notes that “Round the Corn, Sally” was used to coordinate the movements of work teams. Enslaved people loading cotton along the Eastern Seaboard or Mississippi River likely sang “Round the Corn, Sally,” where it was adapted by the seafaring population and turned into a sea chanty. Interaction between various singing populations often gave rise to new songs. The melodies and rhythms of the two versions are similar, and they share a call-and-response structure. The expert chantyman improvised lyrics of the repeating phrase, while the sailors, hard at work, would repeat the chorus. This chanty was likely used to coordinate the crew’s movement raising sails, a strenuous effort made easier by singing. This version of the sea chanty probably dates from the mid-1800s (after California became a US territory), but “Round the Corn, Sally” is a much earlier slave song."
-snip-
WHAT CORN HUSKING MEANS
"Round The Corn, Sally"  was sung by emslaved Black Americans in the United States South  during corn husking. "Corn husking" means to remove the outer layer (the husk) of the corn. According to what I've read about this song "Round The Corn, Sally", during slavery in the southern region of the United States, large piles of un-husked corn were placed on the ground and there was a competition as to who would "husk" the most corn. The song "Round TheCorn, Sally" was sung by people while they husked the corn, and/or during the dancing that occurred at the end of a day's & night's work husking the corn.
-snip-
OTHER TIMES THIS SONG WAS SUNG
There is also documentation that enslaved Black Americans sung this song while rowing boats on the river. "Round The Corn, Sally" and other dance songs were also sung by enslaved African American while they marched around the plantation big house and performed for the "master" and "mistress" on Christmas day.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/06/four-examples-of-round-corn-sally.html for the 2014 pancocojams post entiteld "Lyrics For Four Early Examples Of "Round The Corn, Sally" (African American Corn Husking Song) for more information about that African American work song and for four early words only examples of that song.

****
LYRICS AND PERFORMANCE DIRECTIONS FOR VIDEO #1*
Children form a circle (first a girl only circle, then a boy only circle, then a circle formed by girls and boys together). Children hold hands and walk around the circle)

Soloist-Go around round and round
Group-Go around the corn, Sally
Soloist-Go around round and round
Group-Go around the corn, Sally
Soloist -Hey now, hey now
Group-Go around the corn, Sally
Soloist -Hey now, hey now
Group-Go around the corn, Sally
Soloist- What to do what to do – (Children stop circling movement and start jumping in place up and down)
Group-Round and round the corn Sally- (Children stand in place and turn around)
Soloist -What to do what to do
Group-Round and round the corn, Sally
Soloist -All around all around (Children hold hands and walk around the circle again)
Group-All around the corn, Sally
Soloist -All around all around
Soloist and Group-All around the corn, Sally (Children sing this last line slower and at the end sit on the floor with crossed legs)
-snip-
*This is my transcription of the video and its performance directions (given in parenthesis.) 
Additions and corrections are welcome.

****
SHOWCASE VIDEO #2: Go Around the Corn, Sally! (Danielle Solan's 08-09 BTE 2nd Grade Concert).

Danielle Solan, Dec 29, 2009
-snip-
A student introduces "Go Round The Corn, Sally" as "an African American work song that is almost two hundered years old. Workers used to sing this song while picking corn in the fields".

The children stand in place in front of their audience while singing. The children bob up and down to the instrumental introduction to this song. They sing in unison and perform imitative movements (given in parenthesis. Each "verse" is sung two times. 

Lyrics & Performance :
(Children stand in horizontal rows on a stage.) 
Go around, go around (The children make a circle with their arms in front of their body while singing these lyrics)
Go around the corn, Sally (The children stand still while singing these lyrics.)
Go around, go around
Go around the corn, Sally
Hey, now. Hey now. (Children raise both arms in the air each time they say "Hey".) 
Go around the corn, Sally
Hey, now. Hey now. (Children raise both arms in the air each time they say "Hey".) 
Go around the corn, Sally

Fly around etc. (Children flap their arms to imitate birds flying.)
Swim around etc. (Children make swimming motions.)
Clap around etc. (Children clap their hands to the rhythm of the song.)
-snip-
Correction to the information that was given in the introduction to this song: 
Read the information above about the meaning of "corn husking".

****
SHOWCASE VIDEO #3: 2nd Grade "Go Around the Corn Sally"

Winding Ridge, June 8, 2012

2nd Graders singing "Go Around the Corn, Sally" during their spring concert.
-snip-
Children are divided into two groups who stand apart from each other. One group sings the changing "call" and the other group sings the fixed "response" (Go around the corn, Sally). The only motions that I observed was the group singing the fixed response playing tambourines while they sang and holding up those tambourines at the end of the song. 

Here are the lyrics for this version of  "Round The Corn, Sally":  [Additions and corrections are welcome.]

Group #1- Go round, round and round
Group #2 - Go around the corn, Sally
Group #1- Go round, round and round
Group #2 - Go around the corn, Sally
Group #1- Hey now, hey now
Group #2  - Go around the corn, Sally
Group #1- Hey now, hey now
Group #2  - Go around the corn, Sally
Group #1- Faster still. Faster still.
Group #2 - Round and round the corn, Sally
Group #1- Faster still, Faster still.
Group #2 - Round and round the corn, Sally
Group #1- All around, all around
Group #2- All aound the corn, Sally
Group #1- All around, all around
Group #2- All aound the corn, Sally [The name "Sally" is elongated in this last line.]

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Visitors comments are welcome.

African American Spiritual & Work Song "Michael Row[ed] The Boat Ashore" (information, lyrics, and YouTube examples)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of a five part pancocojams series about the name "Michael".

Part II showcases the African American Spiritual/rowing song (work song) "Michael Row The Boat Ashore" (also given as "Michael Rowed The Boat Ashore").

Lyrics for certain versions of this song are included in this post along with some YouTube examples.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/05/information-about-name-michael-and.html for Part I of this series. Part I presents etymological information about the name "Michael" as well as information about that name's declining popularity.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/05/19651966-r-song-michael-lover-by-cod.html for Part III of this series. Part III showcases C.O.D.'s 1965 R&B song "Michael The Lover" and The Mad Lads' 1966 cover of that song.
Part IV showcases Dionne Warwick's 1966 R&B song "Message To Michael", and Michael Jackson's 1975 R&B song "Dear Michael".

Part V showcases the 1991 song "Be Like Mike" and the original Gatorade "Be like Mike" commercial. That song and commercial refers to professional basketball player Michael Jordan. A link to an online compilation of famous men named "Mike" is also included in that post.

It's my positions that these songs and that commercial reinforced the popularity of the name "Michael".

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The content of this post is presented for cultural, religious, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

Thanks to the unknown original composers of this song and thanks to those who collected this song and those who helped to bring it to the awareness of the general public. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post, to all those who are featured in these YouTube examples as well as the publishers on YouTube of those examples.

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INFORMATION ABOUT MICHAEL ROW[ED] THE BOAT ASHORE
Excerpt #1
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Row_the_Boat_Ashore
"Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" (or "Michael Rowed the Boat Ashore", or "Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore", or "Michael Row That Gospel Boat") is a Negro spiritual. It was first noted during the American Civil War at St. Helena Island, one of the Sea Islands of South Carolina.[1] It is cataloged as Roud Folk Song Index No. 11975.

It was sung by former slaves whose owners had abandoned the island before the Union navy arrived to enforce a blockade. Charles Pickard Ware was an abolitionist and Harvard graduate who had come to supervise the plantations on St. Helena Island from 1862 to 1865, and he wrote down the song in music notation as he heard the freedmen sing it. Ware's cousin William Francis Allen reported in 1863 that the former slaves sang the song as they rowed him in a boat across Station Creek.[2]

The song was first published in 1867 in Slave Songs of the United States by Allen, Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison.[3]

Lyrics
The oldest published version of the song runs in a series of unrhymed couplets:[3]

Michael row de boat ashore, Hallelujah!
Michael boat a gospel boat, Hallelujah!
I wonder where my mudder deh. [there]
See my mudder on de rock gwine home.
On de rock gwine home in Jesus' name.
Michael boat a music boat.
Gabriel blow de trumpet horn.
O you mind your boastin' talk.
Boastin' talk will sink your soul.
Brudder, lend a helpin' hand.
Sister, help for trim dat boat.
Jordan stream is wide and deep.
Jesus stand on t' oder side.
I wonder if my maussa deh.
My fader gone to unknown land.
O de Lord he plant his garden deh.
He raise de fruit for you to eat.
He dat eat shall neber die.
When de riber overflow.
O poor sinner, how you land?
Riber run and darkness comin'.
Sinner row to save your soul.

or

Michel, row the boat a-shore
Hallelujah!
Then you'll hear the trumpet blow
Hallelujah!

Then you'll hear the trumpet sound,
Hallelujah!
Trumpet sound the world around
Hallelujah!

Trumpet sound the jubilee
Hallelujah!
Trumpet sound for you and me
Hallelujah!

This song originated in oral tradition, and there are many versions of the lyrics. It begins with the refrain, "Michael, row the boat ashore, Hallelujah." The lyrics describe crossing the River Jordan, as in these lines from Pete Seeger's version:

Jordan's river is deep and wide, hallelujah.
Meet my mother on the other side, hallelujah.

Jordan's river is chilly and cold, hallelujah.
Chills the body, but not the soul, hallelujah.[4]

The River Jordan was where Jesus was baptised and can be viewed as a metaphor for deliverance and salvation, but also as the boundary of the Promised Land, death, and the transition to Heaven.[5]

[...]

According to William Francis Allen, the song refers to the Archangel Michael.[7] In the Roman Catholic interpretation of Christian tradition, Michael is often regarded as a psychopomp or conductor of the souls of the dead.[8]

The spiritual was also recorded on Johns Island during the 1960s by American folk musician and musicologist Guy Carawan and his wife, Candie Carawan. Janie Hunter, former singer of the Moving Star Hall singers, noted that her father, son of former slaves, would sing the spiritual when he rowed his boat back to the shore after catching fish.[9]

Row, Michael, Row, Hallelujah,
Row, Michael, Row, Hallelujah,
Row the boat ashore, Hallelujah,
See how we (do) the row, Hallelujah,
See how we the row, Hallelujah,
Let me tries me chance, Hallelujah,
Let me tries me chance, Hallelujah,
Jump in the jolly boat, Hallelujah,
Jump in the jolly boat, Hallelujah,
Just row Michael, row, Hallelujah,
Row the boat ashore, Hallelujah.

(repeated thusly until end)

A similar version was collected by Guy Carawan on an unspecified Sea Island.

Let me try my chance, Hallelujah,
Let me try my chance, Hallelujah,
Sister Mary try her chance, Hallelujah,
Sister Mary try her chance, Hallelujah,
Just let me try my chance, Hallelujah,
Just let me try my chance, Hallelujah,
Michael row your boat ashore, Hallelujah,
Michael row your boat ashore, Hallelujah,
Sister Mary row your boat, Hallelujah,
Sister Mary row your boat, Hallelujah,
Everybody try a chance, Hallelujah
Everybody try a chance, Hallelujah
Oh just let me try my chance, Hallelujah
Oh just let me try my chance, Hallelujah

(repeated thusly until end)

Recordings
The version of "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" that is widely known today was adapted by Boston folksinger and teacher Tony Saletan, who taught it to Pete Seeger in 1954.[10][11] Saletan, however, never recorded it. Seeger taught it to the Weavers, who performed it at their 1955 reunion concert.[12] One of the earliest recordings of the song is by folksinger Bob Gibson, who included it on his 1957 Carnegie Concert album.[13] The Weavers included an arrangement in The Weavers' Song Book, published in 1960. Similarly, Seeger included it in his 1961 songbook, American Favorite Ballads, with an attribution to Saletan.[14] The American folk quintet the Highwaymen had a #1 hit in 1961 on both the pop and easy listening charts in the U.S. with their version (under the simpler title of "Michael"), first recorded and released in 1960; this recording also went to #1 in the United Kingdom.[15] Billboard ranked the record as the No. 3 song of 1961.[16]
The Highwaymen version that went to #1 on the Billboard charts had these lyrics:

Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah.
Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah.
Sister help to trim the sail, hallelujah.
Sister help to trim the sail, hallelujah.
Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah.
Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah.
The River Jordan is chilly and cold, hallelujah.
Chills the body but not the soul, hallelujah.
Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah.
Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah.
The river is deep and the river is wide, hallelujah.
Milk and honey on the other side, hallelujah.
Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah.
Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah.”

[...]
-snip-
Since the referent "Negro" was changed to "African American" in the late 1960s, early 1970s, I use the term "African American Spirituals" rather "Negro Spirituals". Furthermore, I strongly believe that, when singing African American Spirituals or 19th century secular songs, contemporary singers shouldn't use 19th century dialect (such as these words, among others, that are found in the earliest version of this song given above: "gwine" for "gone", "dat" for "that" and "neber" for "never").

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Excerpt #2:
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=31019
Dubject: RE: Michael Row the Boat Ashore
From: raredance
Date: 19 Feb 01 - 12:34 AM

"Indeed Michael can be found in "Slave Songs of the United States" by William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison. They include two versions with a total of 29 "verses" . W. F. Allen wrote in the introductory text:
"The same songs are used for rowing as for shouting . I know only one pure boat-song, the fine lyric, "Michael row the boat ashore"; and this I have no doubt is a real spiritual - it being the archangel Michael that is addressed... "As I have written these tune," says Mr. Ware, "two measures are to be sung to each stroke,the first being accented by the beginning of the stroke, the second by the rattle of the oars in the row-locks. On the passenger boat at the [Beaufort] ferry, they rowed from sixteen to thirty strokes a minute; twenty-four was the average. Of the tunes I have heard....'Lay this body down', 'Religion so sweet', and 'Michael row', were used when the load was heavy or the tide was against us."
-snip-
In this comment the word "shouting" doesn't mean "yelling; speaking in a loud voice". Instead, in the context of this comment "shouting" refers to religious services that enslaved Black people had in the antebellum South (USA); i.e. "ring shouts".
-snip-
Click http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/allen/allen.htmlhttp://docsouth.unc.edu/church/allen/allen.html for a digital version of Slave Songs of the United States by William Francis Allen, etl.

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SHOWCASE EXAMPLES
Example #1: Pete Seeger - Michael Row The Boat Ashore



Evan, Published on Mar 12, 2010

Live in 1963. Melbourne. Very well known song. Note that at this time Pete was being looked down on back home in America


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Example #2: Max Romeo - Michael Row the Boat Ashore



Orestis, Published on Jan 16, 2010
Romeo's version of this folk song [1969]

artist
Max Romeo & The Hippy Boys
Album
The Coming of Jah: Max Romeo Anthology 1967-76
-snip-
This is a Jamaican Reggae version of the African American Spiritual and rowing song "Michael Row The Boat Ashore".

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Example #3: Brothers Four - Michael Row The Boat Ashore


Marcelo San Miguel, Published on Jul 12, 2013
-snip-
Here's the lyrics to this version that were posted in this YouTube sound file's discussion thread by debuyadebuo(2015)
"Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah
Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah.

Michael's boat is the gospel boat, hallelujah
Michael's boat is the gospel boat, hallelujah.
Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah
Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah.

The river Jordan is chilly and cold, hallelujah
Chills the body but warms the soul, hallelujah
Jordon's water is deep and wide, hallelujah
Milk and honey on the other side, hallelujah.

Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah
Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah.

Trumpets sounds for you and me, hallelyjah
Trumpets sounds for you and me, hallelyjah
Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah
Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah.

Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah
Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah.

Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah
Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah.

Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah
Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah..."

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Example #4: Harry Belafonte - Michael Row The Boat Ashore (1962) [Digitally Remastered]



Classic Mood Experience, Published on Sep 28, 2013

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Example #5: "Michael Row the Boat Ashore" by Ella Jenkins and Friends



Smithsonian Folkways, Published on Jul 20, 2017

...Ella Jenkins performs the spiritual "Michael Row the Boat Ashore” with members of the Old Town School of Folk Music and Tony & Kate Seeger of Camp Killooleet. Find this track and other classic camp songs, rounds, silly songs, and campfire sing-alongs on Camp Songs with Ella Jenkins and Friends, available now

About 'Camp Songs':
Renowned children’s performer Ella Jenkins has vivid memories of singing at summer camps, and if you were a camper, you must too! She and her friends invite you to share those experiences and celebrate her 60 years as a Folkways artist with this recording. Ella assembled a group of children, parents, and teachers from the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, along with Tony and Kate Seeger from Camp Killooleet, to sing these classic camp songs, rounds, silly songs, and campfire sing-alongs...

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This concludes Part II of this series.

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African American Folk Song "Mule On The Mount" (information, lyrics, & sound files)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post provides information about and lyrics for the African American secular folk song "Mule On The Nount".

Two sound files of this song are also showcased in this post.

The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Special thanks to Zora Neale Hurston for her renditions of "Mule On The Mount". Thanks also to the publishers of these examples on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE FOLK SONG "MULE ON THE MOUNT" & LYRIC EXAMPLES
Excerpt #1:
From http://xroads.virginia.edu/%5C~MA01/Grand-Jean/Hurston/LOC/music/mulelyrics.html
"NOTE: The most widely distributed and best known of all Negro work songs. Since folk songs grow by incremental repetition the diversified subject matter that it accumulates as it ages is one of the evidences of its distribution and usage. This has everything in folk life in it. Several stories to say nothing of just lyric matter. It is something like the Odyssey, or the Iliad.

Cap'n got a mule, mule on the Mount called Jerry
Cap'n got a mule, mule on the Mount called Jerry
I can ride, Lawd, Lawd, I can ride.
(He won't come down, Lawd; Lawd, he won't come down, in another version.)

I don't want no cold corn bread and molasses,
I don't want no cold corn bread and molasses,
Gimme beans, Lawd, Lawd, gimme beans.

I don't want no coal-black woman for my regular,
I don't want no coal-black woman for my regular,
She's too low-down, Lawd, Lawd, she's too low-down.
I got a woman, she's got money 'cumulated,
I got a woman, she's got money 'cumulated,
In de bank, Lawd, Lawd, in de bank.

I got a woman she's pretty but she's too bulldozing,
I got a woman she's pretty but she's too bulldozing,
She won't live long, Lawd, Lawd, she won't live long.

Every pay day, pay day I gits a letter,
Every pay day, pay day I gits a letter,
Son come home, Lawd, Lawd, son come home.

If I can just make June, July and August,
If I can just make June, July and August,
I'm going home, Lawd, Lawd, I'm going home.
Don't you hear them, coo-coo birds keep a'hollering,
Don't you hear them, coo-coo birds keep a'hollering,
It's sign of rain, Lawd, Lawd, it's sign of rain.
I got a rain-bow wrapped and tied around my shoulder,
I got a rain-bow wrapped and tied around my shoulder,
It ain't goin' rain, Lawd, Lawd, it ain't goin' rain
-snip-
For the purpose of this post, I've assigned these lyrics as Lyric Example #1.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/10/early-versions-of-cant-you-line-em.html for a pancocojams post about gandy dancers. Here's a portion of one excerpt about "gandy dancers" that is found in that post:
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandy_dancer
"Gandy dancer is a slang term used for early railroad workers who laid and maintained railroad tracks in the years before the work was done by machines.

...most sources refer to gandy dancers as the men who did the difficult physical work of track maintenance under the direction of an overseer.

There are various theories about the derivation of the term, but most refer to the "dancing" movements of the workers using a specially manufactured 5-foot (1.52 m) "lining" bar (which may have come to be called a "gandy") as a lever to keep the tracks in alignment...

Though all gandy dancers sang railroad songs, it may be that black gandy dancers, with a long tradition of using song to coordinate work, were unique in their use of task-related work chants."

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Excerpt #2
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=135990
Subject: RE: Origins: Timber Jerry the Mule
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 26 Feb 11 - 06:06 PM

"Well, the song "Jerry" ("Mule on the Mountain") is somewhat older, a work chant. First collected I think by Zora Neale Hurston, who published it in her Mules and Men, 1935, p. 327, as "Mule On De Mount." First vrse:

Cap'n got a mule, mule on the Mount called Jerry (2)
I can ride, Lawd, Lawd, I can ride.
[OR He won't come down, Lawd, Lawd, he won't come down.]

Hurston calls it "The most widely distributed and best known of all Negro work songs." Subsequent collecting has not borne out that verdict, but the song is very widespread all the same, related to "Corn Bread and Molasses," "Coal-Black Woman" and other songs like "I Got a Bulldog." Some like the latter have penetrated into white tradition as well.

I have not heard the Josh White version, so I don't know how closely it resembles the above. But the name "Jerry" is usually associated with the above song. My guess, absent other evidence, is that Josh White may have derived his song from that source. At least it's a good place to start looking.

Bob

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Subject: RE: Origins: Timber Jerry the Mule
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 26 Feb 11 - 06:11 PM

Re copyright, Hurston quite honorably does not assert specific copyright in the song. Thank goodness for the early folklorists who knew better than to try to control traditional songs!

However her book is Mules and Men, Lippincott, Copyright 1935 by Zora Neale Hurston (my edition was reprinted 1970 by Harper Perennial paperbacks.)"

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LYRICS- MULE ON THE MOUNT
[Version #2, as sung by Zora Neale Hurston in the video given as Example #2 below]

Cap'n got a mule, mule on the mount called Jerry
Haa!
Cap'n got a mule, mule on the mount called Jerry
Gonna ride him down, Lawd, Lawd gonna ride him down.


I got a woman shake like jelly all over
Haa!
I got a woman shake like jelly all over
Haa!
Her hips so broad, Lawd, Lawd her hips so broad.

My little woman, she had a baby this morning
Haa!
My little woman , she had a baby this morning
Haa!
He had blue eyes, Lawd, Lawd, he had blue eyes

I outa had told her
He musta be the hell fired captain’s
Hmm
I outa had told her
He must be the hell fired captain’s
Haa!
He had blue eyes, Lawd Lawd he had blue eyes

Oh don’t you hear them
A coo coo bird a keep on hollerin
Haa!
Oh don’t you hear them
A coo coo bird a keep on hollerin
Haa!
It looks like rain, Lawd, Lawd, it looks like rain.

I got a rain-bow wrapped and tied around my shoulder,
Haa!
I got a rain-bow wrapped and tied around my shoulder,
Haa!
It ain't goin' rain, Lawd, Lawd, it ain't goin' rain

Oh hand me down two, three cans of tomatoes
Haa!
Oh hand me down two, three cans of tomatoes
Haa!
And a can of corn, Lawd Law a can of corn

I got a woman she's pretty but she's too bulldozing,
I got a woman she's pretty but she's too bulldozing,
She won't live long, Lawd, Lawd, she won't live long.

-snip-
*transcribed by Azizi Powell from; Additions & corrections are welcome.

Notes about some of the words in this song:
Mount = mountain

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Cap'n [captain] = the White boss

**
The sound "Haa!" is a sound approximation used by the gandy dancers [railroad laborers] to indicate a particular movement. Read this excerpt about another gandy dancer song:
From http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/folk-song-lyrics/Linin_Track.htm
Excerpt from notes for the African American song “Linin’ Track
"Tie shuffling' is the lining or straightening out of the railroad track. To understand the work-rhythm that forms the chant it will be necessary to describe Henry Trevelyan's section gang as it worked to the tune. Henry, the foreman, stooped over and squinted off down the shining rail; then stood up and bawled out directions to his gang in the impossibly technical language of the railroad. They, with heavy bars
off down the track, jammed their lining bars down under the rail on the inner side, and braced against them. One of their number, a handsome yellow man, when he was sure they were ready to heave, threw back his head and sang. On the first and next to last beat of every verse, each man threw his weight against his bar; the refrain was repeated until Henry, who had kept his eye on the rail meanwhile, shouted his directions about the next 'johnnyhead'. At that signal, the song was broken off , the gang stopped heaving, and the whole scene was repeated a few yards on down the track."
-snip-
I think that the sound "Haa" in Lyric Example #2 pf "Mule On The Mount" rhymes with the musical note "faa" and is the beginning sound in the word "laugh". I've also seen that sound given as "hah".

**
"too bulldozing" = "too bossy".

Additional notes about this song are included in the showcase examples that are found below.

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SHOWCASE EXAMPLES
Example #1: African American Folk Music (FL): Mule on the Mount



Voices in Time, Published on May 6, 2016

Title: Mule on the Mount, Other Title: Poor Lazarus Hiking Jerry Every Mail Day Stewboy Captain's Mule Lord, Lord,

Contributor Names: Kennedy, Stetson (Collector)Halpert, Herbert, 1911-2000 (Collector)Hurston, Zora Neale (Speaker)Halpert, Herbert, 1911-2000

(Speaker)Hurston, Zora Neale (Performer),
Created / Published: Jacksonville, Florida,

Subject Headings: - African Americans- Work songs- Songs- United States -- Florida -- Duval County -- Jacksonville, Genre: Songs,

Notes: - Zora Neale Hurston, originally of Eatonville, Florida, was already a published novelist and folklorist when she took a job with the Federal Writers' Project in Florida.- [Zora Neale Hurston said that “Mule On The Mount” was] The most widely-distributed work song in the United States, with a consistent tune but varying verses. Zora Neale Hurston originally learned "Mule on the Mount" from George Thomas in Eatonville, Florida. Sung here in track-lining rhythm, it is also sung in other work sites, such as the lumber camps, and in recreational venues such as the "jooks."

Performance Note: "Mule on the Mount" (vocals) performed by Zora Neale Hurston at Federal Music Project Office, Jacksonville, Florida, on June 18, 1939., Medium: Sound disc : analog ; 12 in., Call Number/Physical Location: AFC 1939/005: AFS 03136 B01, Source Collection: Herbert Halpert 1939 Southern States Recording Expedition (AFC 1939/005), Repository: American Folklife Center, Digital Id: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/afcflwpa.3...

Photographs in this collection are from the Library of Congress Florida category, 1930-39, including Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-And-White Negatives. Please see channel description for copyright statement. The videos on this channel feature uncensored historical documents, which may on occasion contain offensive material.
-snip-
This summary is reformatted for this post to enhance its readability.

“track lining songs” = songs that are sung by Black American workers who built [lined] the railroad tracks
-snip-
This song begins at 1:25 of this sound file.

In the beginning of this sound file Zora Neale Hurston says that she is going to sing a "lining rhythm" [meaning "a song that was sung by railroad workers "lining (railroad) track". Hurston said that she is going to call it "Mule On The Mount" although you can start with any verse that you want".

The lyrics for this song are given as Lyric Example #2.

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Example #2: Zora Neale Hurston Fieldwork 1928



Andrew Rasmussen, Published on Aug 11, 2013

I do not claim anything original from this video.
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/03/heres-fantastic-find-1928-film-clip-of.html for a pancocojams post about the segment of this showcased film clip that shows children playing a ring game (with a boy in the middle dancing) - from 3:24 to 4:50 in this YouTube video.

The lyrics for this song are given as Lyric Example #2.
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