Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II of a pancocojams series of the song "Funky Butt" (also known as "Buddy Bolden's Blues").
Part II presents information about Zora Neale Hurston and showcases a variant form of "Funky Butt" called "Tampa" that was sung by folklorist and author Zora Neale Hurston from her childhood memories of growing up in Florida.
A segment of a YouTube video that features the song "Tampa" is highlighted in this post along with my transcription of that recording.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/04/online-excerpts-about-song-funky-butt.html for Part I of this series. Part I presents various excerpts from online sites that provide information about the African American song "Funky Butt" (also known as "Buddy Bolden's Blues"). Some of these excerpts include lyrics.
A 1939 YouTube example of this song that is performed by Jelly Roll Morton and a later YouTube example of this song that is sung by Sidney Betchet are also included in this post along with selected comments from those sound files' discussion threads.
The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who composed or helped influence the composition and documentation of early examples of this song. Special thanks to folklorist/author Zora Neale Hurston.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT ZORA NEALE HURSTON
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zora_Neale_Hurston
"Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891[1][2] – January 28, 1960) was an influential author of African-American literature and an anthropologist, who portrayed racial struggles in the early-20th-century American South, and published research on Haitian voodoo.[3] The most popular of her four novels is Their Eyes Were Watching God, published in 1937. She also wrote more than 50 short stories, plays, and essays.
Hurston was born in Notasulga, Alabama, and moved with her family to Eatonville, Florida, in 1894. She later used Eatonville as the setting for many of her stories. It is now the site of the Zora! Festival, held each year in her honor.[4]
In her early career, Hurston conducted anthropological and ethnographic research while a student at Barnard College and Columbia University.[5] She had an interest in African-American and Caribbean folklore, and how these contributed to the community's identity."...
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO: Zora Neale Hurston Fieldwork 1928
Andrew Rasmussen, Published on Aug 11, 2013
I do not claim anything original from this video.
The film was shot by Hurston in 1928 and I got it from here: https://www.floridamemory.com/audio/hurston.php
The audio is Hurston herself, as recorded in the mid 1930's. You can [sic] these tunes and more here:
-snip-
Note that the publisher mistakenly indicates that this film was recorded in 1930, when he had previously noted that the film was shot by Hurston in 1928.
****
LYRICS FOR "TAMPA"*
(as sung by Zora Neal Hurston)
[Hurston speaking beginning at 1:34 in the film]
"This is a song called “Tampa”. I’ve known it ever since I could remember. So I don’t know who taught it to me, but I heard it sung in my native village when I was a child. Now this was sung by the old folks of course.
[song actually begins at 1:50-2:38]
Thought I heard somebody say
Your nasty butt, your stinky butt
Take it away.
Ah, Your nasty butt, your sticky butt
Take it away.
Ah, I do not want it in here.
Oh, I do not want it in here
Oh, I’m so glad Mr. Bolden** says
The women in Tampa gotta wipe their ass.
Oh, the women in Tampa gotta wipe their ass.
Oh, do not want it in here.
Oh, I thought I heard somebody shout.
Open the window, let the stink go out.
Oh, open the window, let the stink go out.
Oh, yes I heard somebody say
Your nasty butt, your stinky butt
Take it away.
Your nasty butt, your stinky butt
Take it away.
I do not want it in here.
-snip-
*Transcription by Azizi Powell from the song in the Hurston's 1928 film.
**I’m not sure about this name., but I wrote it because it is used in other examples of this song.
Additions and corrections are welcome.
Read the comments that are included in Part I of this pancocojams series that suggests that this is a folk song and not a song that was composed by Buddy Bolden or one of this fellow musicians in the early 1900s.
****
This concludes Part II of this two part pancocojams series on the song "Funky Butt".
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Showing posts with label Zora Neale Hurston. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zora Neale Hurston. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
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.
****
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."
****
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
**
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.)"
****
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
**
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.
****
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.
****
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.
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
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.
****
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."
****
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
**
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.)"
****
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
**
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.
****
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.
****
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.
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
1928 Film Clip Of Black Children's Circle (Ring) Games
Edited by Azizi Powell
[UPDATE: December 29, 2018- Revised title. The original title was "Here's A Fantastic Find! A 1928 Film Clip Of Black Children Playing A Ring Game With A Boy Dancing In The Center".]
This pancocojams post showcases a portion of a video of African American folklorist Zora Neale Hurston's anthropological films. The focus of this post is the portion from 3:24 to 4:50 of the YouTube video of that film that shows a ring game with a child dancing in the center of the circle.
This film clip is probably from Zora Neale Hurston's 1928 film Children's Games. However the background sound for that segment and for most of that particular film clip is Zora Neale Huston singing a version of the secular African American folk song "Mule On The Mount". People who want to focus on the children's ring game and the center child's dancing can mute the sound on this video.
I hope that someone publishes more content on YouTube from Zora Neale Hurtson's Children's Games, including text information about and lyrics of the games that are featured in that film. And I hope that someone publishes this specific section of the YouTube video entitled "Zora Neale Hurston Fieldwork 1928" without the background singing (or even with the background singing).
I apologize that I don't know how to edit a YouTube video and upload that edited video onto YouTube. I assume that it would be legal to do so as long as the source for the original source for that film clip and the YouTube video that is being edited are cited. But I'm not sure about any of that.
****
PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR
I found this video while searching for YouTube examples of children playing the ring game (circle game) "There Stands A Blue Bird". I played this game in Atlantic City, New Jersey in the 1950s with the title and first verse "Here Stands A Blue Bird".
The segment of this showcased film clip that shows children playing a ring game (with a boy in the middle dancing) is from 3:24 to 4:50 in that YouTube video.
I'm not sure which ring game the Black girls and boys are playing in this particular film clip. However, it's almost certainly an example of a "show me your motion" ring game (i.e. a circle game in which people take turns going into the center of the ring and performing a dance or some other movement/s).
The sound that is heard during that segment is Zora Neale Hurston singing the African American song "Mule On The Mount" and not the children singing the ring game.*
****
INFORMATION ABOUT ZORA NEALE HURSTON
From https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/zora-neale-hurston-2/ "Profile - Zora Neale Hurston" by Aimee Dixon
..."Better known for her work as a novelist, Zora Neale Hurston could be, according to an essay by Gloria Gibson, the first African-American woman filmmaker. The film footage, which includes Children’s Games (1928), Logging (1928), and Baptism (1929), appears to be from her work as a student of anthropology under the tutelage of famed anthropologist, professor and mentor, Dr. Franz Boas. A graduate of Barnard College and a Guggenheim fellow, Hurston traveled to back to a South similar to her hometown of Eatonville, Florida to capture a variety of short takes of African-American life. Ethnographic in nature, the films reflect a focus of folklorists of that time period who believed that “…cultural performance and beliefs must be expeditiously collected and documented because they would soon be gone forever” (Gibson, 205)"...
-snip-
This comment is also quoted in the discussion thread for the flim clip that is showcased below in this pancocojams post.
**
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/05/two-early-20th-century-examples-of.html for a pancocojams post on "There Stands A Blue Bird"
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO: Zora Neale Hurston Fieldwork 1928
Andrew Rasmussen, Published on Aug 11, 2013
I do not claim anything original from this video.
The film was shot by Hurston in 1928 and I got it from here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqWH5b
The audio is Hurston herself, as recorded in the mid 1930's. You can these tunes and more here:
https://www.floridamemory.com/audio/hurston.php
In this video: "Wake Up Jacob", "Tampa," "Mule on the Mountain," and "Halimuhfack"
-snip-
Sound was first introduced in movies in October 1927, making Zora Hurston's films very early examples of sound films.
The segment of this showcased film clip that shows children playing a ring game (with a boy in the middle dancing) is from 3:24 to 4:50 in that YouTube video. "Mule On The Mount" is the song that Zora Neale Hurston is singing while the film shows the ring game. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/03/african-american-folk-song-mule-on.html for the related pancocojams post "African American Folk Song "Mule On The Mount" (information, lyrics, & sound files)"
****
MY DESCRIPTION OF THE RING GAME IN THIS VIDEO
Girls and boys forming the ring (circle) hold hands with person at either side and skip counterclockwise at a fast pace around a boy who is standing in the middle of the circle.
When the boy begins to dance, the children stop moving around the circle. They drop hands and begin to clap their hands. It doesn't appear that the children are singing throughout this dance performance or even at any time during that dance performance. The film captures glimpses of the children forming the ring stamping their left foot (and some children moving both of their knees and feet) while they watch the boy dancing in the center of the ring.
The boy is doing fast foot work that is accompanied by a flip into a half split several times during his dance performance. (I wonder if this half-split is a precursor to the voguing dance move that is called a "death drop"). I'd label the type of dancing he's doing as "buck dancing" and/or "a jig", but I'll leave a more detailed description of this dance to those who can name it and describe it better than me.
-snip-
Here's one of very few comments from that YouTube video's discussion thread:
Andre Wilson, 2014
"Fantastic! Very important footage that documents the real lives of African Americans. I particularly love the footage of the children's game. Zora documents games in "Mules and Men" and included the lyrics and description of the game "There Stands a Blue Bird" which is probably what this film footage represents."
-snip-
Unless it is noted in that Hurston's 1928 Children's Game film clip, I don't think that there's any definitive way of knowing which game song the children are playing. However, "There Stands A Blue Bird is played this way.
****
Thanks to Zora Neale Hurston for her life's legacy. Thanks also to all those who are featured in this film clip and thanks to the publisher of this film clip on YouTube. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.
The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
[UPDATE: December 29, 2018- Revised title. The original title was "Here's A Fantastic Find! A 1928 Film Clip Of Black Children Playing A Ring Game With A Boy Dancing In The Center".]
This pancocojams post showcases a portion of a video of African American folklorist Zora Neale Hurston's anthropological films. The focus of this post is the portion from 3:24 to 4:50 of the YouTube video of that film that shows a ring game with a child dancing in the center of the circle.
This film clip is probably from Zora Neale Hurston's 1928 film Children's Games. However the background sound for that segment and for most of that particular film clip is Zora Neale Huston singing a version of the secular African American folk song "Mule On The Mount". People who want to focus on the children's ring game and the center child's dancing can mute the sound on this video.
I hope that someone publishes more content on YouTube from Zora Neale Hurtson's Children's Games, including text information about and lyrics of the games that are featured in that film. And I hope that someone publishes this specific section of the YouTube video entitled "Zora Neale Hurston Fieldwork 1928" without the background singing (or even with the background singing).
I apologize that I don't know how to edit a YouTube video and upload that edited video onto YouTube. I assume that it would be legal to do so as long as the source for the original source for that film clip and the YouTube video that is being edited are cited. But I'm not sure about any of that.
****
PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR
I found this video while searching for YouTube examples of children playing the ring game (circle game) "There Stands A Blue Bird". I played this game in Atlantic City, New Jersey in the 1950s with the title and first verse "Here Stands A Blue Bird".
The segment of this showcased film clip that shows children playing a ring game (with a boy in the middle dancing) is from 3:24 to 4:50 in that YouTube video.
I'm not sure which ring game the Black girls and boys are playing in this particular film clip. However, it's almost certainly an example of a "show me your motion" ring game (i.e. a circle game in which people take turns going into the center of the ring and performing a dance or some other movement/s).
The sound that is heard during that segment is Zora Neale Hurston singing the African American song "Mule On The Mount" and not the children singing the ring game.*
****
INFORMATION ABOUT ZORA NEALE HURSTON
From https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/zora-neale-hurston-2/ "Profile - Zora Neale Hurston" by Aimee Dixon
..."Better known for her work as a novelist, Zora Neale Hurston could be, according to an essay by Gloria Gibson, the first African-American woman filmmaker. The film footage, which includes Children’s Games (1928), Logging (1928), and Baptism (1929), appears to be from her work as a student of anthropology under the tutelage of famed anthropologist, professor and mentor, Dr. Franz Boas. A graduate of Barnard College and a Guggenheim fellow, Hurston traveled to back to a South similar to her hometown of Eatonville, Florida to capture a variety of short takes of African-American life. Ethnographic in nature, the films reflect a focus of folklorists of that time period who believed that “…cultural performance and beliefs must be expeditiously collected and documented because they would soon be gone forever” (Gibson, 205)"...
-snip-
This comment is also quoted in the discussion thread for the flim clip that is showcased below in this pancocojams post.
**
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/05/two-early-20th-century-examples-of.html for a pancocojams post on "There Stands A Blue Bird"
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO: Zora Neale Hurston Fieldwork 1928
Andrew Rasmussen, Published on Aug 11, 2013
I do not claim anything original from this video.
The film was shot by Hurston in 1928 and I got it from here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqWH5b
The audio is Hurston herself, as recorded in the mid 1930's. You can these tunes and more here:
https://www.floridamemory.com/audio/hurston.php
In this video: "Wake Up Jacob", "Tampa," "Mule on the Mountain," and "Halimuhfack"
-snip-
Sound was first introduced in movies in October 1927, making Zora Hurston's films very early examples of sound films.
The segment of this showcased film clip that shows children playing a ring game (with a boy in the middle dancing) is from 3:24 to 4:50 in that YouTube video. "Mule On The Mount" is the song that Zora Neale Hurston is singing while the film shows the ring game. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/03/african-american-folk-song-mule-on.html for the related pancocojams post "African American Folk Song "Mule On The Mount" (information, lyrics, & sound files)"
****
MY DESCRIPTION OF THE RING GAME IN THIS VIDEO
Girls and boys forming the ring (circle) hold hands with person at either side and skip counterclockwise at a fast pace around a boy who is standing in the middle of the circle.
When the boy begins to dance, the children stop moving around the circle. They drop hands and begin to clap their hands. It doesn't appear that the children are singing throughout this dance performance or even at any time during that dance performance. The film captures glimpses of the children forming the ring stamping their left foot (and some children moving both of their knees and feet) while they watch the boy dancing in the center of the ring.
The boy is doing fast foot work that is accompanied by a flip into a half split several times during his dance performance. (I wonder if this half-split is a precursor to the voguing dance move that is called a "death drop"). I'd label the type of dancing he's doing as "buck dancing" and/or "a jig", but I'll leave a more detailed description of this dance to those who can name it and describe it better than me.
-snip-
Here's one of very few comments from that YouTube video's discussion thread:
Andre Wilson, 2014
"Fantastic! Very important footage that documents the real lives of African Americans. I particularly love the footage of the children's game. Zora documents games in "Mules and Men" and included the lyrics and description of the game "There Stands a Blue Bird" which is probably what this film footage represents."
-snip-
Unless it is noted in that Hurston's 1928 Children's Game film clip, I don't think that there's any definitive way of knowing which game song the children are playing. However, "There Stands A Blue Bird is played this way.
****
Thanks to Zora Neale Hurston for her life's legacy. Thanks also to all those who are featured in this film clip and thanks to the publisher of this film clip on YouTube. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.
The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
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