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Showing posts with label songs about mothers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label songs about mothers. Show all posts

Sunday, May 11, 2025

Birmingham Jubilee Singers - "Sweet Mama, Tree Top Tall" (an early 20th century "Blues" song)



CanadianFolkBlues, Published on Jun 6, 2012


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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases the song "Sweet Mama Tree Top Tall" by the Birmingham Jubilee Singers. Information about the Birmingham Jubilee Singers is included in this post.

This post also includes definitions of the word "jubilee" and information about the referent "Jubilee singers" as it applies to African American religious and secular singers.

Lyrics to the Birmingham Jubilee Singers' version of "Sweet Mama Tree Top Tall" are also included in this post along with my comments about the meanings of three African American Vernacular English expressions that are found in this song: "tree top tall", "turn your damper down" and "don't like my peaches, don't shake my tree".

This pancocojams post also includes an example of an African American children's rhyme that includes those lines from that song which have become a "floating verse" (i.e. words/lyrics that appear in other songs/rhymes regardless of their genre). 

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the Birmingham Jubilee Singers for their musical legacy. Thanks also to those quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube.
-snip-
This post is largely a reprint of a pancocojams post that was published in 2013. . That 2013 post had been updated at least once in 2013.

There are no comments in the discussion thread for that YouTube sound file or for that 2013 pancocojams post.

Information about the word "Jubilee" is added to this 2025 post along with information about the Fisk Jubilee Singers, particularly regarding the fact that while Jubilee singing groups mostly performed religious music (African American Spirituals), they also performed non-religious music which can be classified as Blues.
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I'm reprinting this post (with additions) on Mother's Day 2025. Happy mother's Day to all those people regardless of their gender who have "mothered" or are "mothering" other people and/or "fur babies".


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WHAT THE WORD "JUBILEE" MEANS IN THE NAME OF THIS MUSIC GROUP AND OTHER BLACK AMERICAN MUSIC GROUPS 
The word "Jubilee" in the name of the music group "Birmingham Jubilee Singers" follows the naming custom of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Here's some information about that group from
" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisk_Jubilee_Singers
"The Fisk Jubilee Singers are an African-American a cappella ensemble, consisting of students at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. The first group was organized in 1871 to tour and raise funds for college. Their early repertoire consisted mostly of traditional spirituals, but included some songs by Stephen Foster. The original group toured along the Underground Railroad path in the United States, as well as performing in Europe. Later 19th-century groups also toured in Europe.

[…]

History
….[The music group’s name is] “in memory of the Jewish year of Jubilee."[2] This was a reference to Jubilee described in the book of Leviticus in the Bible. Each fiftieth Pentecost was followed by a "year of jubilee" in which all slaves would be set free.[3] Since most of the students at Fisk University and their families were newly freed slaves,[5] the name "Jubilee Singers" seemed fitting.

The Jubilee Singers' performances were a departure from the familiar "black minstrel" genre of white musicians performing in blackface. One early review of the group's performance was headlined "Negro Minstrelsy in Church--Novel Religious Exercise," while further reviews highlighted the fact that this group of Negro minstrels were, oddly enough, "genuine negroes."[6] "Those who have only heard the burnt cork caricatures of negro minstrelsy have not the slightest conception of what it really is," Doug Seroff quotes one review of a concert by the group as saying.[7] This was not a uniquely American response to the group's performance, but was typical in audience receptions in Europe as well: "From the first the Jubilee music was more or less of a puzzle to the critics; and even among those who sympathised with their mission there was no little difference of opinion as to the artistic merit of their entertainments. Some could not understand the reason for enjoying so thoroughly as almost everyone did these simple unpretending songs."[8]

…The original Jubilee Singers introduced slave songs to the world in 1871 and were instrumental in preserving this unique American musical tradition known today as Negro spirituals. They influenced many other troupes of jubilee singers who would go on to make their own contributions to the genre,"...
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"Negro" is an outdated referent for African Americans (Black Americans) since the 1960s. Although it was the custom for mainstream America to spelling the referent "Negro" with a lower case "n", that population protested that practice because it was offensive given the fact that the spelling for referents for all other races began with an upper case letter. That referent is sometimes informally used by African Americans (Black Americans) as a put down of a person from that population who is behaving in ways that are obsequious toward White people and/or in ways that ae against the well being of Black people (i.e. "acting like an Uncle Tom")
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Here's a sentence from AI (Google results May 11, 2025) that apparently refers to other African American Jubilee music groups such as the Birmingham singers" 
. .."While known for their spirituals, the group's [Fisk Jubilee Singers] performances and the spirituals themselves became a foundation for the development of blues, gospel, jazz, country, and rock music."

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE BIRMINGHAM JUBILEE SINGERS
From http://www.last.fm/music/Birmingham+Jubilee+Singers
"The Birmingham Jubilee Singers were an American gospel quartet from Birmingham, Alabama.

They were put together in 1926 by Charles Bridges, a native of Birmingham suburb Pratt City, who studied voice at his high school and sang with the Dolomite Jubilee Singers after graduating....

The group became Alabama’s first professional quartet when in 1926 they were discovered by a Columbia Records talent scout, and travelled from Jefferson County to record in Atlanta. They achieved nationwide popularity through their live radio broadcasts over WAPI, WVRC and WJLD.

Becoming one of Columbia’s most prolific black vocal groups, they played vaudeville stages in New York and Chicago with the likes of Ethel Waters. They played a mix of both gospel songs and secular material, performing on gospel and vaudeville stages alike.

The group disbanded in the 1930s when Dave Ausbrooks died. Their complete recorded works were reissued on two compact discs in 1995 by the Document Records label."
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Italics added to highlight this sentence which refers to the types of music that this group sang. In the mid 20th century to date (2025) African American Gospel groups don't record Blues music or almost any other type of secular (non-religious) music 

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LYRICS - SWEET MAMA TREE TOP TALL
(As sung by the Birmingham Jubilee Singers on "Birmingham Jubilee Singers: Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order: Volume 1: 1926 – 1927" (Document Records, DOCD-5345):

1. Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.
I smell your bread cookin', honey. Done got good an' brown.
I'm goin' away sweet mama just worry you off my mind,
'Cause you keep us both worried 'bout the baby all the time.
Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.

2. Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.
I smell your bread cookin', honey. Done got good an' brown.
I just got a letter from a gal in Rome.
Says she got plenty money, gonna bring it home.
Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.

3. Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.
I smell your bread cookin', honey. Done got good an' brown.
I've got a gal in Georgia, two in Tennessee.
Got three in Alabama good enough for me.
Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.

4. Hey beauty, wake up honey, I know you heard the whistle blow.
You got a few more minutes to get your clothes on; then you have to go.
Your hands are already rough and your feet are long.
... can't see what'n the world you're waitin' on.
Hey beauty, wake up honey, I know you heard the whistle blow.

5. Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.
I smell your bread cookin', honey. Done got good an' brown.
I'm standing on the corner with my hat in my han',
... waitin' for the woman ain't got no man.
Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.

6. Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.
I smell your bread cookin', honey. Done got good an' brown.
If you don't like my peaches, don't you shake my tree.
... let my peaches be.
Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.
(I said) Baby, turn your damper down.
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Hat tip to Jim Dixon and Arkansas Red for this transcription.
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=24332&messages=22 "Lyr Req: Sweet Mama Tree-Top Tall (Lasses White)"

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EXPLANATION OF THE TERM "TREE TOP TALL"
"Tree top tall" is a referent for a very tall person

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[Update 11/7/2013]

EXPLANATIONS OF THE TERM "TURN YOUR DAMPER DOWN"
"Turn your damper down"
Here's an explanation of "turn your damper down" from
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=24332&messages=22
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Mama Tree-Top Tall (Lasses White)
From:GUEST,Arkansas Red-Ozark Troubadour
Date: 03 Jun 13 - 01:29 PM

"From what I understand "turning a damper down" in cooking with a wood stove means to reduce the heat. So the double entendre in this song probably refers to "sweet mama" having "the hots" for other men, and spreading it around, so she is advised to keep her damper turned down and "make it hot" for her man only. This I was told by an [sic] black blues singer who probably knew more double entendres in songs than anybody. Blues are filled with double entendres. That's what makes the blues so great."
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Here's another opinion about what "turn your damper down" from that same discussion thread:

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Mama Tree-Top Tall
From:GUEST,Arkie
Date: 22 Jul 05 - 10:23 AM

Having grown up in a farm house heated by a woodstove with a damper in the stovepipe, I've always taken the phrase to mean "calm down" or "don't be so intense". The phrase was sometimes used in conversation when someone had become a little overheated or excited. While I suspect that some may have conjured up sexual imagery from the phrase, in my own experience it was related to a volatile temper.
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In my opinion, that non-sexual meaning is more accurate for this Blues song. Here's another non-sexual example of "turning your damper down" that I shared on that discussion thread in 21 Jul 05 -11:19 PM

from an article about Bessie Smith*:

"Her relationships with other female singers were often stormy. Bessie did agree to record with rival, Clara Smith (no relation) a few songs of which My Man Blues portrays the two in mock competition over the same man. The following dialogue comes from that 1925 recording.22

(Bessie:) It is my man, sweet papa Charlie Gray.
(Clara:) Your man? How do you git that way?
(Bessie:) Now look here, honey, I been had that man for umpteen year.
(Clara.) Child, didn't I turn your damper down?
(Bessie.) Yes, Clara, and I've cut you every way but loose!"

*A hyperlink was given to this article, but the link is no longer active.

Here's information about wood burning stove dampers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood-burning_stove
"Keeping the air flowing correctly through a wood-burning stove is essential for safe and efficient operation of the stove. Fresh air needs to enter the wood compartment to provide oxygen fuel for the fire; as the fire burns, the smoke must be allowed to rise through the stove pipes, and exit through the chimney. To regulate air flow, there are damper devices built into the stove, flue, and stove pipes...

By opening or closing the dampers, air flow can be increased or decreased, which can fan the fire in the wood compartment, or "dampen" it by restricting airflow and reducing the flames.”
-snip-
I think that "turn your lamp down low" (in Blues songs) is a closely related expression to "turn your damper down".

Here's information about turning the flame of a kerosene lamp down low from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerosene_lamp
"The kerosene lamp (widely known in Britain as a paraffin lamp) is a type of lighting device that uses kerosene (British "paraffin", as distinct from paraffin wax) as a fuel...

Lighting a flat-wick lamp requires filling the fuel tank (fount) with fuel and allowing time for the wick to absorb the fuel. The wick is trimmed straight across with a pair of sharp scissors before lighting. With the glass chimney lifted off the lamp, the wick is turned up and lighted with a match or other lighter. The wick is turned down if smoke develops, and the lamp chimney lowered. After a few minutes warm-up the lamp can be turned to full brightness. Extinguishing the lamp is done by turning down the wick and blowing out the flame, or by turning the wick down below the top of the wick tube."

So, to conclude, I believe that "turn your damper down" and "turn your lamp down low"] mean "to reduce the heat you are emitting" - to "cool out" and not be "heated", "hot", "hot and bothered" or "enflamed" by someone or about something. Another of saying this is "to cease being or refrain from being irritated or angry at someone or about something."

However, at the same time or separately, both of those expressions may also have the sexual meaning whose explanation s given above.

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[Update 11/7/2013]

EXPLANATIONS OF THE TERM "IF YOU DON'T LIKE MY PEACHES, DON'T SHAKE MY TREE
If you don't like my peaches, don't you shake my tree.
... let my peaches be" is a floating verse that is found in a number of Blues songs & other songs. "Peaches" in those Blues songs had a sexual meaning" and that line means the same thing as "If you don't like me, don't come around me looking for just sex."

This verse is also found as a taunting line in a few contemporary American children's playground rhymes and children's cheer leader cheers where it's usually given as "if you don't like my apples, don't shake my tree".

I think that most of these taunting rhymes/cheers originated with African Americans although they were/are also recited by non-African Americans. Here's one example that I cited in this discussion thread on the "don't like my apples don't shake my tree" expression http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=123813

I'll BE

I'll be. be
Walking down the street,
Ten times a week.
Un-gawa. Un-gawa {baby}
This is my power.
What is the story?
What is the strike?
I said it, I meant it.
I really represent it.
Take a cool cool Black to knock me down.
Take a cool cool Black to knock me out.
I'm sweet, I'm kind.
I'm soul sister number nine.
Don't like my apples,
Don't shake my tree.
I'm a Castle Square Black
Don't mess with me.

Source: John Langstaff, Carol Langstaff, Shimmy Shimmy Coke-Ca-Pop!, A Collection of City Children's Street Games & Rhymes {Garden City, New York, Double Day & Co; p. 57; 1973)

That line's inclusion in children's cheerleader cheers is undoubtedly lifted from its use in Blues songs and/or songs from other genres, although few children reciting that line know or care about the source for that line.

The main non-sexual meaning of the "if you don't like my peaches [apples], don't shake my tree" expression is "If you don't like me, leave me alone."

The referent "Castle Square Black" probably refers to a Black person who lives in a certain neighborhood or in a certain housing project that is named "Castle Square". ("The projects" is a term that has been used in the United States since the 1950s to refer to government subsidized housing with low rents).  

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Visitor comments are welcome.

Sunday, May 13, 2018

South African Singer Brenda Fassie - "Mama" (sound file with lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases the song "Mama" by South African singer Brenda Fassie.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Brenda Fassie for her musical legacy. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube.

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SHOWCASE SOUND FILE: BRENDA FASSIE - Mama



Kegnaste, Published on Jun 27, 2010

Tribute to the QUEEN, you'll always be in our hearts

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LYRICS: MAMA
(Brenda Fassie)

This is for you mama
I love you, I miss you
I miss you so much
Hmm mm

Mama, rest in peace
You'll always be in my heart
Mama, God bless your soul
I know that you
You're in good hands

Life ain't easy
Without you mama
Cause you've been there for me
Anytime, anywhere, everyday
Yeah

Mama, ooh mama
Everybody misses you
Mama Ma Mkoena
We love you
You'll always be in our hearts

It's reality no no
Ain't no fantasy oh no
I promise you Ma Mkoena
I'll take care

Mama, rest in peace
You'll always be in my heart
Mama, God bless your soul
I know that you
You're in good hands

Ma Mkoena don't worry
I promise you I'll take care
I'll take, I'll take care
I'll take care, Ma Mkoena

Mama, rest in peace
You'll always be in my heart
Mama, God bless your soul
I know that you
You're in good hands

Source: http://www.lyricshall.com/lyrics/Brenda+Fassie/Mama/

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Saturday, May 9, 2015

Boyz II Men - "A Song For Mama" (video and song lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases the 1997 R&B record "A Song For Mama" by Boyz II Men in honor of the designated Mother's Day holiday in the United States. Lyrics for this song are also included in this post.

The contents of this post are presented for entertainment, inspirational, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Babyface for composing this song and thanks to Boyz II Men for their musical legacy and thanks to all mothers and mother figures who take care of and care for children. Thanks also to the publisher of this video on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THIS SONG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Song_for_Mama
"A Song for Mama" is the title of a number-one R&B single by the American R&B group Boyz II Men. The tune, which was written and produced by Babyface, served as the theme song to the 1997 motion picture Soul Food, and spent two weeks at number one on the US R&B chart. To date, it is their last top 10 pop hit, peaking at number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also appears on the group's album Evolution."

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SHOWCASE VIDEO: A Song For Mama by Boyz 2 Men



♥~ChEmIcaLLy~DeSiGnEd~♥, Uploaded on Dec 29, 2009

This is just a cLaSSic This video/song just gives you chills!!!! Why-ever did they stop making music?!

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LYRICS: A SONG FOR MAMA
(composed by Babyface, recorded by Boyz II Men)

You taught me everything
And everything you've given me
I always keep it inside
You're the driving force in my life, yeah

There isn't anything
Or anyone that I can be
And it just wouldn't feel right
If I didn't have you by my side

You were there for me to love and care for me
When skies were grey
Whenever I was down
You were always there to comfort me
And no one else can be what you have been to me
You will always be
You will always be the girl in my life
For all times

[Chorus:]
Mama, mama, you know I love you
Oh you know I love you
Mama, mama, you're the queen of my heart
Your love is like tears from the stars
Mama, I just want you to know
Lovin' you is like food to my soul

You're always down for me
Have always been around for me
Even when I was bad
You showed me right from my wrong
Yes you did

And you took up for me
When everyone was downin' me
You always did understand
You gave me strength to go on

There were so many times
Looking back when I was so afraid
And then you come to me
And say to me I can face anything
And no one else can do what you have done for me
You'll always be
You will always be the girl in my life, ooh oh

[Chorus:]
Mama, mama, you know I love you
Mama, mama, you're the queen of my heart
Your love is like tears from the stars
Mama, I just want you to know
Lovin' you is like food to my soul

Never gonna go a day without you
Fills me up just thinking about you
I'll never go a day without my mama

[Chorus:]
Mama, mama, you know I love you
Mama, mama, you're the queen of my heart
Your love is like tears from the stars
Mama, I just want you to know
Lovin' you is like food to my soul

Source http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/boyziimen/asongformama.html

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