James Bolden 6/11/23 James Bolden 6/11/23

DEEP RIVER

Deep River,
My home is over Jordan
Deep River, Lord
I want to cross over into campground

Oh, chillun, Dont you want to go to that gospel feast,
That promised land, where all is peace?
Deep River, Lord
I want to cross over into campground

“...But the space of perfect freedom is distant. And another obstacle presents itself – a river to cross, most often designated by the Biblical name of the Jordan” (Chenu).

While the Biblical River of Jordan is referenced in many spirituals, none are as famous or as often sung as Deep River. In the Bible, the Israelites crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land after forty years of wandering the desert. As Negro Spirituals tend to draw inspiration from Biblical stories, it is no wonder slaves would draw a connection to the River of Jordan and the promised peace on the other side.

Having sung spirituals for most of my college career, I knew that many of the songs drew this connection to the Jordan River. What I learned upon visiting the Underground Railroad Museum in Cincinnati is that the Jordan River in spirituals is often code for the Ohio River specifically, which was the physical separation between the southern slave states and the free north. The river was “the last and most formidable barrier to freedom” (Thurman). To the escaping slave, eternal rest and freedom or, campground, was on the other side of the river. “In the spirituals, the vocabulary of heaven is rich, using both Christian terms and terms from the common human experience” (Cheun). The word “Campground” in Deep River represents Heaven. Other common metaphors for Heaven in spirituals include words like home, bright mansions above, green pastures, a better day, and the world above (Chenu).

The song Deep River was first popularized by Henry “Harry” T. Burleigh in his 1916 collection, Jubilee Songs of the USA. “The widespread success of his setting of Deep River inspired the publication of nearly a dozen more spirituals the same year” (H. T. Burleigh). The imagery of the River is so powerful that it continues into African American literature, the most of famous of which, is the poem The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes. Theologian Howard Thurman draws a connection between the metaphorical river to life itself when he writes: “...at its source [the Mississippi River] is unpretentious, simple. It increases in momentum, in depth, in breadth, in turbulence as it makes its journey down the broad expanse of America, until at last it empties itself into the Gulf of Mexico, which, in a sense, is the triumph of its own achievement! …Life is like that!”

Sources:

H. T. Burleigh (1866-1949). The Library of Congress. (n.d.). https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200035730#:~:text=Harry%20Thacker%20Burleigh%20played%20a,adaptations%20of%20African%2DAmerican%20spirituals

Chenu, Bruno. The Trouble I’ve Seen: The Big Book of Negro Spirituals. Judson Press, 2003.

1873-1954., Johnson, J. Rosamond (John Rosamond), et al. The Books of American Negro Spirituals: Including The Book of American Negro Spirituals and the Second Book of Negro Spirituals. Da Capo Press, 1926.
Thurman, Howard, and Howard Thurman. Deep River ; and, the Negro Spiritual Speaks of Life and Death. Friends United Press, 1975.

Notable Arrangements and Performances

Deep River
Sung by Fisk Jubilee Singers

The Moses Hogan Singers - Deep River
Arr. by Moses Hogan

Deep River (Remastered)
Sung by Paul Robeson*

Deep river (Feel the Spirit) - John Rutter, Cambridge Singers, BBC Concert Orchestra
Arr. by John Rutter

Deep River -- Coming Soon
Arr by L. E. Bolden*

Harry Thacker Burleigh - Deep River
Arr. by H. T. Burleigh

*African American Composer or Performer

James Bolden 5/14/23 James Bolden 5/14/23

(Sometimes I feel Like a) Motherless Child

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child,
A long way from home,
A long way from home.
True believer, a long way from home.

Sometimes I feel like I’m almost gone.
Sometimes I feel like I’m almost gone.
Sometimes I feel like I’m almost gone,
Way up in the heavenly land,
Way up in the heavenly land.
True believer, way up in the heavenly land.

“...There is no more hapless victim than one who is cut off from family, from language, from one’s roots” (Thurman).

This song carries more historical significance than Biblical significance. Unlike many other spirituals, this one talks about the shared experience of the slaves themselves rather than drawing from Biblical references and metaphors. “When the slaves were taken from their homeland, the primary social unit was destroyed, and all immediate tribal and family ties were ruthlessly broken” (Thurman). This evokes a pain so great, it can only be healed “up in the heavenly land.” The negro slave was seen as property. No different than cattle. Bought and sold by plantation owners without a thought to family groups already established. Mothers were separated from children, husbands from wives, with little hope of ever reuniting. “Because the separation of families was such a dramatic, though common, experience, the slave was an orphan, with an unfathomable sadness of heart” (Chenu).

Songs like …Motherless Child, Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen, and Steal Away came from a place of deep sorrow and eventually influenced more modern musical genres like the blues. “Surely, there is no loneliness that surpasses that of a motherless child, yet the very articulation of this state is a sign of endurance, dignity, and even hope” (Newman).

When I began this journey of setting spirituals for solo voice, …Motherless Child was at the top of my list. It’s no secret that I love dark, minor pieces. But with a song that was so repetitive, I wanted to add more to it. I started researching African American poets because I wanted to incorporate spoken word with this simple, haunting, and beautiful melody and I learned about Frances Watkins Harper, (1824-1911) whose poetry was in the public domain. She was an abolitionist, a suffragette, and one of the first African American women to be published in the United States. I started going through her poetry and was immediately drawn to the poem Bury Me in a Free Land. What an inspiration! I love the sentiment of the opening stanza:

Make me a grave where’er you will,
In a lowly plain, or a lofty hill;
Make it among earth’s humblest graves,
But not in a land where men are slaves.

Even now, rereading the poem with intent to set it for choir, I feel an immense connection to the text. The rest of the poem can be found here:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/154190/bury-me-in-a-free-land

To me, these words seem like the perfect accompaniment to a piece filled with sorrow and despair, as if to say, the story is not yet finished.

Notable Arrangements

Bessie Griffin*

Bessie Griffin - Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child

L. E. Bolden*

https://lebolden.bandcamp.com/track/motherless-child

John Rutter from Feel the Spirit

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child (Feel the Spirit) - John Rutter, Cambridge Singers

*African American Composer

Sources:

Chenu, Bruno. The Trouble I’ve Seen: The Big Book of Negro Spirituals. Judson Press, 2003.

James Bolden 4/23/23 James Bolden 4/23/23

Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho

“The tumbling down of the walls of Jericho was a power evocation of the derided crumbling of the walls of slavery” (Chenu).

Another example of Negro slaves glorifying Biblical leaders is Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho. After the death of Moses in the book of Joshua, God called Moses’ assistant as his chosen vessel. The Israelites had wandered in the desert for forty years when they came upon the city of Jericho. The gates of Jericho were tightly shut and no one was allowed in or out. But the Lord told Joshua “I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors.” God told Joshua to march his warriors around the city once a day for six days. On the seventh day, they were to march seven times, blowing their horns and shouting. This would bring the walls down.

There is some heavy symbolism in this story of victory without battle. Negro slaves, who had no power in their situation trusted that God would lead them out of slavery and to a place of victory, just as He promised Moses and just as He promised Joshua. “The tumbling down of the walls of Jericho was a power evocation of the derided crumbling of the walls of slavery” (Chenu, 153). Negro slaves believed that there was a Promised Land within their reach if they put their faith in God. The first recorded version of this song was in 1922 by the Fisk Jubilee Singers.

This is another one of my favourite spirituals. I love the quickly moving lyrical line and the percussiveness of the Js in “Joshua” and “Jericho.” The falling phrase of “the walls come tumblin’ down” is a great example of text painting, which was seen in classical lieder. This is the idea of imitating the text in the melody. Typically, this song, like many of the other spirituals, is swung with quintessential uneven eighths, leading with natural progression to American jazz.

Notable Arrangements

Fisk Jubilee Singers*

Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho

Mahalia Jackson*

Joshua Fit The Battle Of Jericho-Mahalia Jackson

Sidney Bechet*

Joshua Fit De Battle of Jericho

Moses Hogan*

The Moses Hogan Singers - Joshua Fit De Battle of Jericho

Rollo Dilworth*

Joshua (SATB Choir) - Arranged by Rollo Dilworth

Florence Price*

Florence Price's "Joshua fit the Battle of Jericho"

L. E. Bolden*

https://lebolden.bandcamp.com/track/joshua

*African American Composer

Sources:

Chenu, Bruno. The Trouble I’ve Seen: The Big Book of Negro Spirituals. Judson Press, 2003.

James Bolden 3/12/23 James Bolden 3/12/23

Wade in de Water

Wade in de water, children
God’s a-going to trouble the water.

See that host all dressed in white, God’s a-going to trouble the water
The leader looks like an Israelite, God’s a-going to trouble the water

See that host all dressed in red, God’s a-going to trouble the water
Looks like the band that Moses led, God’s a-going to trouble the water

Look over yonder, what do I see? God’s a-going to trouble the water
The Holy Ghost a-coming on me, God’s a-going to trouble the water

If you don’t believe I’ve been redeemed, God’s a-going to trouble the water
Just follow me down to Jordan’s stream, God’s a-going to trouble the water

“Within the context of the troubled waters of life there are healing waters, because God is in the midst of the turmoil” (Thurman).

Wade in de Water, like many spirituals, was likely used as a coded message on the Underground Railroad. Typical symbols in spirituals include the term Israelite as a reference to the slaves themselves. So the line “see that host all dressed in white, the leader looks like an Israelite” likely directed the escaping slaves to a white marker at a safe house along the Underground Railroad. The water in question likely referred to two things. The Ohio River was the geographical landmark that separated the southern slave states from free northern states. Also, traveling through water was a way for the slaves to hide their scent from pursuing bloodhounds.

In the fifth chapter of John’s Gospel, he tells the story of a man so sick he could not move. He desired healing from the Pool at Bethesda, where it was said that God’s divine presence would stir up, or trouble, the water. This water, troubled by divine presence, became a metaphor for the ups and downs of life (Thurman).

For many years, I sang the refrain of this song. I think I heard it quoted in some gospel song on the radio when I was a child. I never knew what “trouble the water” meant until I started research for this project. I remember thinking “why would I want to go into water that is troubled? That doesn’t sound pleasant!” However, Wade in the Water, is one of my favourite of the Negro spirituals. I love the dark, minor nature and the wail of the second line of the refrain. It evokes such passion and strength. There is a different spiritual with the same theme called Come Down Angels, which I first heard arranged by Undine Smith Moore (1904-1989). The text of that piece seems to bring forth a more joyful connotation to the same story. “Come down angels, trouble the water! Let God’s saints come in!” Either way, this story of the paralyzed man seeking healing demonstrates the resilience of the Negro Spirit. No matter their circumstance, they had faith that a better day would come, even if that day came after they found their eternal resting place in Heaven.

Notable Arrangements and Recordings

Wade in de Water arranged by Moses Hogan*

The Moses Hogan Singers - Wade In De Water

Wade in the Water arranged by Rollo Dilworth*

Wade in the Water (SATB Choir) - Arranged by Rollo Dilworth

Troubled Water by Margaret Bonds*

Margaret Bonds Troubled Water

Wade in the Water arranged for solo voice by L. E. Bolden*

(Recording coming soon)

*African American Composer

Sources:

Thurman, Howard, and Howard Thurman. Deep River ; and, the Negro Spiritual Speaks of Life and Death. Friends United Press, 1975.

Chenu, Bruno. The Trouble I’ve Seen: The Big Book of Negro Spirituals. Judson Press, 2003.

1873-1954., Johnson, J. Rosamond (John Rosamond), et al. The Books of American Negro Spirituals: Including The Book of American Negro Spirituals and the Second Book of Negro Spirituals. Da Capo Press, 1926.

Newman, R. (1998). Go Down, Moses: A Celebration of the African-American Spiritual. Clarkson Potter

https://youtu.be/uTjbMuX5Tiw

https://youtu.be/QHPD28fmsxs

https://youtu.be/vdQtCssBfKY

James Bolden 2/12/23 James Bolden 2/12/23

Go Down Moses

Go down, Moses
’Way down in Egypt land
Tell ole Pharaoh
Let my people go

When Israel was in Egypt’s land
Let my people go!
Oppressed so hard they could not stand
Let my people go!

“Thus saith the Lord,” bold Moses said
Let my people go!
If not I’ll smite your first born dead
Let my people go!

No more shall they in bondage toil, Let my people go!
Let them come out with Egypt’s spoil, Let my people go!

When Israel out of Egypt came, Let my people go!
And left the proud oppressive land, Let my people go!

O, ‘twas dark and dismal night, Let my people go!
When Moses led the Iseaelites, Let my people go!
Plus twenty more verses, all telling the story of Moses freeing the people from slavery in Egypt.

“When the slaves sang ‘Go Down Moses,’ they put forward a political message of freedom and hope for endurance in the face of death and despair after one arrives in the penultimate promised land of these United States” (West).

Go Down Moses was the first spiritual to ever be published with its music and all of its verses. It is, perhaps, the most well-known spiritual. It was first published in Virginia by the National Anti-Slavery Standard on October 12, 1861, then again in the New York Tribune on December 21 of the same year (Chenu). “Go Down Moses has been attributed to Nat Turner as either author or subject matter” (Newman). In Southampton County, VA, Nat Turner led a violent slave revolt in 1831. “The message of this song, [let my people go!] was so clear that some slaveholders forbade its singing on their plantations” (Newman). The correlation that the Negro slaves found between themselves and the Israellites indicate that they, the slaves, believed their freedom from bondage was “a physical reality in this world, and not merely an otherworldly aspiration” (Newman). This song, and other spirituals like it, is full of symbolism and coded messages. The slaves represented Israel and Moses, a leader. Whether or not that leader was Nat Turner remains a mystery to this day. Egypt, of course, represents the South and Pharaoh, the slave owner.

The black pastor of the age provided his community with a point of view that became a door of hope. “His most important insight was that every human being, slave and master, was a child of God (Thurman). This notion of being a child of God, not a slave, but created in His image, helped to give birth to the religious folk song. “The experiences of frustration and divine deliverance, as set forth in the stories of the Hebrews in bondage, spoke at once to the deep need in the life of the slaves” (Thurman).

Just like the Hebrew people in the Old Testament, Negro slaves saw themselves as Children of Destiny. There was an obvious parallel between the Israellites and the slaves. “God manifested himself in certain specific acts that seemed to be over and above the historic process itself” (Thurman). The text of Go Down Moses tells the story of Moses, God’s chosen vessel to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt. Many spirituals hold such biblical heroes as Moses, Daniel, and Jesus in high regard because they find strength in an “all-embracing love and mercy” (West).

Go Down Moses was the first spiritual I arranged for solo voice. In 2020, when Ottawa went into the first lockdown, I shifted from composing choir pieces to doing more solo works. While I find that its call-and-response style often suits it for choral settings, it has such a great, singable melody and I absolutely love singing it as a solo.

Notable Arrangements and Recordings

Go Down, Moses arranged by Moses Hogan* for SATB and solo voice

The Moses Hogan Singers - Go Down, Moses

Selma 1965: Let My People Go arranged by Rollo Dilworth*

Selma 1965: Let My People Go (SATB Choir) - Arranged by Rollo Dilworth

Go Down, Moses performed by Louis Armstrong and chorus

Louis Armstrong-Go Down Moses (Lyrics+Download)

Go Down, Moses arranged for solo voice by L. E. Bolden

(Recording coming soon)

*African American Composer

Sources:

Thurman, Howard, and Howard Thurman. Deep River ; and, the Negro Spiritual Speaks of Life and Death. Friends United Press, 1975.

Chenu, Bruno. The Trouble I’ve Seen: The Big Book of Negro Spirituals. Judson Press, 2003.

1873-1954., Johnson, J. Rosamond (John Rosamond), et al. The Books of American Negro Spirituals: Including The Book of American Negro Spirituals and the Second Book of Negro Spirituals. Da Capo Press, 1926.

https://youtu.be/70WEjshrrDg

https://youtu.be/PKVDqJF4Lgo

https://youtu.be/8JNCS27rtQ8

James Bolden 5/28/19 James Bolden 5/28/19

All God's Chillun Got Wings

I got a robe, You got a robe,

All o’ God’s chillun got a robe

When I get to heab’n I’m goin’ to put on my robe,

I’m goin’ to shout all ovah God’s Heab’n.

Everybody talkin’ ‘bout heab’n ain’t goin’ dere; Heab’n

I’m goin’ to shout all ovah God’s Heab’n

I got-a wings, You got-a wings,

All o’ God’s chillun got-a wings

When I get to heab’n I’m goin’ to put on my wings,

I’m goin’ to fly all ovah God’s Heab’n.

Everybody talkin’ ‘bout heab’n ain’t goin’ dere; Heab’n

I’m goin’ to fly all ovah God’s Heab’n.

I got a harp, You got a harp,

All o’ God’s chillun got a harp

When I get to heab’n I’m goin’ to take up my harp,

I’m goin’ to play all ovah God’s Heab’n.

Everybody talkin’ ‘bout heab’n ain’t goin’ dere; Heab’n

I’m goin’ to play all ovah God’s Heab’n

I got shoes, You got shoes,

All o’ God’s chillun got shoes

When I get to heab’n I’m goin’ to put on my shoes,

I’m goin’ to walk all ovah God’s Heab’n.

Everybody talkin’ ‘bout heab’n ain’t goin’ dere; Heab’n

I’m goin’ to walk all ovah God’s Heab’n

“This is an authentic song of protest” (Thurman).

During the Antebellum period, white pastors and other such church leaders would teach about how to get to heaven. To the enslaved, they would teach “be good to the master and they [the slave owner] will carry you to heaven” (Chenu). In this depiction of heaven, there was a separation, essentially, a heaven for the master and separate, different, heaven for the slave. This, of course, contradicts the teaching of Christianity that there is only one God. There cannot be two heavens and one God, so the slaves came to the conclusion “I am having my hell now and when I die, I shall go to heaven. The master is having his heaven now and when he dies, he shall go to hell” (Thurman).

“To the exploited, heaven is the antithesis of earth” (Chenu). In heaven, there is no pain, no suffering. No families are torn apart. There is no death, no work. In short, heaven represented all the things the slave had to look forward to. “The enslaved looked to the next world in order to forget their present miseries” (Chenu). The slave, denied shoes, clothes, and dignity, would receive all of that in heaven. “The value as a person would be expressed by the opulence of the slaves’ new clothing” (Chenu).

The text of this spiritual describes everything denied to the slave while on earth as something he will achieve in heaven. This is a song “sung in anticipation of a time when there shall be no slave row in the church, no gallery set aside for the slave, no special place, no segregation, no badge of racial and social stigma, but complete freedom of movement” (Thurman). The line “everybody talkin’ ‘bout heaven ain’t going there” refers to the slave owner, who regarded himself as “righteous.” He preaches about Heaven, but the slaves were certain that the injustice the master created would not go unpunished.

The first time I came across this song was when I was singing in the Campbell University Choir in Buies Creek, North Carolina. Under the direction of Dr. Philip Morrow, we sang at least one spiritual on each program. That semester, we did Robert Shaw’s arrangement called I Got Shoes. I remember loving the rhythm and the energy, but not liking the text. This arrangement closely follows J. Rosamond Johnson’s prescription of the original text and I didn’t understand the cultural significance of the Negro vernacular as I do now. I now feel that it is important to understand the oral tradition in spirituals. These were people who weren’t allowed to be educated. They were peoples who came from different tribes and nations and were forced into the shared experience of slavery. Their languages were stolen from them and so they pronounced the words as they heard them.

Notable Arrangements and Performances

I Got a Robe arranged by Moses Hogan* for SATB and solo voice

I Got a Robe – Moses Hogan (with music score) High Quality

I Got a Robe from Feel The Spirit arranged by John Rutter for SATB and solo voice

Feel the Spirit: III. I got a robe

I Got Shoes arranged by Robert Shaw for SATB

04 I Got Shoes – Robert Shaw Chorale

All God’s Chillun Got Wings arranged by J. Rosamond Johnson* for solo voice and piano

All Gods Chillin Got Wings (Negro Spiritual)

All God’s Children Got a Song arranged by L. E. Bolden* for solo voice and piano

(Recording coming)

*African American Composer

Sources:

Thurman, Howard, and Howard Thurman. Deep River ; and, the Negro Spiritual Speaks of Life and Death. Friends United Press, 1975.

Chenu, Bruno. The Trouble I’ve Seen: The Big Book of Negro Spirituals. Judson Press, 2003.