Lyr Add: Yo' Low Down Ways

Subject: Yo' Low Down Ways
From: wysiwyg
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 12:18 AM

This rather gloomy lyric is sung to a delightfully bouncy (nay, gleeful!) melody.

~S~

==========================================================

YO' LOW DOWN WAYS
Traditional Spiritual

CHO:
Yo' low-down ways, yo' low-down ways,
God's goin' get you 'bout yo' low-down ways,
Yo' low-down ways, yo' low-down ways,
God's goin' get you 'bout yo' low-down ways.

You talk about yo' elder when he's tryin' to preach the word,
God's goin' get you 'bout yo' low-down ways,
You talk about yo' elder when he's tryin' to preach the word,
God's goin' get you 'bout yo' low-down ways.

You talk about yo' neighbor when he's tryin' to praise the Lord,
God's goin' get you 'bout yo' low-down ways,
You talk about yo' neighbor when he's tryin' to praise the Lord,
God's goin' get you 'bout yo' low-down ways.

You talk about yo' sister when she's on her knees a-prayin',
God's goin' get you 'bout yo' low-down ways,
You talk about yo' sister when she's on her knees a-prayin',
God's goin' get you 'bout yo' low-down ways.

SOURCE:
American Negro Songs, 230 Folk Songs and Spirituals, Religious and Secular. John W. Work, Dover Publications, Mineola, NY 1998. Orig. pub. Crown Publishers, NY, 1940. ISBN 0-486-40271-1.

SH
E-mailing tune to Joe Offer for inclusion in Mudcat MIDI pages (see QUICKLINKS).

Subject: Add: Yo' Low Down Ways
From: masato sakurai
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 11:03 AM

Not so different a version except for the spellings and each stanza structure.

YOUR LOW DOWN WAYS

Your lown down ways, your low down ways,
God's going to get you about your low down ways,
God's going to get you about your low down ways.

You talk about your elder when he's tryin to preach the word,
You talk about your neighbor when he's tryin' to praise the Lord,
You talk about your sister when she's on her knees praying.

Your lown down ways, your low down ways,
God's going to get you about your low down ways,
God's going to get you about your low down ways.

Source: Erskine Peters, Lyrics of the Afro-American Spiritual (Greenwood, p.303). From Jack Snider, ed., American Negro Spirituals (1926).

Susan, is the subject line OK?

Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Yo' Low Down Ways
From: wysiwyg
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 02:04 PM

That's great, Masato!

And thanks for adding this version.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Yo' Low Down Ways
From: Cappuccino
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 02:33 PM

Susan, we've been scouring the same sites. I've only just finished arranging a nice bouncy version of that myself, thinking 'bonody will ever have heard this...'!

- Ian B

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Yo' Low Down Ways
From: Cappuccino
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 02:34 PM

The word 'bonody' in that last post is, of course, olde English for 'nobody'....

- Ian

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Yo' Low Down Ways
From: wysiwyg
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 02:43 PM

... fo' yo' low-down spelling...

*G*

Have any more verses, Ian?

I am putting together an index of what appears in what songbooks. Contact me FMI.

~S~

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Yo' Low Down Ways
From: Cappuccino
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 02:48 PM

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Yo' Low Down Ways
From: Cappuccino
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 02:50 PM

Lord, I really am screwing up this thread, aren't I - I just hit 'submit' without any message. Put it down to being tired, 'cos my 13-year-old and I were up at 3am for a day out in Paris (France, not Texas). No, just the same verses as you... but again, I'm just wondering if I dare risk it in church...!!!

- Ian

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Yo' Low Down Ways
From: wysiwyg
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 03:32 PM

Ian,

Well, IMO the question is, do you need to do it with them or do they need to do it with you? (The former I would suspect, the latter I would encourage.) What does the leader in you say, and what does (you know who) say about it?

And what does the rector say?

~S~

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Yo' Low Down Ways
From: Cappuccino
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 04:44 PM

Do it!

- Ian

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Yo' Low Down Ways
From: wysiwyg
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 05:40 PM

GOGOGOGOGOGO!

~S~