Help: the song Nicodemus the Slave.

Subject: the song Nicodemus the Slave.
From: piccarso
Date: 27 Jul 02 - 06:50 AM

hi all,can anyone help me ?,i'm trying to trace the folk song in the subject,I thought it was one of pete seeger's,but can't find it on my data base,would be obliged if someone could set me straight.happy listening.picc.

Subject: RE: Help: the song Nicodemus the Slave.
From: masato sakurai
Date: 27 Jul 02 - 07:55 AM

It might not be the one, but there's a song WAKE NICODEMUS by Henry Clay Work (in the DT). Thr original sheet music is at the Levy Collection. Click here, and turn the pages.

Title: Wake Nicodemus. Song and Chorus.
Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: Words and Music by Henry Clay Work.
Publication: Chicago: Root & Cady, 67 Washington St., 1864.
Form of Composition: strophic with chorus
Instrumentation: piano and voice
First Line: Nicodemus, the slave, was of African birth, and was bought for a bagful of gold
First Line of Chorus: The "Good Time Coming" is almost here! It was a long, long, long on the way!

~Masato

Subject: RE: Help: the song Nicodemus the Slave.
From: masato sakurai
Date: 27 Jul 02 - 10:29 AM

Lyrics and MIDI is HERE.

Subject: RE: Help: the song Nicodemus the Slave.
From: Don Firth
Date: 27 Jul 02 - 01:25 PM

Recorded by Burl Ives on Decca, wa-a-a-a-ay back. Late Forties or early Fifties.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Help: the song Nicodemus the Slave.
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 27 Jul 02 - 02:56 PM

Ahh, yes, Burl Ives! This song was on the very first folk song record (remember records?) I ever bought. I believe the name of the record was "The Wayfaring Stranger". I think I still have it.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Help: the song Nicodemus the Slave.
From: masato sakurai
Date: 27 Jul 02 - 11:46 PM

The Burl Ives version has this chorus (from The Burl Ives Sing-Along Song Book, Frankiln Watts, 1963, p. 120):

There's a great time comin' and it's almost here,
Been long, long, long on the way.
So go and tell 'Liza to hurry up home,
And meet us by the gum tree down in the swamp
For to wake Nicodemus today.

~Masato

Subject: RE: Help: the song Nicodemus the Slave.
From: piccarso
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 06:36 AM

Many thx to,masato (great graphics),don firth,(I like burl Ives,and am looking for his song " Telephone to Glory",if u can help.)Also Uncle Dave,I'd forgotten the song,"Wayfaring Stranger",will add to my collection. hand Picc.

Subject: Lyr Add: WAKE NICODEMUS
From: masato sakurai
Date: 11 Aug 02 - 10:09 AM

From Newman I. White, American Negro Folk-Songs (1928; reprinted 1964, pp. 200-201)

WAKE NICODEMUS
"Reported from Auburn, Ala., 1915-1916. MS. of R. Chambers, as heard in Giles County, Tenn. [...] The present version is composed of stanza I and te chorus of the original, with lines 2 and 4 as 4 and 2 and with 'good time' and 'Uncle Lijah' in the original changed to 'hard times' and 'Uncle Lizah'."

Nickodemus* de slave was of African birth,
He libed long ergo very old,
He was reckoned as part ob de salts ob de earth,
He was sold for a bag full ob gold.

Oh! This last sad request as we laid him to rest
On de trunk ob an old hollow tree:
Wake me up in de morn at de break ob de day,
Wake me up for de grand jubilee.

Oh! dere's hard times comin' and dey ain't far off,
Dere's hard times comin' on de way.
Oh, tell Uncle 'Lizah for to tell Uncle Pomp
For to meet me by de gum tree down in de swamp
And wake Uncle Nickodemus up today.

[*Spelling retained.]

~Masato

Subject: RE: Help: the song Nicodemus the Slave.
From: Irish sergeant
Date: 11 Aug 02 - 02:47 PM

Piccarso: It sounds like "Wake Nocodemus" is the song you're looking for. I believe the lyrics are in the digitrad. If not, PM me I have them. Kindest regards, Neil

Subject: RE: Help: the song Nicodemus the Slave.
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 12 Aug 02 - 12:13 AM

The town of Nicodemus, Kansas originated as a "free black" settlement in the early years of Civil War "Reconstruction," and I'm told it once had several hundred inhabitants. It survives today with about 50 or 60 residents, although presumedly is no longer a "black community."

There are similarly named towns in at least a few states which probably had similar origins.

I vaguely recall a book with a title something like "The Nicodemus Legends," - not specifically related to the towns - that I believe suggested a fairly long folk tradition associated with the name. (Although anything past yesterday is ancient history to me, I would guess that the book I recall was published in the mid 50s - or before. I can no longer recall in great detail every book I've noticed.)

The point here is that there are almost certainly songs - and other lore - much older than even Burl Ives, if someone needs a research topic. Of course, the song found was collected in 1915, and may be significantly older.

John

Subject: RE: Help: the song Nicodemus the Slave.
From: GUEST,Rusell Fries
Date: 26 May 10 - 09:19 AM

I cannot add to information on the Nicodemus song, except that it is attributed to Henry Clay Work, and written in 1864 as the Civil War was beginning to look like a victory for the North, and following the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln after the Southern withdrawal following the
Antietam Battle.
    As the the Burl Ives version, I can guarantee that it was recorded in the early 1940's, as it was among the first I listened to as a child of 2-5 between 1943 and 1946 in an Arlington, VA apartment where my parents lived during the war while my dad worked as an Army Officer in the Pentagon. The memory of that song stuck with me all these years, and I can remember most of the lyrics though I probably stopped listening to the 10" 78-rpm disk in the 1950's, if I hadn't broken it already by then. I remember that the album contained 3-5 records, and had a cover. "The Wayfaring Stranger" sounds right as the title. My father's favorite was "The Blue-Tail Fly."

Subject: RE: Help: the song Nicodemus the Slave.
From: GUEST,Burl
Date: 26 May 10 - 03:17 PM

I first heard this song on a Burl Ives record entitled 'Sings About Men'. If I remember rightly it had 'Locktenders Lament' on it, but I can't remember the others. He had a 'Sings About Women' out around the same time. It had an old musichall song called'Nellie McNess' that I rather liked.