Origins: history of Down by the Riverside

Subject: RE: Origins: history of Down by the Riverside
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 16 Mar 10 - 10:27 PM

"'white spiritual' (hymn a better term)"

No, I think you're wrong there, Q. People sometimes used 'spiritual' to mean a religious song which is sung at home but is too playful or primitive for church. If white people sang it, it became a white spiritual.

A hymn, on the other hand, is good enough for worship in church.

Subject: RE: Origins: history of Down by the Riverside
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Mar 10 - 10:37 PM

Ain't We'll Wait Till Jesus Comes good enough for singin' in church?
Will those people who sang it in church all go down below to stoke the fires?

Learn something every day!

Subject: RE: Origins: history of Down by the Riverside
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 17 Mar 10 - 11:54 AM

Oh stuff it. You know what I'm talking about.

Subject: RE: Origins: history of Down by the Riverside
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Mar 10 - 03:33 PM

Not really.

Soon from the whitewashed churches roll away
Among the live oak trees,
Rivers of melancholy harmonies,
Full of the sorrows of the centuries
The white man hears, but cannot feel.
H. A.

Pages from Book of Sea Islands, Du Bose Heyward and Hervey Allen.

Subject: RE: Origins: history of Down by the Riverside
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Dec 10 - 06:55 PM

Well, on the OBC of "Million Dollar Quartet" Jerry Lee Lewis (played by Levi Kreis) sings "I'm gonna drive up in my cadillac.../study Fords no more."

Subject: RE: Origins: history of Down by the Riverside
From: GUEST,John Garst
Date: 29 Mar 11 - 03:51 PM

This item is found on pp 252-53 of Marshall W. Taylor, *A Collection of Revival Hymns and Plantation Melodies* (1882), which is online at Google Books. Unfortunately, this is one of the few items in the book without a tune (or, at least, an attempt at one).

153. Christian Warfare.

By E. W. S. Hammond.

1 When Christ, the Lord, was here below,
Down by the river;
About the work he came to do,
Down by the river side.

Chorus.
We will end this war,
Down by the river;
We will end this war,
Down by the river side.

2 Pilate says, "I wash my hands,
I find no fault in this good man."

Chorus—We will end this war, etc.

3 They led him away to Pilate's bar,
But they could not condemn him there.

Chorus—We will end this war, etc.

4 O, Mary wept and Martha cried,
When Christ, the Lord, was crucified.

Chorus—We will end this war, etc.

5 Fishing Peter led the way,
Was nothing caught till the break of day.

Chorus—We will end this war, etc.

6 Yes, when we camp in the middle of the air,
I hope to meet my brethren there.

Chorus—We will end this war, etc.


Hammond is credited with three songs in this book (Nos. 152, 153, 155). He also gives a testimonial (p 260):

********
From Rev. E. W. S. Hammond, P. E. Indiana District, Lexington Conference.

Louisville, Ky., August 16, 1882. I am sorry I can not speak intelligently with regard to your proposed "Plantation Melodies," but my knowledge of your ability in such matters justifies me in expressing the opinion that you will supply a very urgent want in this kind of literature. I should be glad to record my testimony more fully as to the merits of your little songster, but I fear it will be in press before even this reaches you.
********

E. W. S. Hammond, DD, Editor of the *Southwestern Christian Advocate*, New Orleans, La., is pictured after p 204 of *Africa and the American Negro* (1896, pub.; 1893, congress held).

He was the "foremost Negro minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church" (*The Black Prism*, 1970; Google Books).

I have not located, using Google/Google Books, any other source of hymns he may have written, or, at least, claimed.

Subject: RE: Origins: history of Down by the Riverside
From: GUEST,mjc
Date: 24 Jan 12 - 01:19 PM

I can testify that the "bright-eyed" line was around at least as early as the 1950s. My dad used to sing it, but as "bright-eyed gal." My guess would be that he learned it in the 1930s or maybe earlier. I never heard more than the first line, since my mom would hush him at that point...

Subject: RE: Origins: history of Down by the Riverside
From: Lighter
Date: 21 Oct 15 - 06:26 PM

Here are the lyrics of what seems to be the earliest publication of the song in almost exactly its current form.

From Homer Rodeheaver's "Plantation Melodies" (Chicago: Rodeheaver Co., 1918), p.6:

Down By the River-Side

Goin' t' lay down my burden
Down by the river-side,
Down by the river-side,
Down by the river-side.
Goin' t' lay down my burden
Down by the river-side,
Goin' t' study war no more.

CHO.:   
Ain't goin' t' study war no more,
Ain't goin' t' study war no more,
Ain't goin' t' study war no more,
Ain't goin' to study war no more.

[Similarly:]

Goin' t' lay down my sword and shield....

Goin' t' try on my long white robe....

Goin' t' try on my starry crown....

Goin' t' meet my dear old mother....

Goin' t' meet my dear old father....

Goin' t' meet dem Hebrew children....

Goin' t' meet my loving Jesus....

More of a spiritual than an "anti-war" song, it may go back at least to the Spanish-American War (1898), though the report of a slightly variant text in that year (see up-thread) suggests that the Civil War is equally likely - or more likely in terms of the vastly greater number of African Americans directly involved.

The most famous line and the refrain, of course, are based on Isaiah 2:4:

"And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." {KJV}.

In his intro Rodeheaver suggests that all 47 of his songs are old, or at least older than the First World War:

"My mother was one of the good angels of the mountains of East Tennessee. Because they loved her, the darkies would come and sing for her. I have never forgotten the beautiful quaint melodies. When you know the colored people and know something of their struggles, you will realize how these songs were born amidst the trials and tribulations of this race and how they typify their thought and life.

"Because so many have been interested, we present here some of the most popular."

Rodeheaver also prints "Down the River," which goes to a different tune.

BTW, virtually all of the songs are spirituals. None looks like a "blues" of any kind.

(Thanks go to Holger Terp for first pointing out the existence of Rodeheaver's little-known collection.)

Subject: RE: Origins: history of Down by the Riverside
From: leeneia
Date: 22 Oct 15 - 05:03 PM

Thank you for the information, Lighter.

Subject: RE: Origins: history of Down by the Riverside
From: Lighter
Date: 22 Oct 15 - 07:18 PM

Always a pleasure.

Subject: RE: Origins: history of Down by the Riverside
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Jan 20 - 05:56 PM

Here's an interesting interpretation of this song by Ben and Micah Hester. It doesn't sound like a summer camp song, and that gives renewed meaning to the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTfPLK_ub7E

But is it an authentic interpretation?

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Origins: history of Down by the Riverside
From: Lighter
Date: 20 May 21 - 09:05 PM

Macon [Ga.] Daily Telegraph (Nov. 18, 1917), p. 7:

"Jubilee by chorus: 'Going to Shout All Over God's Heaven.'
"'Ain't Go [sic] Study War No More.'"


Kansas City Sun (Kansas City, Mo.) (March 16, 1918), p. 9:

"Songs that were originated back in the days of slavery...that have been sung so often, such songs as 'I ain't going to study war no more,' 'I've done what you told me to do,' 'Free at last,' 'Inching along,' 'All my sins are taken away,' 'I couldn't hear nobody pray,' 'It's me, it's me, O Lord,' 'My good Lord's done been here,' 'Swing low, sweet chariot,' and...others too numerous to mention."

The Miami Herald (Feb. 9, 1919), p. 4:

"Folk songs... Ain't Going to Study War No More."


The Independent (Elizabeth City, N.C.) (Nov. 7, 1919), p. 4:

"If you love music, go some morning to the State Normal School for Colored People at Elizabeth City and hear the three hundred or more students of that body sing. You will come away a better man or woman for that experience.

"Without a musical teacher, without a musical director, with only a young girl to lead the singing, these Negro boys and girls me music that would thrill an audience of music critics in any country on earth....

"One melody those Negroes sing should be the song of all humanity. They call it 'Down by the Riverside.' And it starts off like this:-

         "I'll lay down my sword,
         I'll lay down my shield,
         Down by the riverside,
         Down by the riverside.
         And study war no more."


It seems likely (well, plausible) that the song existed during or just after the Civil War - but these are the earliest passing mentions of it.

Subject: RE: Origins: history of Down by the Riverside
From: Lighter
Date: 20 May 21 - 09:17 PM

And here's the earliest text (to the familiar tune), from "National Jubilee Melody Song Book" (Nashville, n.d. [1918]), p. 12:

Going to lay down my burden,
Down by the riverside,
Down by the riverside,
Down by the riverside.
Going to lay down my burden,
Down by the riverside,
To study war no more.

CHO.:
I ain't goin't study war no more,
Ain't goin't study war no more,
Ain't goin't study war no more,
Ain't goin't study war no more.


[Similarly:]

Going to lay down my sword and shield...

Going to try on my long white robe...

Going to try on my starry crown...

Going to meet my dear old mother...

Going to meet my dear old father...

Going to meet my loving Jesus...

Subject: RE: Origins: history of Down by the Riverside
From: Lighter
Date: 21 May 21 - 05:04 PM

Looks like I posted pretty much the same lyrics, from a different boo, back in 2015!