Firsthand observations from the autumn of 1860 (I think) in central Kentucky at a corn sucking bee on a plantation. Hands, consisting of enslaved Black people, have come from another plantation voluntarily to help (and to partake in the food, liquor, and sociality). The work began with this song:

[begin quote]
"Old Master shot a wild goose."
A hundred voices answered from all parts of the field, and
each man grabbed a stalk for shucking.
"Ju-ran-zie, hio ho."
"It wuz seen years fallin'."
The multitude of voices cried out as at first.
"Ju-ran-zie, hio ho.
"It was seen years cookin'.
Ju-ran-zie, hio ho.
"A knife couldn't cut it
Ju-ran-zie, hio ho.
"A fork couldn't stick it.
Ju-ran-zie, hio ho."

There was harmony and perfect concord, although the men were scattered. The Norris farm was not far from the Kentucky River but it was higher than the surrounding land. Consequently,
the great volume of sound rolled off across the river and echoed and re-echoed in the Estill County hills beyond; and strangely enough these reverberations rolled away across Muddy Creek and echoed and re-echoed in the cedar hills. Such singing this generation will never hear, for I am writing this account many years after it occurred, and only those who have heard something of the kind will believe that echoes from a hundred vigorous voices can cause one to feel that he is listening to thousands of singers scattered over a large area. But it is true, as many yet living will bear me witness or at least it was true in Old Cane Springs.

I attended many other huskings during the remainder of that season and during my stay at Old Cane Springs, and I was always thrilled while listening to what seemed to be a thousand voices
in one melodious harmony. Not only were the common Negro melodies of the ante-bellum period sung, but such Foster songs as Old Black Joe, Massa's in the Cold, Cold Ground, and My Old Kentucky Home rang out on the cool night air. And when Pike's [the song-leader] clarion tenor voice led in these songs, especially in Swing Low, Sweet Chariot and Nellie Was a Lady, followed by a score of deep bass voices, the melody thrilled one beyond description.
[end quote]

Pp. 47-48 in Chenault, John Cabell and Jonathan Truman Dorris. _Old Cane Springs: A Story of the War Between the States in Madison County, Kentucky_. Louisville, KY: Standard Print Co., 1936.

In _Singing the Master_, Roger Abrahams suggested that the sailor form of "Reuben Ranzo" transmutes the a tale of a master whipping a slave into a ship's captain whipping a sailor.