When I found "De Massa Ob De Sheefol'", I knew I could never sing it that way and be true to my own instincts. The original poem, by Sarah Pratt McLean Greene (born in CT-1856/ died in MA-1935), morphed into the song I've recorded twice. I changed it to "The Master Of The Sheepfold" --- and I left most of the dialect out of it. I knew I loved it and wanted to sing it because, from my point of view, it was about inclusion rather than exclusion! Being an atheist, any religious aspect of it just wasn't important to me. But the old dialect way of singing simply didn't seem to be respectful -- or accurate. It wasn't me, and I wouldn't / couldn't sing it with that two-centuries-ago-white-man's-exaggerated-view-of-how-blacks-talked mish mash still intact.

I think I made a better song out of it. And the feel still lets the listener get the true gist of it if they are at all sensitive to the social reality within the content as expressed in the text.

I think I'll find the thread on that song, "The Master Of The Sheepfold", and resurrect it so those interested might look into it...

That's generally how I feel about the premise of this thread. If it feels wrong, it possibly really is---so before you do it, give it some thought. It's just the good old golden rule--all over again.   ;-)

Art Thieme