Hi,

There's only about a dozen total new songs (all the rest are in edition you're posted). The book seem to be late 1800s but I'm not sure. It also includes songs by Hampton singers but those are notated. It seem legit to me.

I'll try and put some basic info about these important early spirituals- not sure what you meant about recent versions. Here's an example:

Been A Listening

RECORDED BY: Taggart, Blind Joe (Joel).

The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi- 'Been a Listening'

1938 W.C. Handy's Collection of Negro Spirituals (book) "Been a Listening All de Day Long" (spiritual)

OTHER NAMES: "Been Listening" "Been Listening All Day" "Been Listening All The Day" "I've Been A-list'ning All the Night Long" "I Been A Listenin'"


NOTES: "Been A Listening" is from the Fisk Jubilee Singers book, "Story of the Jubilee Singers" published in 1874. A similar verse was collected by Howard Odum and appears in his 1925 book, The Negro and His Songs (Odum and Johnson). The first verse of Been a Listening is found in the John The Baptist/Lonesome Valley songs.

"Been a listening" was in the Hampton collections (Fenner, Moton, Dett) as "I've been a-list'ning all de night long," and other collections including Ballanta-(Taylor) from St. Helena, SC, 1924 and McIlhenny.
BEAR YO' BURDEN- Odum- Negro and His Songs

The Lord is listenin' all the day long,
Bear yo' burden sinner.
If you only pray He will bear you on,
Bear yo' burden sinner.

"Been a Listening" was in the repertoire of The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi and Blind Joe (Joel) Taggart, an itinerant street singer as "Been Listening All The Day." A cover of Taggart's song is on Youtube. Taggart's version combines two verses from "Dark was the Night" along with the "Been Listening" chorus:

Been Listening All The Day- Joe Taggart circa late 1920s

[fiddle]

Dark was the night and cold the ground
On which my Lord was laid
His sweat like drops of blood ran down
In agony he prayed

CHORUS 2X: I've been listening all the night long,
I've been listening all the day
I've been listening all the night long,
To hear some sinner pray.

Father, remove this bitter cup,
If such Thy sacred will;
If not, content to drink it up
Pleasures I fulfill

CHORUS 2X: I've been listening all the night long,
I've been listening all the day
I've been listening all the night long,
To hear some sinner pray.

If this is OK I'll add some info on the songs,

Richie