Lyr Req: Kingdom Coming (Henry Clay Work)

Subject: It must be now that the kingdom's comin'
From: emjay
Date: 09 Oct 04 - 05:52 PM

I remember just a few words from a song my mother sang. Perhaps someone on Mudcat knows it:

      The white man works, ha-ha
          The black man rests, ho-ho
      It must be now that the kingdom's comin'
          In the year of jubilo

I know she sang more of it, but that's all I can remember.

Subject: RE: It must be now that the kingdom's comin'
From: Lighter
Date: 09 Oct 04 - 06:04 PM

"The Year of Jubilo," by Henry Clay Work (1862). They used to play the tune a lot in old Civil War movies.

The original chorus runs:

    De Massa run, Ha ! Ha!
       De Darky stay Ho! Ho!
    It must be now de Kingdom Comin'
       An' de Year ob Jubilo!

Subject: RE: It must be now that the kingdom's comin'
From: Peace
Date: 09 Oct 04 - 06:09 PM

www.geocities.com/unclesamsfarm/songs/kingdomcoming.htm

Full lyrics to song are there.

Subject: RE: It must be now that the kingdom's comin'
From: bubukaba
Date: 09 Oct 04 - 06:13 PM

There's also a MIDI of the tune on this page, under "Kingdom Coming!"

http://www.pdmusic.org/work.html

Subject: RE: It must be now that the kingdom's comin' (Jubilo)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Oct 04 - 06:16 PM

....or you could look in the, ahem, Digital Tradition...

Subject: RE: It must be now that the kingdom's comin' (Jubi
From: emjay
Date: 09 Oct 04 - 06:18 PM

Thank you! Sometimes the few words go through my head over and over--now I can finish the song. I knew I heard the music occasionally but never the words.

Subject: RE: It must be now that the kingdom's comin' (Jubi
From: emjay
Date: 09 Oct 04 - 06:19 PM

Actually I did try the digital tradition. None of the words I knew and entered found anything. I didn't try jubilo...

Subject: RE: It must be now that the kingdom's comin' (Jubi
From: emjay
Date: 09 Oct 04 - 06:49 PM

I went to the websites and found words and music and some very interesting notes. Obviously what seemed a very obscure song to me is pretty well known. Recorded by many artists including Pete Seeger and according to the author of the notes, Alan Lewis, "...one of the greatest popular songs in the history of American music. Public opinion on the sloavery isssue was starting to change; and it is of much interest that this piece, written for the minstrel stage, ridiculed not the African-American slave, but rather the slaveowner and his overseer."
I know my mother consciously edited out the dialect in which the song is written, but other than that it is the song I remember.

Subject: RE: It must be now that the kingdom's comin' (Jubilo)
From: BanjoRay
Date: 09 Oct 04 - 07:07 PM

It's a popular Old Time string band tune, often played in sessions.
Ray

Subject: RE: It must be now that the kingdom's comin' (Jubilo)
From: GUEST,Blaze
Date: 23 Feb 05 - 04:41 PM

where can I get the chords to Kingdom Coming written by H.C. Works

Subject: RE: It must be now that the kingdom's comin' (Jubilo)
From: Arkie
Date: 23 Feb 05 - 08:44 PM

J.E. Mainer did an interesting recording of this tune. The words are changed to eliminate references to slavery.

Subject: RE: It must be now that the kingdom's comin' (Jubilo)
From: Bob the Postman
Date: 23 Feb 05 - 09:11 PM

See also the Red Clay Ramblers' version on their LP Stolen Love. Words not changed, and the whole thing sounding very much as I imagine it would have sounded in a minstrel show. The tune was used in a song with the refrain "everyone in town will be sashayin' to the Sunday Barbeque" which Tennessee Ernie Ford used to sing on his TV show. The chords can be found in a Mel Bay book Anthology Of Five String Banjo Styles by Neil Griffin. I'll post them later if necessary--no time right now.