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Origins:Mary had a baby(people keep comin'/train)
DigiTrad:
MARY HAD A BABY
Related thread:
Lyr Add: Mary had a baby revisited (16)
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Subject: Mary had a baby From: Luke Date: 06 Dec 00 - 09:49 PM I learned this song when I was 13 frm some younger girls in Muskigon Hts. Michigan. It has the refrain, :The people keep acomin' and the train done gone. I was wondering if anyone knew the origin and or importance of this refrain if any other than the obvious literal ones. Mary had a baby oh lord Mary had a baby oh my lord Mary had a baby oh lord The people keep a comin and the train done gone It's a great christmas sing along Luke |
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Subject: RE: BS: Mary had a baby From: katlaughing Date: 06 Dec 00 - 10:09 PM Luke, I don't have time to lok at them, myself, but if you put "mary had a baby", without the quotations marks, in the Super Search box and hit Go, several older threads will come up which talk about this song. You may find some info there. kat |
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Subject: RE: BS: Mary had a baby From: Mary in Kentucky Date: 06 Dec 00 - 10:48 PM Luke, I'm wondering the same thing, but I can't find much information. If you put "Mary Had a Baby" in SuperSearch, you'll get the song you're referring to, but I believe most (or all) of the discussions refer to another song with the same title. A quick internet search turned up a couple of links which say that the train image was used in gospel music to mean "the way to a better life." I always thought it meant "one's journey to salvation." As far as "the train done gone"...I dunno... I do like the song though. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Mary had a baby From: GUEST,Becky Date: 07 Dec 00 - 01:09 AM That song appears in Ruth Crawford Seeger's "American Folk Songs for Children" (Doubleday 1948) and she cites as her source "Saint Helena Island Spirituals" by N.G.J. Ballanta (Schirmer 1925) and the Penn Normal Industrial and Agricultural School of St. Helena Island, North Carolina. (However, on the song's page it says it's from South Carolina.) Peggy Seeger sings it on the 2 cd set of the American Folk Songs for Children done with Mike Seeger. ~ Becky in Tucson |
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Subject: RE: BS: Mary had a baby From: Crowhugger Date: 07 Dec 00 - 01:22 AM I gather from some songs my mother used to sing that the train would be the "gospel train," and its journey and destination are both salvation by believing in Jesus Christ the Saviour. Try southern afro-American religious websites for more. Mom raised us Unitarian-Universalist which is a fairly humanist, so my small Christian knowledge has osmosed from society at large. CH. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Mary had a baby From: rabbitrunning Date: 07 Dec 00 - 04:35 AM My copy of the Seeger book places St. Helena Island in South Carolina. (At least in the bibliographic listing of the abbreviations.) It's interesting that the verses for "Mary had a Baby" are the same as the verses for "Sing Hallelu" isn't it? There's also a nice version of this song on one of the King's Singer's Christmas albums. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Mary had a baby From: Luke Date: 07 Dec 00 - 07:15 AM thanks |
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Subject: RE: BS: Mary had a baby From: Robby Date: 07 Dec 00 - 08:01 AM May I just add that if any commercial, PBS or cable television ever rebroadcasts Robert Shaw's Christmas, which was taped in Atlanta watch it. The Morehouse College Choir, one of participating entities in the show does a version of "Mary Had A Baby" that is simply outstanding. For years I have been taping Christmas specials that have caught my fancy and this is one of my favorites. The Morehouse Choir also performs an African-American song that will just blow you away. It is a fabulous choral group. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Mary had a baby From: GUEST,Brian Hoskin (in new location & computer Date: 07 Dec 00 - 08:54 AM There's a long history of trains (and chariots before them) as symbols in African-American songs and sermons. Two good places to read up on this are Norm Cohen's The Long Steel Rail (republished this year!) and McPherson and Williams Railroad: Trains and Train People in American Culture. Brian Ps I've been away from the Mudcat for a couple of months, it's nice to come back and read so many threads about music! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Mary had a baby From: GUEST,Arkie Date: 07 Dec 00 - 11:46 PM Bruce Cockburn does a good, upbeat version of this song on his "Christmas" CD. He has lots of other good things on the recording as well. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Mary had a baby From: mousethief Date: 08 Dec 00 - 02:05 PM Big plug for the Cockburn "Christmas" CD! Excellent album, full of really unusual gems, including the "Huron Carol" in the original Huron, a French-macaronic "Angels We Have Heard on High," and "Riu Riu Chiu" in medieval Spanish. Also some excellent fingerstyle carols, and -- well, GET IT! Alex |
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Subject: RE: BS: Mary had a baby From: black walnut Date: 08 Dec 00 - 07:06 PM another vote for cockburn. i can't get his version of 'Mary had...' out of my mind! ~'nut
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Subject: MARY HAD A BABY From: wysiwyg Date: 20 Sep 01 - 10:11 PM See also: Mary Borned A Baby, Lift Every Voice And Sing Mary Had A Baby, Collected Reprints From Sing Out! Mary Had A Baby, Second Treasury Of Christmas Music Mary Had A Baby Yes Lord, Second Book Of Negro Spirituals
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: MARY HAD A BABY From: toadfrog Date: 20 Sep 01 - 11:18 PM Yes. This is already on DT, HERE More verses are also HERE, HERE, and HERE |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: MARY HAD A BABY From: wysiwyg Date: 20 Sep 01 - 11:29 PM tf-- Thanks for finding those. I did do a lot of Supersearching in the last few days but in some cases I did not find things that are there. Also, because this thread is indexed in the Spirituals Posted thread, this one and the links you provided will lead to all the other stuff. Thanks, ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: MARY HAD A BABY From: wysiwyg Date: 20 Sep 01 - 11:35 PM Chords from one of toadfrog's links:
[E] Mary had a baby oh my Lord Verses variant from another toadfrog link: Mary had a baby boy, oh, Lord. Commentary from the last of toadfrog's links: Known comments by Bruce Cockburn about this song, by date: Album notes (Christmas (1993): "This call-and-response song appears to have originated on the South Carolina coastal island of Saint Helena in the last century. The verses follow a fairly predictable pattern till you get to 'moving in the elements...'" ~S~
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: MARY HAD A BABY From: masato sakurai Date: 21 Sep 01 - 01:07 PM The New Oxford Book of Carols (1992) contains this song with music. Hall Johnson arranged for voice and piano in Thirty Spirituals (1949). Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle recorded this. Masato |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Mary Had a Baby From: GUEST Date: 24 Nov 10 - 03:14 PM could someone explain the pharase in "Mary Had a Baby" that says "the people keep a comin but the train done gone". carolyn |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Mary Had a Baby From: Tim Chesterton Date: 24 Nov 10 - 03:45 PM Bruce Cockburn did a great version of this on his 'Christmas' CD. |
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Subject: RE: Info: Mary had a baby (people keep a-comin'/train) From: GUEST Date: 19 Dec 10 - 12:45 PM for anyone still wondering about this song, see this website http://www.negrospirituals.com/news-song/mary_had_a_baby.htm |
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Subject: RE: Info: Mary had a baby (people keep a-comin'/train) From: Desert Dancer Date: 19 Dec 10 - 01:07 PM Mary Had A Baby at negrospirituals.com No more info than these lyrics, though: Mary Had A Baby Mary had a baby Yes Lord Mary had a baby Yes Lord The people keep-a coming and the train done gone What did she name him Yes Lord What did she The people keep-a coming and the train done gone She name him King Jesus Yes Lord Name him King Jesus Yes my Lord Name him King Jesus Yes Lord The people keep-a coming and the train done gone She name him Mighty Couns'lor Yes Lord Name him Mighty Couns'lor Yes my Lord Name him Mighty Couns'lor Yes Lord The people keep-a coming and the train done gone Oh, where was he born? Yes Lord Where was he born Yes my Lord Where was he born The people keep-a coming and the train done gone Oh born in a manger Yes Lord Born in a manger Yes my Lord Born in a manger The people keep-a coming and the train done gone ~ Becky in Tucson (was Guest, Becky back in '00) https://www.negrospirituals.com/songs/mary_had_a_baby.htm |
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Subject: RE: Info: Mary had a baby (people keep a-comin'/train) From: GUEST,Harrison Date: 26 May 21 - 09:24 PM My daughters 1st or 2nd grade class in St Thomas, USVI sang this song in a Christmas program. I have never heard it since until today watching High on the Hog on Netflix. Thanks so much for your website. |
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Subject: RE: Info: Mary had a baby (people keep a-comin'/train) From: Joe Offer Date: 27 May 21 - 01:11 AM We had a great time with this song at an ecumenical Christmas concert about 25 years ago. It had a really powerful bass part for "the people keep a-comin' but the train done gone. I was trying to find a YouTube recording of that arrangement, but couldn't. In fact, most of the recordings I found didn't have the "people keep a-comin" line at all. It's a really fun line to sing, but I have to admit it doesn't make much sense. But it's a great song, with or without that line. |
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Subject: RE: Info: Mary had a baby (people keep a-comin'/train) From: GUEST,Susan Finley Date: 31 May 21 - 11:20 AM I have often wondered if it's a reference to the underground railroad, bringing American slaves to freedom in Canada. |
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Subject: ADD: Mary Had a Baby(parody) From: Joe Offer Date: 22 Dec 23 - 07:09 PM Elizabeth Block sent me this parody in 2020, but I guess I neglected to post it. Thanks, Elizabeth! MARY HAD A BABY (parody) Mary had a baby, O Lord Mary had a baby, O my Lord Mary had a baby, O Lord Now we celebrate it but it sure was hard Who was the father? Some say Joseph Who was the father? I don't know! Who was the father? Some say Joseph Other people say it was the Holy Ghost Did she have a baby shower? I doubt it Did she have a baby shower? Think again Did she have a baby shower? I doubt it But later there were presents from the Three Wise Men Who coached the labour? Old Joseph Who coached the labour? Good old Joe Who coached the labour? Old Joseph With a helping hand provided by the Holy Ghost She was a working mother Unpaid She was a working mother All her life She was a working mother Unpaid Never had a pension or a holiday Did she have daycare? You're joking Did she have daycare? Not a chance Did she have daycare? You're joking Never even got to take maternity leave Who washed the diapers? Three guesses Who washed the diapers? Two don't count Who washed the diapers? Three guesses Whatever could have happened to the Holy Ghost? Mary had a baby, O Lord Mary had a baby, O my Lord Mary had a baby, O Lord Now we celebrate it but it sure was hard Susan Lawrence, Karen Kaplan, Sue Goldberg (c) 1983 |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Mary had a baby revisited From: Joe Offer Date: 22 Dec 23 - 08:13 PM Not much here: |
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