Lyr Add: No Man Can Hinder Me

Subject: Lyr Add: NO MAN CAN HINDER ME!
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 21 Sep 01 - 03:38 PM

Ride On, King Jesus (No man can hinder me), posted by Wysiyg is quite a different version from No Man Can Hinder Me! as given by Allen, Ware and Garrison, 1867, Slave Songs, and, I believe, deserves a separate Lyr. Add.

NO MAN CAN HINDER ME

Walk in, kind Saviour,
No man can hinder me!
Walk in, kind Saviour,
No man can hinder me!
Walk in, sweet Jesus,
No man can hinder me!

2. See what wonder Jesus has done,
No man can hinder me!
See what wonder Jesus has done,
O no man can hinder me!
See what wonder Jesus has done,
O no man, no man, no man can hinder me!

3. Jesus make de dumb to speak, etc.
4. Jesus make de cripple walk, etc.
5. Jesus give de blind his sight, etc.
6. Jesus do most anyt'ing, etc.
7. Rise, poor Lajurush, from de tomb, etc.
8. Satan ride an iron-gray horse, etc.
9. King Jesus ride a milk-white horse, etc.

Variant:
You'd better pray, da word da gwine,
No man can hinder me!
De Lord have mercy on my soul,
No man can hinder me!

The two versions, with others, perhaps suggests two spirituals joined together. More verses will undoubtedly show up. The variants, rising up at different times and in different areas, plus the additions by gospel singers, add interest to these songs.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: NO MAN CAN HINDER ME
From: wysiwyg
Date: 21 Sep 01 - 04:37 PM

Thanks, Dicho, and thanks especially for giving it its own thread.

~S~

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: NO MAN CAN HINDER ME
From: masato sakurai
Date: 21 Sep 01 - 10:59 PM

As Dicho says, these are quite different. I thought "Ride On King Jesus" was a newly composed (or arranged) song, because it is too dramatic and suitable for operatic singers. Of course, the lyrics of these two are related.

Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: NO MAN CAN HINDER ME
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 21 Sep 01 - 11:40 PM

I agree, Masato, many songs called spirituals now are new arrangements for choir and/or soloists and really belong to the Western choral tradition. I feel that the material sung by the Parks choir are hymns that belong there and not to the Negro spiritual tradition.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: NO MAN CAN HINDER ME
From: wysiwyg
Date: 22 Sep 01 - 12:22 AM

I disagree. I think their interpretation lacks some cultural authenticity, but that the material itself is very old and springs from the traditional body of material.

Otherwise we would not find so many of the items they are doing listed in the books of older material.

One reason I am posting their material is because their styling at least fits the pattern of songleading that IS authentic, in terms of repetitions of refrains to get the piece rolling and other phrasing efforts... also because they show how spirituals can be relevant today, as a living form. But the biggest reason is that there is a "Copyleft" program in France that allows us to post these copyright-free, and then bring in other copyrighted material as part of our discussion. Starting these discussions with the copyrighted versions shown in the print collections would, IMO, be problematic.

This is not to say that the arrangements for choral performance are as "authentic" or "pure" as the earlier-collected bare meoldies and dialect lyrics they are based upon-- just that they are connected. We can start from either end of that flow and still arrive at an appreciation of the complexity and beauty of the form and the specific examples of it.

I just appreciate that so many of them appear in the Park recodings at their site-- to hear them actually sung as my first encounter, instead of just dots on a page, is a wonderful thing for me as a singer.

BTW, I am planning on inviting them to come discuss with us, so let's play nice, too! *G* There are LOTS of people in non-English-speaking countries interested in spirituals-- and they have much to share with us.

~S~

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: NO MAN CAN HINDER ME
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Sep 01 - 01:59 PM

I cannot agree. Not only do the Parks singers lack cultural authenticity, they lack the spirit, the rhythm and the language. They are simply modern choral singers in the Western tradition.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: NO MAN CAN HINDER ME
From: wysiwyg
Date: 22 Sep 01 - 02:16 PM

Dicho, I am talking about the MATERIAL. But who, today, WOULD have that rhythm and language? Are we not all left to interpret these as best we can?

Is it up to us to say what is authentic, or does that job belong to poeple long gone?

~S~

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: NO MAN CAN HINDER ME
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 21 Nov 01 - 08:23 PM

It was not been pointed out that No Man Can Hinder Me is a work song, for rowing, etc., as well as a spiritual.
Ware (the version in Allen) "wrote these tunes" so that "two measures are to be sung to each stroke, the first measure being accented by the beginning of the stroke, the second by the rattle of the oars in the row-locks. On the passenger boat at the (Beaufort) ferry, they rowed from 16 to 30 strokes a minute; 24 was the average." Slave Songs of the United States, 1867, p. xvi.
In the DT, it should be marked @religion @spiritual @work.
The other tunes used for rowing (and note that Ware arranged them according to the scheme above) are Praise, Member; No Man Can Hinder Me; Religion So Sweet; Heaven Bell A-ring; Jine 'Em; Rain Fall and Wet Becca Lawton (not a spiritual); Bound To Go; Michael Row...; Sail, O Believer; Rock O' Jubilee; Satan's Camp A-fire; and Bell Da Ring. Others were used as work songs, the rhythm changed to suit.