28 Dec 06 - 04:23 PM (#1920745)
Subject: Lyr Add: Got a Letter (spiritual)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Lyr. Add: GOT A LETTER THIS MORNING
1. Got a lettah dis mawnin', um-m-m
2. Could not read dat lettah, um-m-m
3. Took it to my deacon, um-m-m
4. Deacon could not read it, um-m-m
5. Took it to my pastor, um-m-m
6. Pastor could not read it, um-m-m
7. Took it to my Jesus, um-m-m
8. Jesus read dat lettah, um-m-m
9. Lettah read about my soul, um-m-m
10. Gospel train a-comin', um-m-m
11. Lettah read about jedgement, um-m-m
12. Sinnah, bettah git ready, um-m-m
13. Gospel train a-comin', um-m-m
14. Sinnah, bettah git on boa'd, um-m-m.
With part score. Um-m-m sung with closed lips. South Carolina.
Marion Alexander Haskell, "Negro 'Spirituals'," The Century Magazine Aug. 1899, vol. 58, no. 4, pp. 577-581.
The collector says, "This spiritual is a special favorite because it has no end, and serves as a perfect medium for the expression of any reflection which may occur to the singer. The day after it was first heard in camp-meeting one old cook, at least, was thinking aloud to its melody and rhythm from morn to eve. At one moment she would piously repeat an order just given, "Come and mix dem cakeses, um-m-m." At the next, with her mind attuned to holy thoughts, she would continue, "Deah I'll meet my Lawd, um-m-m.""
Has anyone met with this spiritual elsewhere?
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