Origins: Ballad of Harriet Tubman

17 Feb 07 - 10:26 PM (#1971233)
Subject: Lyr Req: Ballad of Harriet Tubman
From: GUEST,hg

Did Woody Guthrie write and record this song? Can anyone find me the lyrics? Thanks...

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18 Feb 07 - 02:13 AM (#1971318)
Subject: Lyr Add: HARRIET TUBMAN (Walter Robinson)
From: GUEST,kt

Is this what you're looking for, hg?
HARRIET TUBMAN (Walter Robinson, Shawnee Press, Inc.)

^^^
One night I dreamed I was in slavery
          'bout 1850 was the time,
Sorrow was the only sign-
          there's nothing about to ease my mind.
Out of the night appeared a lady
          leading a distant pilgrim band,
"First mate," she cried, pointing a hand
          "make room aboard for this young woman."

"Come on up, I've got a lifeline!
Come on up to this train of mine."
They said her name was Harriet Tubman,
And she drove for the Underground Railroad.

Hundreds of miles we traveled onward
          gathering slaves from town to town,
Seeking all the lost and found
          and setting those free that once were bound.
Somehow my heart was growing weaker,
          I fell by the wayside's sinking sand,
Firmly did this lady stand-
          she lifted me up and took my hand.

Singing "Come on up, I've got a lifeline!
Come on up to this train of mine."
They said her name was Harriet Tubman
And she drove for the Underground Railroad.

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18 Feb 07 - 08:17 AM (#1971475)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ballad of Harriet Tubman
From: Willa

It's on 'Carry It On' (Seeger, Sapp and Kahn) Flying Fish CD You can hear an audio clip here:
http://www.amazon.com/Carry-Songs-Americas-Working-People/dp/B000000MF2

I found it in the book of the sme title(ISBN01371848X) book, where it had these additional words after V2
@who are these children dressed in red? Must br thr ones that Moses led.(Harriet was called 'The Moses of her people')

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18 Feb 07 - 09:08 AM (#1971513)
Subject: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF HARRIET TUBMAN (Woody Guthrie)
From: oldhippie

more likely this.....

BALLAD OF HARRIET TUBMAN
Woody Guthrie

I was five years old in Bucktown Maryland
When into slavery I was sent
I'll tell you of the beatings and of the fighting
In my ninety-three years I've spent

I helped a field hand make a run for freedom
When my fifteenth year was rolling round
And the guard he caught him in a little store
In a little slavery village town
The boss made a grab to catch the field hand
I jumped in and blocked the door
The boss he hit me with a two pound scale iron
And I went black down on the floor
On a bundle of rags in our log cabin
My mother she ministered unto my needs
It was here I swore I'd give my life blood
Just to turn my people free

In '44 I married John Tubman
Well I loved him well till '49
But he would not come and fight beside me
So I left him there behind
I left Bucktown with my two brothers
But they got scared and run back home
I followed my northern star of freedom
I walked the grass and trees alone
I slept in a barn loft and in a haystack
I slept with my people in slavery shacks
They said I'd die by the bossman's bullets
But I told them I can't turn back
The sun was shining in the early morning
When I come to my free state line
I pinched myself to see if I was dreaming
I just could not believe my eyes

I went back home and I got my parents
I loaded them into a buckboard hag
We crossed six states and other slaves followed
Up to Canada we made our tracks
One slave got scared and he tried to turn backwards
I pulled my pistol in front of his eyes
I said get up and walk to your freedom
Or by this fireball you will die
When John Brown hit them at Harper's Ferry
My men was fighting right by his side
When John Brown swung upon his gallows
It was then I hung my head and cried
Give the black man guns and give him powder
To Abe Lincoln this I said
You've just crippled that snake of slavery
We've got to fight to kill him dead
When we faced the guns of lightning
And the thunders broke our sleep
After we waded the bloody rainstorms
It was dead men that we reaped
Yes we faced the zigzag lightning
But it was worth the price we paid
When our thunder had rumbled over
We'd laid slavery in its grave

Come now and stand around my deathbed
And I will sing some spirit songs
I'm my way to my greater union
Now my ninety-three years are gone

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18 Feb 07 - 10:49 AM (#1971577)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ballad of Harriet Tubman
From: Willa

Thanks, oldhippie. Any idea of the tune?

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18 Feb 07 - 11:17 AM (#1971596)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ballad of Harriet Tubman
From: Suffet

Greetings:

The tune for Woody Guthrie's song is Lady of Carlisle. It's in the Digital Tradition. Guthrie's original recording is available on a CD from Smithsonian-Folkways called Long Ways to Travel, 1944-1949. The song has also been recorded by Magpie.

In addition, Ethan Miller, a young musician from rural Maine, sings the song to a somewhat more modern, uptempo acoustic rock tune that he wrote by reworking the original. Miller also added a new final stanza:

So now listen to me, daughter,
Listen to me, my dear son,
Don't you dare think I'm something special,
And you couldn't do just what I've done.
Don't you dare think I'm something special,
And you couldn't do just what I've done.
If we're gonna win this fight for freedom,
You got to do just what I done.

I have a live recording of Ethan Miller singing his version of Harriet Tubman's Ballad, taken from the sound board when he appeared at CB's 313 Gallery in New York a couple of years ago. I'm willing to lend it if you would like to learn the song, provided you agree not to make any illegal copies. If you are interested, please contact me by e-mail only, and not by PM. I read my e-mail at least once a day, but I might not log onto Mudcat for weeks at a time.

--- Steve

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18 Feb 07 - 12:34 PM (#1971665)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ballad of Harriet Tubman
From: oldhippie

Magpie's recording is on their "John Brown, Spirit of the Sword".

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18 Feb 07 - 02:02 PM (#1971756)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ballad of Harriet Tubman
From: GUEST,hg

Thanks, oldhippie. That is the song I wanted. The previous song, which kt so kindly typed is already in our database and was not the one I was looking for but thanks anyway, kt. Thanks for the tune, Suffett. Veronika Jackson sang this song, Friday at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and I had not heard it but knew it existed.

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04 Jun 17 - 05:40 PM (#3858911)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs recorded by Holly Near
From: Joe_F

A railroad with a first mate & a lifeline!

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05 Jun 17 - 01:36 AM (#3858946)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs recorded by Holly Near
From: Joe Offer

Hi, Joe - Well, it's clear that in folk icon Walt Robinson's "Harriet Tubman" song, the underground railroad has both first mates and lifelines. I suppose one can do such things with metaphorical railroads.
John McCutcheon has his version of the lyrics here (click), and I've moved pertinent messages here to our thread on the song.
-Joe-

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11 Feb 22 - 11:31 PM (#4136278)
Subject: RE: Origins: Ballad of Harriet Tubman
From: Joe Offer

Up above, I said that the song was written by "folk icon Walt Robinson," but the folk icon was Walt Robertson. So, who's this Robinson guy?

Songfile.com confirms that the songwriter was WALTER H. ROBINSON

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12 Feb 22 - 04:13 PM (#4136363)
Subject: RE: Origins: Ballad of Harriet Tubman
From: Felipa

There is a short Wikipedia entry re Walter Robinson, author of the Ballad of Harriet Tubman and also a "several operas."

Songs of Slavery In Operatic Form - CSMonitor.com
https://www.csmonitor.com/1992/0324/24101.html

Composer Walter Robinson brings gospel music and African-American history to classic opera March 24, 1992 By John Budris Special to The Christian Science Monitor CAMBRIDGE, MASS. AFRICAN-AMERICAN...

"[In 1984], Mr. Robinson became a fellow at Harvard University's Du Bois Institute, an independent research facility that brings scholars together to pursue African and African-American themes. There Robinson began work on "Look What a Wonder Jesus Has Done," an opera based on the life of Denmark Vesey. For Robinson, Vesey encompassed what he called the 'dichotomy of the African-American hero.'

" 'He [Vesey] was a devout Christian but had to reconcile the use of violence to regain his people's dignity. He was a prosperous and free African at a time and in a place when 70,000 of his brothers and sisters were enslaved,' explains Robinson.

" 'Originally I had intended to write the opera about Harriet Tubman and the 'underground railroad.' But the contradictions faced by a black male brought another dimension to the story I wanted to tell.'"

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