American Folk songs of black/afram origin

[im_sleep]

Hambone










It's the same thing as the Bo Diddley beat

One of my favorite songs

 

[IllmaticDelta]

Goodbye Old Paint

Goodbye Old Paint is a traditional Western song that was created by black cowboy, Charley Willis.[1] The song was first collected by songwriter, N. Howard "Jack" Thorp in his 1921 book Songs of the Cowboys.[2] Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.[3]

In writing about Goodbye Old Paint, Thorp wrote: "Heard this sung by a puncher who had been on a spree in Pecos City. He had taken a job temporarily as a sheep-rustler for an outfit in Independence Draw, down the river, and was ashamed of the job. I won't mention his name."[2] Charley Willis, a former slave who became a cowboy and rode the Wyoming trail in the late 1800s, is now credited with authorship. Willis was in demand on cattle drives because his voice was reportedly calming to the herds.[1]

Though folklorist John Lomax did credit Willis with the authorship of the song, Lomax declined to have it performed by any black person.[1] In spite of the specifically-concealed history of the song, many people have been credited with writing it. In 1928, a newspaper in Amarillo, Texas reported that Texas cowboy fiddler Jess Morris had composed it. Apparently Morris' arrangement had previously caught Thorp's eye. Morris never claimed to have written the song, saying that he learned it from a black cowboy named Charley Willis. Western writer and singer Jim Bob Tinsley has said that credit for saving "Goodbye Old Paint" from being forever lost "...belongs to three Texans: a black cowboy (Willis) who sang it on cattle drives, a cowboy who remembered it (Jess Morris) and a college professor (Lomax) who put it down on paper."[4][5]

charley Willis and his wife, Laura, in the late 1800s. Willis is credited with the original version of the classic cowboy song "Goodbye Old Paint."

African American cowboy Charley Willis was recognized as a singing cowboy who authored the popular trail song, “Goodbye Old Paint.” Willis was a skilled cowhand who not only sang songs from the trail but who contributed to preserving authentic cowboy music from the era.

Charley Willis was born in 1847 in Milam County, outside of Austin, Texas. Freed after the Civil War he headed to West Texas at age eighteen and found work breaking wild horses at the Morris Ranch in Bartlett, Texas. In 1871, at age twenty-four, he rode the Chisholm Trail one thousand miles north into Wyoming Territory as a drover. Charley was musically knowledgeable and talented. He became known for the songs he brought back from the trail.

In 1885 Willis taught his favorite song, “Good-bye Old Paint,” to Morris’s seven-year-old son, Jess. As an adult Jess Morris became known as a talented fiddler, and though credited with authoring “Good-bye Old Paint,” he was quick to clarify that had he learned the song from Charley Willis as a child. In 1947 John Lomax, a pioneering musicologist and folklorist, recorded Morris singing and playing Willis’ song, “Good-bye Old Paint,” and later sent it to the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress where it is preserved.

In 1874 Captain John T. Lytle and several cowboys left South Texas with 3,500 head of longhorn cattle and a remuda of saddle horses. Five years later, the route Lytle cut out of the prairie to Ft. Robinson, Nebraska, had become the most significant cattle trail in history – the Great Western Cattle Trail. Though less well known than the Chisholm Trail, the Great Western Cattle Trail was longer in length and carried cattle for two years longer than the Chisholm. The Great Western saw over seven million cattle and horses pass through Texas and Oklahoma to the railheads in Kansas and Nebraska, therefore, developing the cattle industry as far north as Wyoming and Montana. A typical head would move 10 -12 miles a day and included the trail boss, a wrangler, and a cook. The drive from South Texas to Kansas took about two months at a cost of $1000 in wages and provisions. At the end of the trail, cattle sold for $1.00 to $1.50 per head. In Texas, feeder trails from the Rio Grande led to the trailhead near Bandera and the Great Western passed through, Kerrville, Junction, Brady, Coleman, Baird, Albany and Fort Griffin. It is believed that the main streets of Throckmorton, Seymour, and Vernon run north and south because of the trail. Cowboys would sing along the trail, either to calm the cattle while watching over them at night, or just around the campfire, for entertainment or something to do. One of the classic old trail drive songs was “Goodbye, Old Paint”, written by Charley Willis, and it has endured. Charley Willis was born a slave in Milam County. Milam County, at the time, was as big as half of Texas, so it’s no telling exactly where he was born, but he, at some point, gained his freedom and worked as a cowboy on the Morris Ranch. He participated in the cattle drives from Texas to points north. The song endured because, in 1878, he taught the seven-year-old son of the ranch owner, Jesse Morris, how to play it on the fiddle, which he had learned to play from another black cowboy on the ranch, Jerry Neely. Jesse Morris became an expert fiddler and, in 1928, was heard playing “Goodbye, Old Paint” at a fiddling contest in Amarillo. He became identified with the song and the unique way he played it, and he was accredited with its writing. But Jesse Morris always gave credit to the old black cowboy, Charley Willis.

Born as a slave in Milam County in 1850, Willis went to work on the Morris Ranch near Bartlett after emancipation. There he spent the next 20 years off and on, breaking horses and doing any other necessary cow punching. In 1871, at age 21, he rode with one of 10 herds driven north to Wyoming from Georgetown - a 2,000-mile horseback trip. That year, more than 600,000 head of cattle marched northward from Texas.

Any good cattleman knew that longhorns are quick to stampede unless within earshot of a human voice. So, drivers would “sing” to their herds to calm them.

“Some trail bosses didn’t like to hire a fellow who couldn’t sing,” wrote Wayne Gard in “The Chisholm Trail” (Univers ity of Oklahoma Press, 1954). “We boys would consider it a dull day’s drive if we didn’t add at least one verse. On bad, dark nights the cowboy who could keep up the most racket was the pet of the bunch.”

Willis returned to Texas, singing trail tunes, especially the oldest traceable version of the song “Goodbye Old Paint.”

Family tradition suggests that he wrote the song. It’s possible.

Sometime around 1885, Willis taught the song to Bartlett ranch hand Jesse Morris, adding a mouth harp accompaniment. Morris became quite an accomplished musician, even though he continued working on ranches throughout Texas.

Willis and his family finally settled in Davilla in Milam County, where he died and is buried.

Others copied, revised and rearranged “Old Paint” over the years, few aware of its origins. Morris throughout his life gave unwavering credit to Willis.

In 1942, folk music collector John Lomax recorded Morris’ performance for the Library of Congress Archive of Folk Song. Later released on the Archive of Folk Culture album “Cowboy Songs, Ballads, and Cattle Calls from Texas,” the song epitomized the long days and lonesome nights of the cattle trails.

The rest was cowboy music history.

Ol' Paint's Ride Started in Bartlett

Identifying who actually penned the classic trail drive song "Goodbye Old Paint" is about as easy as trying to figure out which horse on which cattle drive inspired the song. One thing we can say with certainty is that the song's journey from trail drive ditty to enduring American classic passed through here.

The man most often credited as composer of the song is Jess Morris, who was born in Bartlett in 1878. Jess Morris never claimed to have written the song; he said he learned it from a black cowboy named Charley Willis.

"Charley played a Jews-harp and taught me how to play it," Morris said. "It was on this Jews-harp that I learned to play 'Old' Paint' at the age of seven.

"In later years I learned to play 'Old Paint' on the fiddle, in my own special arrangement - tuning the fiddle accordingly."

Fiddlers recognize Morris' arrangement as sophisticated and difficult, adding credence to rumors that he studied violin in Austin and at Valparaiso, Indiana. But Jess Morris he always identified himself as a cowboy fiddler.

His unique "Old Paint" arrangement caught the attention of folk music collector John Lomax. Lomax wrote to Morris that he (Morris) had "the best tune that exists to Goodbye, Old Paint" and he wanted to record it as Morris performed it. That version is included on the album "Cowboy Songs, Ballads and Cattle Calls From Texas."

Jess Morris left Bartlett when he was 12 and settled on the Texas panhandle where he was known as a good ranch hand as well as a superb fiddler.

An Amarillo newspaper first identified Jess Morris with the song in 1928. Reporting on a tri-state fiddle contest, Morris is singled out for "Goodbye Old Paint." "The audience forgot all dignity and joined in a hearty yell on 'Goodbye Old Paint,'" the reporter wrote.

The song was probably credited to Jess Morris because of the unique way he tuned his fiddle for the song.

Other versions of the song invariably surfaced, all of them "original compositions." "Many publishers swiped my song and had it published, and many old maverick 'Paints' were running wild and unbranded," Morris later said.

Charley Willis' great-grandson, Artie Morris, grew up in Temple, the son of a railroad man. He says his great grandfather was born a slave in Milam County in 1850 and learned the cowboy trade as a slave.

The book "Black Cowboys of Texas," published by Texas A&M University Press, reports that in 1871 Willis was hired to help the Snyder brothers of Georgetown take several thousand cattle up the Chisholm Trail to Wyoming.

Willis returned to Milam County and settled in Davilla. He went to work for E.J. Morris on the Morris Ranch near Bartlett. Willis' specialty, both on the trail and on the Morris Ranch, is said to have been breaking horses.

Willis taught E.J. Morris' seven-year old son, Jesse, how to play "Goodbye Old Paint" in about 1885. Jess Morris' first fiddle lesson came from another black cowboy on the ranch, Jerry Neely.

 

[IllmaticDelta]

"Children, Go Where I Send Thee"

"Children, Go Where I Send Thee" is a traditional African-American spiritual song,[1] as well as a cumulative song. This song is also known as "The Holy Baby" or "Born in Bethlehem." There are many versions of this song, each giving a Biblical meaning to the numbers mentioned.

One for the little bitty baby (Jesus).
Two for Paul and Silas.
Three for the three men riding (Biblical Magi); or the Hebrew children, in some versions.
Four for the four knocking on the door (Four Evangelists); or the gospel writers, in some versions.
Five for the Five that came back alive; or Gospel preachers; or the bread they did divide, in some versions.
Six for the six that never got fixed; or the days when the world was fixed, in some versions.
Seven for the seven that all went to Heaven; or the day God laid down his head, in some versions.
Eight for the eight that stood at the gate; or the eight the flood couldn't take, in some versions.
Nine for the nine that stood in the line; or the nine for the angel choirs divine, in some versions.
Ten for the Ten Commandments.
Eleven for the eleven deriders; or the 'leven of 'em singin' in heaven, in some versions.
Twelve for the Twelve Apostles; or the twelve disciples, in some versions.

This song is often performed as a Christmas carol, and has been recorded by Kenny Rogers with Home Free, Joe and Eddie, Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Nina Simone, Natalie Merchant, The Weavers, The Kingston Trio, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Mike Seeger with sisters Penny Seeger and Peggy Seeger, The Fairfield Four, Peter, Paul and Mary, Ricky Skaggs, Ralph Stanley, The Burns Sisters, Mandisa, Johnny Cash, Mahalia Jackson, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Audra McDonald, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Scala & Kolacny Brothers, Odetta, Hall and Oates, REO Speedwagon, Kenny Burrell, Nick Lowe, Ledisi, Colin James & The Little Big Band, Neil Diamond, The Laurie Berkner Band, The Blenders,Mnogaja Leta Quartet, and Clara Ward.


Alternate Titles:
- Children Go Where I Send Thee
- I'll Sing You One Oh
- The Carol Of The Twelve Numbers
- The Twelve Apostles
- The Dilly Song

other versions

 

[IllmaticDelta]

Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow

Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow" is an African-American spiritual first published in Slave Songs of the United States (1867)

1. There's a star in the East on Christmas morn, [1]
Rise up, shepherd, and follow.
It will lead to the place where the Christ was born, [2]
Rise up, shepherd, and follow.

Refrain
Follow, follow, rise up, shepherd, and follow.
Follow the Star of Bethlehem,
Rise up, shepherd, and follow.

2. If you take good heed to the angel's words,
Rise up, shepherd, and follow.
You'll forget your flocks, you'll forget your herds,
Rise up, shepherd, and follow. Refrain

1. Or: There's a Savior to see on Christmas morn, Return

2. Or: the Savior's born. Return

A Christmas Plantation Song, said to have been first published in Slave Songs of the United States, edited by William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison in 1867 and also printed in Religious Folk Songs of the Negro as sung on the Plantations, edited by Thomas P. Fenner, Virginia, 1909. The songs in this collection were collected during the American Civil War from slaves in Georgia and South Carolina.

The first known publication of “Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow” was text only in the body of a short story titled “Christmas-Gifts” by Ruth McEnery Stuart, found in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine (Jan-June 1891, 107).1 In the story, slaves were participating in a Christmas celebration hosted by their Louisiana plantation owner family. During an entertaining dance, two of the slaves began to sing the spiritual, “Rise Up, Shepherd and Follow.” The text as printed in the story reads (adjusted to standard spelling from dialect):

There’s a star in the East on Christmas morn,
Rise up, shepherd and follow!
It’ll take you to the place where the Savior’s born,
Rise up, shepherd and follow!
If you’ve taken good notice to the angels’ words,
You’ll leave your flocks and leave your herds,
And rise up, shepherd, and follow!
Leave your sheep,
And leave your lamb,
Leave your ewe,
And leave your ram,
And rise up, shepherd, and follow!

The singers invited the others to join in on the refrain:

Follow, follow, follow, follow,
Rise, O sinner, rise and follow,
Follow the Savior of Bethlehem.


Its first appearance in musical form was in a songbook titled Religious Folksongs of the Negro as Sung on the Plantations (#173), subtitled “Christmas Plantation Song.”2 This, as with other similar books, was a collection of Negro spirituals heard sung, then transcribed as a manuscript for publication. The Spirituals were passed on orally on the basis of memory. There is a challenge in notating any kind of folk music, as the same tune may have numerous variations based on who is singing it. The songs may be recognizable and fundamentally the same, but there will be unique interpretations.3 Thomas A. Fenner writes in his introduction to Cabin and Plantation Songs as Sung by the Hampton Students that another challenge in transcribing the music was notating the actual pitches and stylistic interpretation. “These tones are variable in pitch, ranging through an entire interval on different occasions, according to the inspiration of the singer.” He continues, “It is of course impossible to explain them in words, and to those who wish to sing them, the best advice is that most useful in learning to pronounce a foreign language: Study all the rules you please; then- go listen to a native.”4 There are no correct or incorrect editions, rather there are endless variations. “Rise Up, Shepherd,” in its first printing, includes a 16-bar refrain, unlike the now common 8-bar refrain. The lowered 7th is a common pitch in Spirituals, and its use continued in the evolution of jazz

Eileen Guenther notes that, “by far, the largest number of spirituals is in the call-and-response style, in which a leader sings a line or more of text, and a group responds with a refrain.”5 Even though the Hampton edition provides melody only, with no indication of alternating call and response, it was most likely sung in this manner. In The Faith We Sing (and many other songbooks), written instruction is given for the leader to sing a phrase, with the choir or congregation responding, “Rise up, shepherd, and follow.” A refrain for all singers concludes each stanza.

In the Luke 2:8-20 shepherd story, there is no mention of a star. However, the account of the wise men in Matthew 2:1-12 does mention the star in the East. Perhaps the text is a fusion of these two stories.

While most Christmas hymns focus on the adoration of the Christ child, this spiritual (like “Go,Tell it on the Mountain”) is about discipleship. As disciples, what does it mean to “rise up?” Are there beliefs we need to stand up for, or social issues on which we must take action in order to follow Jesus? Are we willing to allow our faith to rise above other matters and concerns that demand our attention? What will we encounter on our personal journey in search of Christ? The shepherds left behind their livelihood, their flocks and herds, all that they had. What is it we are called to leave behind to follow Christ, and what will be required of us in our faith journey?

other versions

 

[Black Haven]

Not to get off track but


of course

Lol You know people kill me when they say Black Americans don't play instruments anymore and opt out for more electronic hip hop sounds, when that's far from the case. We have a plethora of people who play guitars at jazz/blues concerts and even church choir's. The problem is the music industry doesn't have interest in them like they did in the past unless its a white face on it but, that doesn't mean that black folks have put the instruments down because of it. Best believe we still use instruments even the younger generation.

 

[IllmaticDelta]

Lol You know people kill me when they say Black Americans don't play instruments anymore and opt out for more electronic hip hop sounds, when that's far from the case. We have a plethora of people who play guitars at jazz/blues concerts and even church choir's. The problem is the music industry doesn't have interest in them like they did in the past unless its a white face on it but, that doesn't mean that black folks have put the instruments down because of it. Best believe we still use instruments even the younger generation.

facts....when uninformed people continue to post that, all I can do is.....go to any random black church and you will see teens and even little kids beasting out on some instrument (guitar, piano, bass, drums, organ etc...)

Spoiler

in the south because of hbcu bands and new orleans brass bands you have entire subculture of that type of musicianship that starts at a young age



one of my fav youtube vids

 

[Black Haven]

facts....when uninformed people continue to post that, all I can do is.....go to any random black church and you will see teens and even little kids beasting out on some instrument (guitar, piano, bass, drums, organ etc...)





in the south because of hbcu bands and new orleans brass bands you have entire subculture of that type of musicianship that starts at a young age



one of my fav youtube vids

Bruh I can personally tell you that shyt ain't no joke down here. Marching band cats take that shyt REALLY serious starting at a young age.

 

[K.O.N.Y]

Bruh I can personally tell you that shyt ain't no joke down here. Marching band cats take that shyt REALLY serious starting at a young age.

The marching band culture is going to replace the black church culture in musicianship

 

[Black Haven]

The marching band culture is going to replace the black church culture in musicianship

Why do you say that? They both coexisted just fine. Many kids in the band also play music in the church band.

 

[IllmaticDelta]

The marching band culture is going to replace the black church culture in musicianship

Naw...the black church music culture is too/much more widespread in the sense that the marching band culture is a pan-Southern thing while the black church tradition is EVERYWHERE that ADOS inhabit.

 

[Supper]

Kumbaya

"Kum ba yah" ("Come by Here") is an African American spiritual of disputed origin, but known to be sung in the Gullah culture of the islands off South Carolina and Georgia, with ties to enslaved West Africans. The song is thought to have spread from the islands to other Southern states and the North, as well as other places in the world. The first known recording, of someone known only as H. Wylie, who sang in the Gullah dialect, was recorded by folk enthusiast Robert Winslow Gordon in 1926. It later became a standard campfire song in scouting and summer camps and enjoyed broader popularity during the folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s.

The song was originally an appeal to God to come and help those in need.[1]

 

[Supper]

He's Got The Whole World In His Hands

Like other folk spirituals, the exact origin of “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” is unknown. Whether created extemporaneously by one slave or by a community of slaves, this spiritual’s earliest known written reference is in “Spirituals Triumphant Old and New,” compiled by Edward Boatner in 1927. Various versions of the spiritual have been set and performed bychoral groups and solo performers in the classical music realm and the folk and popular music worlds.

 

[IllmaticDelta]

This one is real popular in the Southern white/appalachian world but it originated/first recorded in the southern black community as a Negro Spiritual

"I Am a Pilgrim" is a traditional Christian hymn from the United States, first documented in the mid-19th century. It forms part of the repertoire of gospel, folk, and bluegrass artists.

The song combines elements from an "[o]ld hymn entwined with Poor Wayfaring Stranger (Sacred Harp - 1844). It appears in The Southern Zion's Songster (1864) and in Hymns For the Camp (1862)."[1] The song references or alludes to several Bible passages, including "If I could touch the hem of his garment" which references Matthew 9:20 where a woman touches the hem of Jesus' robe and is healed.[2] In July 1924 the song was first recorded by Norfolk Jubilee Quartet, an African American group. Prominent musicians such as The Byrds, Johnny Cash, and Merle Travis have recorded the song.

 

[IllmaticDelta]

Delia Gone

Songs based on Delia Green's murder became both common and popular in the next few decades. In 1928, folklorist Robert Winslow Gordon reported to the Library of Congress that he had traced the songs back to a murder in Savannah and that he had interviewed both Green's mother and the police officer who took Houston into custody.

Gordon's research was never published, and Green's relationship to the popular songs was essentially unknown until Prof. John F. Garst, working from hints left by Gordon, turned up the details in Savannah newspaper archives.[5]

The songs inspired by Green's murder now appear in two forms; both forms were staples of the "folk revival" of the 1950s and early 1960s. One version, usually attributed to Blake Alphonso Higgs, is known as "Delia's Gone". It is explicitly told from her killer's point of view. The second version, usually attributed to Blind Willie McTell, is usually known as "Delia" and is told from the point of view of a loved one of Delia's.

Among the many singers who have sung "Delia" are Bob Dylan and David Bromberg. Josh White and Pete Seeger each recorded "Delia's Gone" in 1955, followed by Harry Belafonte, Bud and Travis, Burl Ives, The Kingston Trio, and other "folk revival" singers. Pat Boone had a minor hit with "Delia Gone" in 1960, with the composition attributed to Caperton Henley.

It was recorded numerous times by country singers, including Bobby Bare, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash. In the music video for Cash's fourth recording of the song, the role of Delia was played by Kate Moss.

History
According to contemporaneous reports published in Georgia newspapers, Green was shot by 15-year-old Mose (or Moses) Houston late on Christmas Eve, 1900, in the Yamacraw neighborhood of Savannah, Georgia, and died at 3:00 a.m. on Christmas Day.[2] Houston, the newspapers implied, had been involved in a sexual relationship with Green for several months. The shooting took place at the home of Willie West, who chased down Houston after the shooting and turned him over to the city police.

Green's murder and Houston's trial in the spring of 1901 were reported in the Savannah Morning News and the Savannah Evening Press. Although Houston reportedly had confessed to the murder at the time of his arrest, at his trial he claimed the shooting was accidental. Other witnesses, however, testified that Houston had become angry after Green called him "a son of a bytch".[2]

Houston was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, on the jury's recommendation of mercy. In a clemency petition after the trial, Houston's attorney, Raiford Falligant, cast Houston as "a mere child" who "got into bad company and so unfortunately committed the act that he now suffers for."[2] After serving more than twelve years, he was paroled by Governor John M. Slaton in October 1913.[3][4] Accounts of his later life are sketchy, but he is said to have died in New York City in 1927 after other brushes with the law.

Green was buried in an unmarked grave in Laurel Grove Cemetery South in Savannah.

Delia Green (1886 – December 25, 1900)[1] was a 14-year-old African-American murder victim who has been identified as the likely inspiration for several well-known traditional American songs, usually known by the titles "Delia" or "Delia's Gone" or "Little Delia".

Synopsis:
The facts of Delia Green’s murder, sketchy as they are, were uncovered by folklorist Robert Winslow Gordon – who collected 28 versions the murder song – and later by ballad expert John Garst. They traced the location to Yamacraw, a black section of Savannah, Georgia and the date to December 24, 1900 (at the tail end of the 19th Century.) From newspaper accounts and trial transcripts they reconstructed the events of that night.

Delia Green and Moses “c00ney” Houston were at a Christmas Eve party at the home of Willie West, where Delia worked as a scrub girl. Delia and c00ney had been going together for several months and, though they both were only 14-years-old, the relationship was probably sexual. That night they were fighting; c00ney was very drunk and started teasing Delia. According to trial transcripts this is what transpired between them (as printed in The Rose and the Briar.)
c00ney: "My little wife is mad with me tonight. She does not hear me. She is not saying anything to me. (To Delia "You don't know how I love you."

This was followed by mutual cursing.

Delia: "You son of a bytch. You have been going with me for four months. You know I am a lady."

c00ney: "That is a damn lie. You know I have had you as many times as I have fingers and toes."

Delia: "You lie!"
Delia, angry at being characterized as c00ney’s wife, called him a son of a bytch, an epithet that carried much more weight in 1900 than it does today. At this point Willie West told c00ney to leave. As he was approaching the door, c00ney pulled out a pistol and shot Delia in the groin.

c00ney fled the scene, but Willie West chased after and caught him. West turned him over to police patrolman J. T. Williams who later testified that c00ney confessed to shooting Delia because she called him a son of a bytch. He said he shot her and he would do it again.

Trial: Spring 1901
c00ney Houston appeared in court wearing short pants; no doubt attempting to emphasize his youth. Georgia had no juvenile justice system in 1901 so Houston was tried as an adult.

In court he told a different story than the one he told patrolman Williams. He claimed that Willie West had sent him to retrieve a pistol from the repair shop. He brought the pistol to the house and put it on the table under a napkin. Later he and a friend, Eddie Cohen, got into a friendly tussle over the gun and it went off accidently, killing Delia. Cohen testified that he was not there at the time of the murder and that he never struggled with Houston over the gun.

No one believed c00ney Huston’s story and the jury found him guilty but recommended mercy. Judge Paul F Seabrook sentenced him to life in prison instead of death.

Verdict: Guilty

Aftermath:
Moses "c00ney" Houston was paroled on October 15, 1913, by order of Governor John Slaton, after serving just over twelve years of his life sentence. He continued to have trouble with the law. Allegedly, he moved to New York City where he died in 1927.



Meanwhile the song of Delia’s murder – authorship unknown – took on a life of its own. Each singer had his own version of the song but there are two major versions: “Delia” recorded by Georgia blues singer Blind Willie McTell in the 1920s, and “Delia’s Gone” recorded by “Blind Blake” Alphonso Blake Higgs (not to be confused with ragtime guitarist Blind Arthur Blake)

In McTell’s version the singer laments that “She's all I've got, is gone” and blames Delia’s demise on associating with gamblers. Higgs, who also introduced “Sloop John B.” to the United States, claimed authorship of “Delia’s Gone.” More likely it was introduced to the Bahama’s by sailors coming from Georgia. In any case Higgs version, with the memorable line “Delia’s gone, one more round, Delia’s gone” captured the imagination of American folk singers and was recorded by Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan and others.
In each version, the story deviates more from the facts. The killer is no longer c00ney, but Curly or Tony, and he shoots her more than once. The most extreme deviation from the facts occurs in Johnny Cash’s version where the killer ties Delia to a chair and shoots her with his “sub-mo-chine.”

 

[IllmaticDelta]

"The Titanic" (also known as "It Was Sad When That Great Ship Went Down"

"The Titanic" (also known as "It Was Sad When That Great Ship Went Down" and "Titanic (Husbands and Wives)") is a folk song and children's song. "The Titanic" is about the sinking of RMS Titanic which sank on April 15, 1912 after striking an iceberg.

History
The first folk songs about the Titanic disaster appeared within weeks after the disaster.[1] Recordings of various songs about the disaster date to as early as 1913.[2]

Variants
The canonical version of the song has the chorus:[2]

It was sad when that great ship went down
Husbands and wives and little children lost their lives
It was sad when that great ship went down

In most variants, although not the earliest,[3] the chorus starts with a line "it was sad, so sad, it was sad", and in many versions, the line "to the bottom of the..." appended after the repeat of "went down." Other than the chorus, different versions may contain verses in different order.

There are several regional variations on the song. According to Newman I. White's 1928 book American Negro Folk-Songs, "The Titanic" has been traced back to 1915 or 1916 in Hackleburg, Alabama. Other versions from around 1920 are documented in the Frank C. Brown Collection at Duke University in North Carolina. Early recordings include Ernest Stoneman's "The Titanic" (Okeh 40288) in September 1924 and William and Versey Smith's "When That Great Ship Went Down" in August 1927.

According to Jeff Place, in his notes for the Anthology of American Folk Music:[4] "African-American musicians, in particular, found it noteworthy and ironic that company policies had kept Blacks from the doomed ship; the sinking was also attributed by some to divine retribution."

One of the most popular childrens' summer camp songs in the United States is based on the Titanic disaster. The lyrics to this modern version (often titled Titanic (Husbands and Wives) or It Was Sad When That Great Ship Went Down) can be found in many camp songbooks, on many web pages, and even on some recordings. Instead of daring to select a definitive version from the various regional variations of the modern camp song, this page attempts to trace this particular Titanic song back as close as possible to its origins. The earliest version I was able to find is given below. There are a variety of distinctly different Titanic folk songs that are not discussed here, but are mentioned in the references given at the bottom.

Folk songs about the Titanic disaster seemed to appear almost immediately after it occured. Within a decade, information on these songs began to appear in the literature. Perkins (1922) notes that:



The 'Titanic' sank on Sunday, April 14, 1912. The following Sunday I saw on a train a blind preacher selling a ballad he had composed on the disaster. The title was "Didn't that ship go down?" I remember one stanza:—"God Almighty talked like a natural man, Spoke so the people could understand."
Recordings of songs about the disaster appeared almost as early, with Cantor Joseph Rosenblatt's El Mole Rachamim (für Titanik) being recorded on June 29, 1913 (King, Sapoznik, and Waits, 2007).

An early version of the current song is reported in White's (1928) American Negro Folk-Songs. The song is listed as having been heard in 1915 or 1916 as "Sung by Negro on streets of Hackleburg in Northwest Ala." (The tune is given in the appendix of that book.) A second early version is found in the Frank C. Brown Collection (Newman, Belden, and Hudson, 1952). This 'version D' was titled The Great Titanic and is listed as having been contributed by a Miss Fanny Grogan on Nov. 30, 1920 from Zionville, NC. This version is listed by Laws (1964) as "D 24, The Titanic I", and is very similar to several other versions in Frank C. Brown Collection, as well as to one obtained in Gatlinburg Tennessee in 1929 from a Miss Lara Ogle and transcribed by Henry (1931).




The sinking of the Titanic in 1912 was an event that made a big impression on people’s collective mind as it was one of the first in a serie of disasters in the modern world that showed the vulnerability of Man’s creation against God’s Creation, nature. Soon after the event, songs began to circulate and some were put in print on broadside papers. For many singers, the disaster was a kind of modern “tower of Babel”, God punishing man’s arrogance, especially among black singers who saw in the disaster God’s punishement for the segregational policies of the boat’s company (Black were not allowed on board). The most famous folk song about the Titanic was a song usually known as “When that great ship went down”. Despite his chorus “Wasn’t it sad when that great ship went down” the song was usually sang with an upbeat and joyous feeling, the ironic twist gave by the creators of the song, african-americans who were mocking white folks supremacy. Like in other folk ballads, there are key verses that helped memorize the song, for example: “…The rich would not ride with the poor..” “… the band was playing “Nearer my God to Thee”. It became with time a famous song to sing with children at camp-fires.