The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1926-02-04
SOUTHERN MELODIES
PIaintIveness Quality of all Com
mon NEGRO sonas.

SPLENDID theater, amid a scene of life
and brilliant filter, and hear the mar
velous voice of Patti ripple away on
The melody of Way down upon Go
S'wanee ribber" is one thing, and 10
travel through the South until, sud,
denly with a squeak from the loco
motive, one looks from the window OF
a Pullman car and secs for the frs
time in all his life the clear, silent
waters of this stream is quite a d.f-
ferent thing.
How many have seen the Suwanee
river through the veil Of sentiment
and song, under the environment of
the frst-named order, and how few,
comparatively, have actually stood
upon the banks of the river itself,
listened to the soft, low murmur Of its
meander waters, so clear, so beauti-
full and SO blue in eddy places, with
trees bending over its bosom. all fes-
TONED with long, waving Spanish
moss, which so abounds in the west
ern regions of Floridal
Just how a river, a narrow, sanu
bottomed, blue-watered river, that
plays so small part in the map Of
the United States as does the Suwa-
nee, could ever have become SO ia.
nous in this wide world does seem
strange to one when he comes to
think of it, all because of mere song.
But, after all, it has charm all its
own, and the average visitor will f1n1
under it's spell that it will linger with
surprising tenacity and grow upon
him like the shadow of some myster-
ious fascination
Way down upon de S'wanee riLbcr
Far, far away.
Oars wha my heart am turnin ebber
OATS whar de ole folks stay.
No such ideal picture-book songs
as this are ever heard on the Suwa;
nee river in real life, unless it be,
now and then, when some resident Of
this section chooses to hum q few
lines of this same song in a spirit
Amuch the same as that of the deacon
in church who says amen" when the
preacher has finished the morning
o. ayer-simply agreeing to what the
suthor of this immortal song has writ
ten.
But there are songs along the Suwa-
nee river that are characteristic. and
unique in all their plaintive melody,
pathos and humor. The negroes who
are found at work along the river.
either on the little boats that haul
timber up and down from the mills
or phosphate from the mines, or out
If the lumber Camps and fields along
the river banks, seem to be all given
to song. They go about their work In
the morning with song, and sing all
tEu livelong day, grooming some plain
tive air in a monotonous fashion or
ell joining a chorus where there are
several of them, and making the
woods around fairly reverberate with
the echoes of their campmeetins
HYMNS, such as this:-
Jes' look over yonder what | SEQ
Angels bid me ter come
See two angels calm at me-
Angels bid mo ter come.
Rise an shine, mourner,
Rise an shine, mourner,
Rise an shine, mourner,
Fur de angels bid'er me ter come.
How their rich, mellow voices DO
melt away in the distance as they
join in this sweet old air, and how
the plaintive strain seems to die away
upon the singing waters of the famed
river! And when they get to the
chorus. how they swing around at
their work and bear down on the loud
be lal of their voices and throw n
uine jubilee vigor Of camp-meeting In
to the song! If they are cutting logs
for the sawmill nigh at hand, they are
apt to swing their axes in full time
with the measure of the song, ana
this gives it all the more interest and
peculiar charm.
One of the lively Jig songs that are
often, heard in the lumber and phos-
plate camps along the Suwanee river
runs something like this:--
Jaybirds up de sugar tree,
Sparrow on de groun,
Jaybird shake de sugar down,
Sparrow pass hit eroun.
Shoe, ladies, shoe,
Shoe, ladies, shoe,
Shoe, ladies', shoe, my gal,
I'm boun' for Sugar Hill.
Five cents is my pocket change,
Ten cents is my bill;
II times don't git no bettah mean
Pm boun' for Sugar Hill,
Etc, etc.
The music to this song is much IN
the fashion of the common nagro
s--HT "a .nth