Kingdom Coming
"Kingdom Coming", or "The Year of Jubilo", is an American Civil War-era song written and composed by Henry Clay Work (1832–1884) in 1861. It was published by Root & Cady in 1862 and first advertised in April by the minstrel group Christy's Minstrels. Narrated by Black slaves on a Confederate plantation, "Kingdom Coming" recounts their impending freedom after their master disguises himself as a contraband and flees to avoid being captured by Union troops. It is a minstrel song, written in African American Vernacular English, spoken by slaves, and intended to be performed by blackface troupes.
Work was an avowed abolitionist and composed numerous pro-Union songs during the Civil War such as "Marching Through Georgia" (1865) and "Babylon is Fallen" (1863)—the sequel to "Kingdom Coming". The song portended the then-President Abraham Lincoln's issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, an executive order liberating all slaves in Confederate territory.
"Kingdom Coming" was one of the most successful Union songs, renowned as a favorite among Black Unionists and minstrel troupes. It amassed sheet music sales of 75,000 copies. The publisher George Frederick Root claimed that it was his firm's most successful piece "for nearly a year and a half" and "the most successful patriotic song in the West."[1] It prominently features as a lively instrumental in Ken Burns' eponymous documentary on the Civil War and in numerous twentieth-century cartoons, such as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Billy Boy.
Background
[edit]Work as a songwriter
[edit]Henry Clay Work arose from a "staunch abolitionist" family.[2] His father, Alanson, aided thousands of fugitives attain freedom through the Underground Railroad, on which his house was situated.[3] Work spent much of his childhood among the freedmen and gradually learned their dialect and modes of entertainment. He actively heard their harrowing recollections of plantation life before absconding the South. These left a stirring impression on him; throughout the rest of his days, he remained deeply moved by the plight of African Americans.[4] As an adult, Work would crusade for abolitionism by communicating the routine agonies of slave life through music. In fact, author Florine Thayer McCray remarks that many of his compositions evoke "the very atmosphere of awakening plantation life" and echo "the cottonpicker's musing hum and the roustabout's refrain."[5]
After the family was forced to migrate away from the railroad,[6] he started laboring a music typesetter,[7] first in his native Connecticut and, from 1855 onward, in Chicago.[8] While Work did not mind his trade, his true passion and "everyday thought" was song.[9] His spare time was brimmed with penning poems, adapting them to piano melodies and submitting them to local newspapers.[10] In 1853 he issued his first complete composition, "We Are Coming, Sister Mary", to the popular troupe Christy's Minstrels. Its moderate success spurred his songwriting motivations further.[11] The American Civil War's outbreak in April 1861[12] provided these aspirations a suitable breeding ground. Music was the definitive propaganda tool to raise morale among troops;[13] 1861 alone saw two thousand sheet music publications.[14] Among the slew of patriotic songs pouring into newspapers and publishing houses, only "a few [...] caught the tempo and the spirit across the country [...]";[15] antislavery compositions in particular were lacking prevalence. This called for the enlistment of passionate abolitionists into the songwriting industry.[16] Seeking to advance his pastime into a full-time occupation, as well as to contribute to the Union cause, Work hiked up his songwriting efforts.
A resident Chicagoan, he was drawn to local publishing firm Root & Cady, the "most prolific producers of wartime music."[17] Established in 1858,[18] it promptly positioned itself at the center of Chicago's burgeoning music industry.[19] George F. Root, an illustrious composer whose "Battle Cry of Freedom" and "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" were among the Union's most cherished rallying hymns,[20] joined forces with the firm in 1860 as its chief operator.[18] Work submitted one of his first wartime songs, "Our Captain's Last Words", to Root & Cady in March 1861. Upon being published, it overdrove the business' printing capacity. Root instantaneously took heed of Work's "gift for composition" and assigned him an indefinite songwriting post.[21] Their collaboration proved one of the most fruitful in the war, during which the firm attained nigh unparalleled success.[22] Work established himself as one of the Union's national composers whose music "captured the spirit and struggle of the Civil War."[23] His catalog of 27 patriotic songs issued from 1861 to 1865[24] includes seriocomedies,[25] overviews of army life,[26] commemorations of Northern triumphs[27] and, uniquely, depictions of African Americans' struggles in the South.
African-American music of the Civil War
[edit]Ever since the 1830s lower-class Northern theater had been dominated by troupes of blackface performers. Dressed in extravagant costumes and armed with banjos, they acted as caricatured African Americans reminiscing about their days in the agrarian South. The Romantic portrayal of Southern plantation life, with slaves and their owners residing harmoniously, gave uninformed Northern audiences a false impression of African Americans' toil in an era when slavery was growing into a dangerously divisive political issue.[28] Stephen Foster idealized the South in his early compositions; "Massa's in de Cold, Cold Ground" (1852), featuring slaves lamenting their "kind" master's death, provides a clear example:
Massa made de darkeys love him,
Cause he was so kind,
Now dey sadly weep above him,
Mourning cause he leave them behind.
I cannot work before tomorrow,
Cause de teardrops flow,
I try to drive away my sorrow
Pickin' on de old banjo.[29]
With African Americans stereotyped as blithe, docile servants, racism pervaded Northern society and shaped public attitudes.[30] "Kingdom Coming" strays from the mockery of blackface minstrelsy, portraying a realistic picture of plantation life and humanizing slaves. Instead of the oppressive master reigning supreme over his subjects as generally observed in minstrel songs, these roles are inverted; the slaves take over the plantation and overcome their overseer.[31] This role reversal is also observed in "Babylon is Fallen" (1863), in which the slaves exclaim: "We will be de Massa, / He will be de servant."[32]
Prior to the Civil War, slaves turned to simple, sometimes comic, songs to lighten their labor.[33] However, from 1861 onward African-American music took a new serious form, serving as a collective call for liberation. Negro spirituals such as "Go Down Moses", alluding to Israel's journey to freedom in the promised land in Exodus, consoled stifled African-American populations and rallied support for emancipation.[34] Music was to remedy this dispirited attitude, rallying both White and Black soldiers around a collective struggle for liberty.[35] Work spent innumerable hours among freedmen and gradually learned their dialect, which would later enhance his songwriting capability.[36] His exposure to minstrelsy and African American performers also influenced his writing style and its authenticity to slaves' lifestyle and concerns.[37]
The Emancipation Proclamation
[edit]The storyline of "Kingdom Coming" portends the Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order issued in January 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln. It mandated that:
all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.
Root, along with other Illinoisan Unionists prominently appealed to President Lincoln to issue a degree of emancipation.[38] After the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, on September 27, 1862, approximately 10,000 Chicagoans, accompanied by several musical societies such as Root & Cady, gathered at Bryan Hall and Court House Square to celebrate the occasion. "Kingdom Coming", which symbolized the proclamation's outcome, was one of the tunes chanted by the crowd.[38]
Lyrical analysis
[edit]The song is pro-Unionist, and the lyrics are sung from the point of view of slaves ("de darkeys") in Confederate territory, who celebrate their impending freedom after their master flees the approach of Union military forces. The primary persona is a "hypocritical and cowardly"[39] slave owner ("de massa"). They speculate on the future fate of the owner, whom they suspect will pretend to be a runaway slave in order to avoid capture. With their owner absent, the slaves revolt, locking their overseer in a cellar as retribution for his harsh treatment toward them. The slaves then celebrate their impending emancipation by Union soldiers by drinking their absent owner's cider and wine in his kitchen. (or use text and translation)
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Say, darkeys, hab you seen: the song is positioned as a single narrator/singer addressing a group of slaves. However, the dialect indicates that the narrator is also a slave, and the rest of the song indicates that the narrator is also present on the plantation. Is the narrator removed in some way from the audience? The third stanza in particular refers to the "darkeys" as "they" rather than "we." Some modern renditions (e.g. Pete Seeger's) replace "darkeys" with "brothers" or even "comrades," indicating group identification, while Bobby Horton's rendition uses "black folks" instead, leaving the ambiguity as to identification in place.
de massa, wid the muffstash on his face: there is no indication anywhere in the song that there is more than one master. Therefore, the inclusion of a reference to the master's mustache indicates that he does not normally wear one. The mustache may be fake (though in this case, why "the" instead of "a"?), or it may have been (hastily?) grown for the occasion.
he seen a smoke, way up the ribber, whar de Linkum gumboats lay: suggesting a nearby battle between Union and Confederate forces, though whether this was precipitated by the arrival or the gunboats, or of challenging Confederate forces, or some other reason, is not clear.
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De massa run . . . de darkey stay: pointing out the total inversion of the normal order of things, where the master rules over his plantation and the slaves run away in pursuit of freedom elsewhere. For the narrator and his audience, the world has turned upside down.
de kingdom comin': the Kingdom of God, God's direct rule on Earth, whose advent is prophesied by Jesus Christ as narrated in the Christian Gospels, when all wrongs will be righted and everything placed in proper order.
de year ob Jubilo: the "year of Jubilo [Jubilee]" alludes to the biblical practice of freeing bondsmen every 50 years (delineated in Leviticus 25, OT), a lasting metaphor of liberation from oppression; to subordinated Blacks, it represents the end of their servitude.[42] The scripture reads: "The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields."[43] The law "continues to stimulate models for liberation from oppressive forces, for reconciliation, and for new beginnings".[44] To subjugated Blacks it symbolized the end of their servitude.[45]
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(analysis of the second stanza)
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(analysis of the third stanza)
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(analysis of the fourth stanza)
Legacy
[edit]In the Civil War
[edit]Root embarked on a pervasive advertising campaign to promote his compositions.[47] "Kingdom Coming" was his first major song supporting this cause, published by Root in 1862.[48][49][50] "Kingdom Coming" was first advertised by Christy's Minstrels in April 1862, and became instantly successful[47] and a staple of any minstrel show's repertoire.[51] Its sheet music sold 75,000 copies.[52] Root & Cady reportedly could not keep up with orders for the song, with the publisher claiming: "It is whistled, sung, hummed and instrumentalized everywhere, in fact it is one of the institutions of the day."[53] It was a favorite among African American troops.[54] It was reportedly as popular as "Dixie's Land" during the war and subsequent years.[39] A writer for the Hartford Courant gazette observed:
Our country has produced few songwriters whose works have been more widely sung than Mr. Work. Some of his productions have not only been on the lips of nearly every man, women and child in America, but with some variations, in every part of the world. There is scarcely a Grand Army gathering where his songs are not sung, and they are to be sung for generations to come.[55]
First advertised by Edwin P. Christy in April 1862, "Kingdom Coming" quickly became a linchpin of minstrel show repertoires.[56] Convinced of its potential, the publisher George F. Root embarked on a widespread advertising campaign to promote the song.[57] Such was its success that Root could not keep up with orders, claiming it to be his firm's most profitable composition "for nearly a year and a half" and "the most successful patriotic song in the West."[58] Within a few years, it sold 75,000 copies of sheet music.[59] After the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, approximately 10,000 Chicagoans gathered at Clark Street to celebrate the occasion; "Kingdom Coming", symbolizing the proclamation's outcome, was one of the abolitionist songs chanted alongside "John Brown's Body".[60] While time has not been kind with the song, up until the 19th century's close, it was reportedly as popular as "Dixie".[61] Jerome Kern's 1921 Broadway musical Good Morning, Dearie and the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis prominently feature it.[62]
The sequel "Babylon is Fallen"
[edit]Due to the success of "Kingdom Coming", Work penned a sequel titled "Babylon is Fallen", in which the "massa" who "went and run away" enlisted in the Confederate Army. He was discovered by his former slaves and imprisoned. The title alludes to the Book of Revelation of the New Testament: "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great" (14:8),[63] referring to the downfall of despotism, appropriate for the slave master's demise.[1]
In popular culture
[edit]The tune to "Kingdom Coming" features in several cartoons. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer made use of it in The Three Little Pups,[64] (with Droopy) and Billy Boy, as well as in Michael Lah's Blackboard Jumble and Sheep Wrecked. The piece is whistled throughout all four pictures by a dimwitted wolf character voiced by Daws Butler (using the same slow Southern drawl he would later employ for Huckleberry Hound). This wolf character has no official name, but is commonly referred to as "Jubilo Wolf", in reference to "Year of Jubilo". It also occasionally appears in Warner Bros. cartoons, such as being used throughout the 1938 Porky Pig cartoon Injun Trouble and its 1945 remake Wagon Heels, and the closing scenes of the 1945 Bugs Bunny cartoons The Unruly Hare and Hare Trigger.
Some films exercise it. In The Telegraph Trail (1933), John Trent (John Wayne) whistles this tune. It is instrumental background music in The Horse Soldiers (1959) (also starring Wayne).[65] In Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Esther Smith (Judy Garland) sings new lyrics, written for the movie, to the tune of "Year of Jubilo".[66] The lyrics are in standard English and are inoffensive, with no reference to slavery, the Civil War, or any other controversial subject.
On radio, the tune was used as the theme music for the Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy Show.
The tune was also used in the introductory section to the second movement of John Philip Sousa's 1925 suite Cubaland.
Notable recordings
[edit]- The McGee Brothers and Todd recorded the song with lyrics in 1927 as "Old Master's Runaway"
- Frank Crumit recorded "Kingdom Coming and the Year of Jubilo" on November 29, 1927. It was released on Victor 21108.
- Sauter-Finegan Orchestra recorded an instrumental version titled "Doodletown Fifers", which they released as their first record,[67] and it reached No. 12 on the Billboard Most Played by Disk Jockeys chart in 1952.[68] "Doodletown Fifers" has also been recorded by the Boston Pops Orchestra.[69]
- Western pop singer "Tennessee" Ernie Ford had a hit record in 1958 titled "Sunday Barbecue", which became the latest incarnation of the original tune. It was released on Capitol # F3997.
- A solo piano rendition of the song is included on jazz pianist Bill Carrothers' album, The Blues and the Greys, which features popular music from the time of the Civil War.
- The song appears on the soundtrack to Ken Burns' Civil War, usually played whenever pictures of General Ulysses S. Grant are shown on screen.
- The song is performed by Pokey LaFarge in the 2013 collection Divided and United: The Songs of the Civil War, titled as "Kingdom Come".
- There is a Tanzanian patriotic version known as "Tazama Ramani" which translates to "To The Map That Guides You".
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^ a b quoted in Carder 2008, p. 133
- ^
- quoted in Silber 1995, p. 306
- Work 1884, p. 6
- McWhirter 2012, p. 146
- ^
- Ewen 1962, p. 188
- Drury 1975, p. 251
- Bailey, Maynor & Cukor-Avila 1991, p. 197
- Carder 2008, p. 114
- ^
- McCray 1898, p. 10
- Bailey, Maynor & Cukor-Avila 1991, p. 197
- Finson 1994, p. 56
- Carder 2008, p. 114
- McWhirter 2012, p. 146
- ^ quoted in McCray 1898, p. 10
- ^
- Birdseye 1879, p. 284
- San Marcos Press 1879, p. 3
- Washington Standard 1920, p. 6
- Hill 1953a, p. 215
- ^
- Birdseye 1879, p. 285
- Hill 1953a, pp. 215–216
- Ewen 1962, p. 188
- ^
- Root et al. 1892, p. 6
- Tribble 1967, p. 423
- Drury 1975, p. 251
- ^
- quoted in Root et al. 1892, p. 6
- McCray 1898, p. 10
- ^
- Birdseye 1879, p. 285
- McCray 1898, p. 10
- ^
- Work 1884, p. 6
- Birdseye 1879, p. 285
- Hill 1953a, p. 216
- Ewen 1962, p. 188
- ^ Carder 2008, p. 101
- ^
- Root et al. 1892, p. 6
- Silber 1995, pp. 7–8
- Kelley & Snell 2004, p. 21
- McWhirter 2012, p. 15
- ^ McWhirter 2012, p. 16
- ^
- quoted in Silber 1995, p. 7
- Saturday Evening Post 1862, p. 4
- Tribble 1967, p. 435
- ^ McWhirter 2012, p. 146
- ^
- quoted in Tribble 1967, p. 425
- Root 1891, pp. 139–140
- Epstein 1944, p. 43
- Kelley & Snell 2004, pp. 121–122
- Carder 2008, p. 2
- ^ a b
- Root 1891, pp. 122–123
- Epstein 1944, pp. 45–46
- Howard & Bellows 1967, p. 134
- Kelley & Snell 2004, p. 5
- ^
- Chicago Tribune 1892
- Carder 2008, pp. 87–89, 175
- ^
- Root et al. 1892, p. 5
- Epstein 1944, pp. 43, 45
- Silber 1995, pp. 9, 14
- Kelley & Snell 2004, p. 5
- Carder 2008, pp. 1–3, 149–151
- ^
- quoted in Carder 2008, p. 112
- Hill 1953a, p. 213
- Carder 2008, pp. 112, 114
- ^
- Root 1891, p. 138
- Root et al. 1892, p. 6
- Hill 1953a, p. 216
- Tribble 1967, p. 425
- Carder 2008, pp. 112, 114
- ^
- quoted in Song of America
- McCray 1898, p. 10
- Hill 1953a, p. 211
- Kelley & Snell 2004, p. 119
- McWhirter 2012, p. 21
- ^
- Hill 1953a, pp. 213–214
- Kelley & Snell 2004, pp. 121–122
- ^ Carder 2008, p. 113
- ^ Carder 2008, p. 130
- ^ Tribble 1967, p. 426
- ^
- Finson 1994, pp. 176–178, 198–199
- Sussman 2001, pp. 79–83
- ^
- Foster 1852, p. 5
- Sussman 2001, p. 83
- ^ Floyd 1995, p. 60
- ^
- Finson 1994, p. 210
- Silber 1995, p. 306
- McWhirter 2012, pp. 146–147
- Cohen 2015, p. 126
- ^ quoted in Silber 1995, p. 307
- ^ Floyd 1995, p. 52
- ^
- Finson 1994, p. 209
- Floyd 1995, pp. 60–61
- Silber 1995, p. 270
- McWhirter 2012, pp. 149–150, 157
- ^
- McWhirter 2012, p. 146: "[...] there was no popular vehicle for antislavery sentiment on the home front. Henry Clay Work would soon fill that void."
- Silber 1995, p. 7: "Throughout the war, soldiers and civilians of the Union States were inspired and propagandized by a host of patriotic songs."
- Silber 1995, p. 8: "Undoubtedly, great inspirational songs in war-time can breathe the spirit of unity into the ranks of soldiers and civilians alike [...]"
- Kelley & Snell 2004, p. 21: "It [music] helped the black soldier place his military experience in a cultural continuum, and it eased his transition to freedom and citizenship."
- ^
- Work 1884, p. 6 (preface): "His close contact with the negroes accounts for the faithfulness of the dialect of his negro melodies which have so strong an appeal to the darkies themselves."
- Bailey, Maynor & Cukor-Avila 1991, p. 197: "This contact with the slaves contributed to the younger Work's sentiments as well as his ability to write in dialect."
- McWhirter 2012, p. 146: "Henry [...] came into contact with African Americans and their music."
- ^
- Work 1884, p. 6 (preface): "In keeping with their [African Americans'] natural dramatic instincts as entertainers, they must have amused the child [the young Henry Clay Work] with stories and songs of plantation life [...]"
- McWhirter 2012, p. 146: "Furthermore, Henry grew up in relative poverty, which likely exposed him to working-class minstrelsy. As a result, Henry's early songwriting efforts were heavily influenced by blackface performers."
- ^ a b Carder 2008, p. 122
- ^ a b Hursh & Goertzen 2009, p. 174
- ^
- Work 1884, pp. 162–163
- Finson 1994, p. 210
- Herder 1998, p. 190
- ^
- Work 1884, p. 163
- Finson 1994, p. 211
- Herder 1998, p. 190
- ^
- Finson 1994, p. 211
- Carmichael 2006, p. 122
- ^ Leviticus 25:10–12 NIV
- ^ Carmichael 2006, p. 122
- ^ Finson 1994, p. 211
- ^ a b c
- Work 1884, p. 164
- Herder 1998, p. 190
- McWhirter 2012, p. 137
- ^ a b Silber 1995, p. 306
- ^ Work 1884, preface
- ^ McWhirter 2012, p. 146
- ^ According to the complete catalog of Work's compositions reproduced in Hill 1953a, p. 213, "Kingdom Coming" is his fifth song published by Root & Cady, with the four preceding it being: "Nellie Lost and Found", "Our Captain's Last Words", "Beautiful Rose" and "The Girls at Home".
- ^
- Cohen 2015, p. 126: "Kingdom Coming", by Henry Clay Work, was first advertised in Chicago in April 1862 as part of the repertoire for Christy's Minstrels, and it became one of the most popular songs of the war, appearing widely on broadsides, as sheet music [...]"
- ^ Shepherd 2003, p. 592
- ^ qtd. Carder 2008, p. 114: "Root & Cady could hardly keep up with orders for "Kingdom Coming". 'It is whistled, sung, hummed and instrumentalized everywhere, in fact it is one of the institutions of the day,' the publisher claimed."
- ^
- Bailey, Maynor & Cukor-Avila 1991, p. 197: 'Kingdom Coming' is regarded as his [Work's] 'unquestioned masterpiece', a song which was tremendously popular during the Civil War period and for years thereafter, being sung by black union troops as they marched into the South."
- ^ Kelley & Snell 2004, p. 122
- ^
- Silber 1995, p. 306
- Carder 2008, p. 113
- Cohen 2015, p. 126
- ^
- Silber 1995, p. 306
- Carder 2008, p. 113
- McWhirter 2012, p. 146
- ^
- quoted in Carder 2008, p. 133
- Carder 2008, p. 114
- ^
- Manitowoc Tribune 1867, p. 2
- Shepherd 2003, p. 592
- McWhirter 2012, p. 25
- ^
- Carder 2008, p. 122
- McWhirter 2012, p. 159
- ^ Hursh & Goertzen 2009, p. 174
- ^
- Ewen 1962, p. 188
- Tribble 1967, p. 426
- ^ Revelation 14:8 NIV
- ^ Whistling Wolf from "Droopy Dog (1953) The Three Little Pups" YouTube
- ^ the second piece in the trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knQahiIpwYw
- ^ Songwriters Hall of Fame: "His 'Kingdom Coming' appears in Judy Garland film "Meet Me In St. Louis"."
- ^ Sultanof, Jeff (2017). Experiencing Big Band Jazz: A Listener's Companion. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 104. ISBN 9781442242432.
- ^ "The Billboard Popularity Chart – Records Most Played by Disk Jockeys". Billboard. September 6, 1952. p. 56.
- ^ "Doodletown Fifers". AllMusic.
Bibliography
[edit]Primary sources
[edit]- Foster, Stephen C. (1852). Massa's in de Cold, Cold Ground. New York City, New York: Firth, Pond & Co – via Google Books.
- Root, George F. (1891). The Story of a Musical Life: An Autobiography by Geo F. Root. Cincinnati, Ohio: The John Church Co. ISBN 978-1-4047-8329-4.
- Root, George F.; Sawyer, Charles C.; Work, Henry C., eds. (1892). Our National War Songs (2 ed.). Chicago, Illinois: The S. Brainard's Sons Co.
- Work, Henry C. (1884). Work, Bertram G. (ed.). Songs of Henry Clay Work. New York City: Little & Ives.
Secondary sources
[edit]- Bailey, Guy; Maynor, Natalie; Cukor-Avila, Patricia, eds. (1991). The Emergence of Black English: Text and Commentary. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 1-55619-161-8.
- Carder, P. H. (2008). George F. Root, Civil War Songwriter: A Biography. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-3374-2.
- Carmichael, Calum M. (2006). Illuminating Leviticus: A Study of Its Laws and Institutions in the Light of Biblical Narratives. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-8500-0.
- Cohen, Michael C. (2015). The Social Lives of Poems in Nineteenth-Century America. Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-4708-4.
- Drury, John (1975). Old Chicago Houses. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-16555-8.
- Ewen, David (1962). Popular American Composers from Revolutionary Times to the Present: A Biographical and Critical Guide. New York City, New York: H. W. Wilson Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0824200404.
- Finson, Jon W. (1994). The Voices That Are Gone: Themes in Nineteenth-Century American Popular Song. New York City, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505750-3.
- Floyd, Samuel A. (1995). The Power of Black Music: Interpreting Its History from Africa to the United States. New York City: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-508235-4.
- Herder, Ronald (1998). 500 Best-Loved Song Lyrics. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc. ISBN 0-486-29725-X.
- Howard, John Tasker; Bellows, George Kent (1967). A Short History of Music in America. New York City: McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 0-8152-0162-1.
- Hursh, David; Goertzen, Chris (2009). Good Medicine and Good Music: A Biography of Mrs. Joe Person, Patent Remedy Entrepeneur and Musician, Including the Complete Text of Her 1903 Autobiography. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-3459-6.
- Kelley, Bruce C.; Snell, Mark A. (2004). Bugle Resounding: Music and Musicians of the Civil War Era. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press. ISBN 0-8262-1538-6.
- McWhirter, Christian (2012). Battle Hymns: The Power and Popularity of Music in the Civil War. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-3550-0.
- Shepherd, John, ed. (2003). Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World. Vol. 1. New York City: Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8264-6321-5.
- Silber, Irwin (1995). Songs of the Civil War. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-28438-7.
Studies and journals
[edit]- Birdseye, George (1879). "America's Song Composers: IV. Henry Clay Work". Potter's American Monthly. 12 (88): 284–288 – via Internet Archive.
- Epstein, Dena J. (1944). "Music Publishing in Chicago before 1871: The Firm of Root & Cady, 1858-1871". Notes. 1 (4): 43–59. doi:10.2307/891291. JSTOR 891291 – via JSTOR.
- Epstein, Dena J. (1945). "Music Publishing in Chicago before 1871: Chapter VI, the End of the Firm, 1868-1871". Notes. 3 (1): 80–98, 101–109. doi:10.2307/891291. JSTOR 891291 – via JSTOR.
- Hill, Richard S. (1953). "The Mysterious Chord of Henry Clay Work". Notes. 10 (2): 211–225. doi:10.2307/892874. JSTOR 892874 – via JSTOR.
- Hill, Richard S. (1953). "The Mysterious Chord of Henry Clay Work (Conclusion)". Notes. 10 (3): 367–390. doi:10.2307/892162. JSTOR 892162 – via JSTOR.
- Sussman, Rachel (2001). ""The Carnavalizing of Race"". Etnofoor. 14 (2): 79–88. JSTOR 41396391 – via JSTOR.
- Tribble, Edwin (1967). ""Marching Through Georgia"". The Georgia Review. 21 (4): 423–429. JSTOR 41396391.
Newspaper articles
[edit]- McCray, Florine Thayer (January 19, 1898). "About Henry Clay Work". New Haven Morning Journal and Courier. p. 10. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
- "Hawk-Eyetems". The Willimantic Journal. February 28, 1879. p. 7. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
- "Henry C. Work: A Popular Song Writer, and His Method of Composing". Evening Star. May 28, 1881. p. 3. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
- "Henry Clay Work: The Famous Song Writer Ends His Life in Hartford". New Haven Morning Journal and Courier. June 10, 1884. p. 2. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
- "Herald Notes". The Morning Herald. November 4, 1878. p. 3. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
- "Items of Interest". Narragansett Herald. April 12, 1879. p. 1. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
- "Music in the West: History of Chicago's Progress in the Divine Art". Chicago Tribune. December 18, 1892. Retrieved July 19, 2024 – via Chicagology.
- "Musical Affair". The Manitowoc Tribune. May 9, 1867. p. 2. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
- "My Grandfather's Clock: A Song that was Suddenly Made Popular – Henry C. Work's Melodies". San Marcos Free Press. January 25, 1879. p. 3. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
- "Page 2". Evening Capital. July 18, 1884. p. 2. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
- "Stories Of Old Songs: Marching Through Georgia". Washington Standard. August 13, 1920. p. 6. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
- "Songs for the Million". The Saturday Evening Post. April 12, 1862. p. 4. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
- "The Author of 'Grandfather's Clock'". The Farmer and Mechanic. Vol. 3, no. 7. November 28, 1878. p. 3. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
- "The City: Geo. F. Root". Chicago Tribune. May 10, 1864. p. 4. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
Websites
[edit]- "African-American Soldiers During the Civil War". Library of Congress. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
- "Henry C. Work". Songwriters Hall of Fame. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
- "Henry Clay Work". Song of America. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
- Nelson, Dean (2008). "Marching with Henry C. Work". Museum of Connecticut History. Retrieved July 18, 2024.
- "The Emancipation Proclamation". National Archives. January 28, 2022. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
- "The Upshot Family, a Serio-comic Poem (Paperback)". Walmart. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
External links
[edit]Recordings
[edit]- Recording by the 2nd South Carolina String Band on their 2000 album Hard Road
- Recording by the 97th Regimental String Band on their 1990 album Battlefields and Campfires: Civil War Era Songs, Vol. I
- Recording by Califorf Jackson in the original vernacular lyrics on the 1990 album The Songs of the American Civil War
- Brass instrumental arranged by Randy Edelman from the 1993 film Gettysburg
- Piano instrumental arranged by "Forte Republic"
- String instrumental arranged by Martin Jonas
Sheet music
[edit]- Sheet music from Project Gutenberg
- Original sheet music from Sheet Music Singer
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