Follow the Drinkin' Gourd

"Follow the Drinkin' Gourd" is an American folk song first published in 1928. The "Drinking Gourd" is another name for the Big Dipper asterism. Folklore has it that fugitive slaves in the United States used it as a point of reference so they would not get lost.^[1][2] According to legend, the song Follow the Drinking Gourd was used by a conductor of the Underground Railroad, called Peg Leg Joe, to guide some fugitive slaves. While the song may possibly refer to some lost fragment of history, the origin and context remain a mystery. One source asserts that it was a favorite of Harriet Tubman, who sang it while leading slaves north.^[3] A more recent source challenges the authenticity of the claim that the song was used to help slaves escape to the North and to freedom.^[4]

Polaris, the North Star, is found by imagining a line from Merak (β) to Dubhe (α) and then extending it for five times the distance after Dubhe (α) to Polaris (α Urasae Minoris).

The moniker drinking gourd is a reference to the Big Dipper asterism. Two of the stars in the Big Dipper line up very closely with and point to Polaris. Polaris is a circumpolar star, and so it is always seen nearly exactly in the direction of true north. Hence, according to a popular myth, all slaves had to do was look for the Drinking Gourd (the Big Dipper) and follow it to the North Star (Polaris) north to freedom.

History

Texas Folklore Society and H. B. Parks

Follow the Drinking Gourd was published by the Texas Folklore Society in 1928. (The cover spells the title ""Foller de Drinkin' Go'ud.")^[1] It had been discovered by H. B. Parks, an entomologist and amateur folklorist. According to the article by Parks, Peg Leg Joe, an operative of the Underground Railroad, passing himself off as a journeyman laborer, traveled from plantation to plantation in the vicinity north of Mobile, Alabama. His laborer's profession was a cover; his real purpose was providing escape routes for the slaves encoded in the lyrics of the song: up the Tombigbee River, over the divide to the Tennessee River, then downriver to where the Tennessee and Ohio rivers meet in Paducah, Kentucky.^[1][2]

Lee Hays

In 1947, Lee Hays, of the Almanac Singers and The Weavers, published an arrangement of Drinking Gourd in the People's Songs Bulletin. Hays, who had become familiar with much of the African-American music and culture,^[5] told fellow Weaver Pete Seeger that he had heard parts of the song from an elderly black "nurse" known as Aunty Laura, while still a child. Seeger later reported that the melody came from Aunty Laura, while the lyrics originally came from anthologies – most likely the Parks version reprinted in a Lomax songbook in 1934.^[6]

Randy Sparks / John Woodum

In 1955, singer Randy Sparks heard Drinking Gourd from a septuagenarian street singer named John Woodum. The Woodum lyrics diverged greatly from the Parks and Hays versions in that there was no geographical information; instead, the lyrics were designed to be inspirational. Sparks would later found The New Christy Minstrels, who would go on to record an iconic version of the song with a derivation of the Woodum lyrics.^[1][7] It is possible that the Woodum lyrics were created separately from the Hays or Parks versions, and thus do not necessarily cast doubt on those versions' authenticity.

Challenges

Some disagree with these conclusions as to the song's meaning. James Kelley disputes this viewpoint in The Journal of Popular Culture.^[4]

Lyrics

Parks Lyrics[8] VERSE 1 When the sun come back, When the firs' quail call, Then the time is come Foller the drinkin' gou'd. CHORUS Foller the drinkin' gou'd, Foller the drinkin' gou'd; For the ole man say, "Foller the drinkin' gou'd." VERSE 2 The riva's bank am a very good road, The dead trees show the way, Lef' foot, peg foot goin' on, Foller the drinkin' gou'd. CHORUS VERSE 3 The riva ends a-tween two hills, Foller the drinkin' gou'd; 'Nuther riva on the other side Follers the drinkin' gou'd. CHORUS VERSE 4 Wha the little riva Meet the grea' big un, The ole man waits-- Foller the drinkin' gou'd.

Hays Lyrics[9] VERSE 1 When the sun comes back, and the first quail calls, Follow the drinking gourd The old man is awaiting for to carry you to freedom If you follow the drinking gourd. CHORUS Follow the drinking gourd, Follow the drinking gourd, For the old man is awaiting for to carry you to freedom If you follow the drinking gourd. VERSE 2 The river bank will make a mighty good road The dead trees show you the way Left foot, peg foot, traveling on Follow the drinking gourd. CHORUS VERSE 3 The river ends between two hills, Follow the drinking gourd, There's another river on the other side, Follow the drinking gourd. CHORUS VERSE 4 Where the great big river meets the little river Follow the drinking gourd The old man is awaiting for to carry you to freedom If you follow the drinking gourd.

Woodum lyrics[10] VERSE 1 When the sun goes down And the first quail call Follow the drinkin' gourd Then it's time, children to come one and all and Follow the drinkin' gourd CHORUS Follow the drinkin' gourd, Follow the drinkin' gourd There's a roadsign in heaven On that muddy path to freedom Follow the drinkin' gourd VERSE 2 Pegfoot gonna show you the way Follow the drinkin' gourd Keep on movin' the Old Man say Follow the drinkin' gourd CHORUS VERSE 3 Think I hear the angels say Follow the drinkin' gourd Stars in the heaven gonna show you the way Follow the drinkin' gourd. CHORUS

Sparks Lyrics[11] (As sung by the New Christy Minstrels) CHORUS 1 Follow the drinkin' gourd, we gonna Follow the drinkin' gourd. Keep on travelin' that muddy road to freedom, Follow the drinkin' gourd VERSE 1 Think I heard the angels say, Follow the drinkin' gourd. Stars in the heaven gonna show you the way, Follow the drinkin' gourd. Step by step keep a'travelin' on Follow the drinkin' gourd. Sleep in the holler 'til the daylight is gone, Follow the drinkin' gourd CHORUS 2 Follow the drinkin' gourd, we gonna Follow the drinkin' gourd. Keep on travelin' that muddy road to freedom, Follow the drinkin' gourd. VERSE 2 There's a good day comin' and it won't be long, Follow the drinkin' gourd. All God's children gotta sing this song, Follow the drinkin' gourd. Follow that river 'til the clouds roll by, Follow the drinkin' gourd. Keep on movin' better look to the sky, Follow the drinkin' gourd. CHORUS 3 Follow the drinkin' gourd, we gonna Follow the drinkin' gourd. There's a little bit of heaven in that muddy road to freedom, Follow the drinkin' gourd. Step by step keep a'travelin' on, Follow the drinkin' gourd.

See also

Songs of the Underground Railroad Harriet Tubman Journal of Popular Culture

Lee Hays Pete Seeger The New Christy Minstrels

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Joel Bresler. "Collection Story". Follow the Drinking Gourd: A Cultural History. followthedrinkinggourd.org. http://www.followthedrinkinggourd.org/Collection_Story.htm. Retrieved 2011-06-18. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Follow the Drinking Gourd". Owen Sound's Black History. http://www.osblackhistory.com/drinkinggourd.php. Retrieved 2011-06-18. 
3. ^ Wenner, Hild E. and Freilicher, Elizabeth (1987) Here's to the Women: 100 songs for and about American women Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, NY, p. 51-52, ISBN 081562400X
4. ^ ^{a b} Kelley, James. Song, Story, or History: Resisting Claims of a Coded Message in the African American Spiritual "Follow the Drinking Gourd". The Journal of Popular Culture 41.2 (April 2008): 262-80.
5. ^ Hays "used to visit Negro churches and sit in the back pew, and he used to visit the homes of Negro farmers, soaking up the richest musical sounds and harmonies that have ever come our way."
6. ^ Joel Bresler. "What the Lyrics Mean". Follow the Drinking Gourd: A Cultural History. followthedrinkinggourd.org. http://www.followthedrinkinggourd.org/What_The_Lyrics_Mean.htm#Lomax_song. Retrieved 2011-06-18. 
7. ^ This version included the line "Think I heard the angels say, Stars in the heaven gonna show you the way," which would appear in the New Christy Minstrels version of the song, sung by Gayle Caldwell.
8. ^ Joel Bresler. "What the Lyrics Mean (Parks)". Follow the Drinking Gourd: A Cultural History. followthedrinkinggourd.org. http://www.followthedrinkinggourd.org/What_The_Lyrics_Mean.htm#Parks. Retrieved 2011-06-18. 
9. ^ Joel Bresler. "What the Lyrics Mean (Hays)". Follow the Drinking Gourd: A Cultural History. followthedrinkinggourd.org. http://www.followthedrinkinggourd.org/What_The_Lyrics_Mean.htm#Hays. Retrieved 2011-06-18. 
10. ^ Joel Bresler. "What the Lyrics Mean (Woodum)". Follow the Drinking Gourd: A Cultural History. followthedrinkinggourd.org. http://www.followthedrinkinggourd.org/What_The_Lyrics_Mean.htm#Woodum. Retrieved 2011-06-18. 
11. ^ Joel Bresler. "What the Lyrics Mean (Sparks)". Follow the Drinking Gourd: A Cultural History. followthedrinkinggourd.org. http://www.followthedrinkinggourd.org/What_The_Lyrics_Mean.htm#Sparks. Retrieved 2011-06-18. 

External links

• Follow the Drinkin' Gourd MP3 featuring Roger McGuinn and Nedra Talley Ross (of The Ronettes) at the Folk Den
• The New Christy Minstrels & Gene Clark-1963-Part lll (The Muddy Road to Freedom: Follow the Drinking Gourd) Live at Fordham University