M 1670 A42 1944 PUBLISHER'S FOREWORD SLAVE SONGS OF THE UNITED STATES is one of the great documents of America. Published shortly after the end of the Civil War, the songs were collected during the war, mostly from among Negroes living on the Islands off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina. This new edition of SLAVE SONGS OF THE UNITED STATES is published at a most appropriate moment in our history. The tremendous tasks undertaken by the Emancipation Proclamation and Reconstruction are closer to fulfillment than at any other time. There is renewed interest in the life and culture of the Negro slaves. In particular, there is interest in the music of that period -- since so much contemporary musical expression of jazz, swing, rhythm-and-blues, rock-and-roll, and modern gospel song has its roots in these songs. Because of this, we have not attempted to "translate" the original songs from the transcribed dialect into a more commonly-accepted usage. Rather, we believe that those who will sing these songs will make their own adaptations of the words. Similarly, the introduction has been photographically reproduced from the original edition. This section has remained intact, even to the archaic spelling of the word "Negro" with a small "n.” Today, when the songs of the Freedom Movement are heard in the churches and on the highways of the South, these songs serve as an inspiration and a memory of the living heart of history. SLAVE SONGS OF THE UNITED STATES The complete original collection (136 songs) collected and compiled by OAK PUBLICATIONS Guitar chords and music editing Jerry Silverman Paste-Up and Production Jean Hammond Illustrations selected by Irwin Silber # M 1670 1965 Oak Publications Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 6522693 FOREWORD The Slave Songs are in large measure a reflection of the suffering and deprivation the Negro slaves had to endure before their emancipation. the wild, sad strains tell, as the sufferers themselves could, of crushed hopes, keen sorrow, and a dull, daily misery which covered them as hopelessly as the fog from the rice swamps." They achieved in song what was denied them in real life: salvation and release from the daily, inhuman torture they had to endure at the hands of their white masters. Strange indeed, that these identical Slave Songs should become the bedrock out of which our American music grew. The fructifying influence of the "sperichels" had its effect on no less a composer than Anton Dvorak, a Bohemian by birth, who came to this country in the late 90's, wrote the "New World" Symphony, in which he used Negro folk songs; this in turn became the beacon-light for the native American composer whom he awakened to the realization that in the Negro folk songs was embedded a rich source of inspiration. The Slave Songs were first collected in book form by Allen, Ware and Garrison, in 1867. They appeared in their natural, melodic state without accompaniment, or any indication of chords. Since then they have remained in their pristine state, most of them as oddities encased in the archives of folklore societies. The venture was, according to the editors, the first attempt "to collect and preserve their (the Negro people's) melodies." For the most part, the melodies were "taken down...from the lips of the colored people themselves...some may even appear as variants of older melodies acquired in darkest Africa, and brought here by the slaves. As for the words, only one set was arranged by the editors to each melody; for the rest, one must make them fit the best he can, as the negroes themselves do.' My aim, at present, is to bring the Slave Songs out into the light, to release them from their one-hundred-year imprisonment by adding piano accompaniments to them. Singers can now sing the songs, with the comforting support of a piano background. The question arises as to what would be the most appropriate type of accompaniment. There are generally two kinds: the arranger's and the composer's. The former writes a simple, unobtrusive harmonic background that permits the melody to soar freely, while the latter creates an original accompaniment that is more a reflection of the composer's mood and feeling engendered by the melody. The harmony becomes more colorful, with the added danger however that the simplicity and charm of the original melody may be lost amidst a welter of 'modernisms'. In these harmonizations I have tried to steer a middle course: I have allowed my imagination to expand within the bounds of reason and restraint. I have never lost sight of the simplicity of melody and words, which are of utmost importance in the Slave Songs.. Nonetheless, modernisms may creep in as they do, very subtly. Perhaps, in future editions, other writers will refashion the songs in quite different harmonies, but the innate beauty of the Slave Songs themselves will always emerge through any kind of accompaniment. They are a tribute to a people who, one hundred years after their emancipation from slavery, are still fighting to secure the rights and privileges due every American citizen, regardless of the color of his skin. IRVING SCHLEIN |