An Introduction to America’s Music

CHAPTER 6 | SONGS OF SOCIAL REFORM AND WAR 155

Listening Guide 6.4 “Get Off the Track!”^ JESSE HUTCHINSON JR.

timing section text comments

And the tracks of “The

Magician”

Are but Rail Roads to perdition.

Pull up the Rails!

Pull up the Rails!

Pull up the Rails! Emancipation

Cannot rest on such foundation.

1:47 stanza 5 All true friends of Emancipation,

Haste to Freedom’s Rail Road

Station;

Quick into the Cars get seated,

All is ready, and completed.

Put on the Steam!

Put on the Steam!

Put on the Steam! all are crying,

And the Liberty Flags are fl ying.

2:14 stanza 6 Hear the mighty car wheels

humming!

Now look out! The Engine’s

coming!

Church and Statesmen! Hear the

thunder!

Clear the track! or you’ll fall

under.

Get off the track!

Get off the track!

Get off the track! all are singing,

While the Liberty Bell is ringing.

An accelerando adds excitement as the song

nears its end.

Listen & Refl ect

1. Steam-powered locomotives became common in the United States only gradually during
   the 1830s and thus were still somewhat novel in 1844. They were by far the largest, fast-
   est, and most powerful machines in the experience of most Americans. How, then, might
   the train imagery have affected the impression the song made on the Hutchinsons’ audi-
   ences? What sorts of images might a present-day song use to make a similar impression
   on today’s audiences?


2. Given the obvious racism that pervades minstrelsy, what are the implications of Jesse
   Hutchinson’s use of a minstrel tune for a song promoting the abolition of slavery?


3. In what ways does this song from 1844 resemble the 1768 broadside ballad known as “The
   Liberty Song” (see LG 2.1)?

CD 1.20

172028_06_132-161_r3_ko.indd 155 23/01/13 8:19 PM