An Introduction to America’s Music

102 PART 1 | FROM COLONIZATION THROUGH THE CIVIL WAR

date: unknown

performers: The McIntosh County

Shouters; Lawrence McKiver, songster

genre: shout song

meter: duple

form: strophic

Listening Guide 4.3 “Jubilee” ANONYMOUS

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

• call and response


• habanera rhythm on broomstick


• polyrhythm of broomstick, hands, and feet

timing section text comments

0:00 So I’m gon’ sing one of the slave

song’ they like to sing, just after

they come out of slave’—they sang

this song, “Jubilee in the Mornin’.”

Spoken introduction by the songster.

0:10 stanza 1 Songster: Jubilee, jubilee

Basers: Oh, my Lord

Songster: Jubilee in the mornin’

Basers: My Lord, jubilee!

The songster sings the call, which changes in

each stanza, and the basers respond with an

unvarying refrain.

0:20 stanza 2 Jubilee in the evenin’

(Oh, my Lord)

Jubilee in the mornin’

(My Lord, jubilee! etc.)

The baser’s habanera rhythm, which began

tentatively in stanza 1, grows forceful and

steady. Hand claps and foot stomps become

more audible.

0:29 stanza 3 Jubilee, jubilee

Jubilee, jubilee

(From here to the end, the refrain is not shown

in the text column.)

0:38 stanza 4 Walkin’ members, walkin’

Walkin’ on your Jesus

0:46 stanza 5 Shout, my children, ’cause yo’ free

My God brought you liberty

0:55 stanza 6 Call me a Sunday Christian

Call me a Monday devil

1:03 stanza 7 Don’ care what you call me

So long Jesus love me

1:12 The songster repeats the earlier stanzas in a

new order: 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 6, 7.

note Recorded on St. Simons Island, Georgia, by Alan Lomax in 1983.

Listen & Refl ect

1. Compare “Jubilee” with the other listening selections in this chapter. What do they have
   in common, and how do they differ?

CD 1.14

172028_04_086-105_r2_vs.indd 102 23/01/13 10:07 AM