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Down on Me
Traditional Spiritual and Gospel;
ARTIST: Sung by Vera Hall, Livingston, Alabama. Additions from Sims Tartt and group, Boyd, Alabama. from John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip
SHEET MUSIC:
YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RMg0anuc04
CATEGORY: Traditional and Public Domain Gospel
DATE: early 1900s; 1930 recording Eddie Head and His Family
RECORDING INFO: Down on Me
Work, John W. / American Negro Songs and Spirituals, Dover, Bk (1998/1940), p115b
Odetta. My Eyes Have Seen, Vanguard VRS-9059, LP (1960), trk# B.02
Pinckney, Mary. Carawan, Guy & Candie / Sing for Freedom, Sing Out, sof (1990), p235 [1965]
Pinckney, Mary. Carawan, Guy & Candie (eds.) / Ain't You Got A Right to the Tree of Life, Univ. of Georgia, Sof (1989/1966), p137 [1963-65]
Von Schmidt, Eric. Folk Blues of Eric Von Schmidt, Prestige 7717, LP (1963), trk# B.06
OTHER NAMES: French Blues
RELATED TO: Keep Your Hand on the Plow, Hold On; French Blues
SOURCES: Folk Index; Mudcat; Songsters and Saints: Vocal traditions on Race Records, Volume 2 By Paul Oliver
NOTES: "Down on Me" is a traditional spiritual. This version is from Vera Hall, from Livingston, Alabama. Perhaps the best known version was recorded by Janis Joplin. There is a 1930 recording of 'Down on Me', (vocal, guitar and tambourine) by obscure gospel group, Eddie Head and His Family, on the wonderful compilation CD: 'American Primitive Vol 1: Raw Pre-war Gospel' Revenant 206, the late John Fahey's label.
Another field recording (sung by Mary Pickney and Janie Hunter) is on Been in the Storm So Long: A Collection of Spirituals, Folk Tales and Children's Games from Johns Island, SC (Smithsonian Folkways 40031); the transcription of words & music is in Sing for Freedom (p. 235). Other sound recordings are by the Golden Harps (on V.A., Soul of Chicago)and Edna G. Cooke. Variants are also in Work, American Negro Songs (p. 115); Solomon, Honey in the Rock (Mercer University Press, p. 112); and Peters, Lyrics of the Afro-American Spiritual (p. 10).
Down on Me is also sung by Dock Reed at Livingston, Alabama, 1940 on Various Artists, Negro Religious Songs and Services (Rounder CD 1514). The "down on me" stanza was also used in "French Blues," performed by Frank Evans, recorded by John A. Lomax at Parchman Penitentiary, 1936 (on Various Artists, Deep River of Song: Mississippi Saints & Sinners, Rounder CD 11661-1824-2).
DOWN ON ME- Sung by Vera Hall, Livingston, Alabama. Additions from Sims Tartt and group, Boyd, Alabama. from John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip
CHORUS: Down on me, down on me,
Look like everybody in the whole wide world
Down on me.
If I could, I surely would
Stand on the rock where Moses stood,
Look like everybody in the whole wide world
Down on me.
CHORUS:
Oh, Mary, Martha, Luke and John,
All God's prophets dead and gone,
Look like everybody in the whole wide world
Down on me.
CHORUS:
When I get to Heaven, goin' to talk and tell,
How I shunned the gates of Hell,
Look like everybody in the whole wide world
Down on me.
CHORUS:
*Oh, I ain't bin to Heaven but I bin told,
Streets are pearly an' the gates are gold,
Looks like everybody in the whole wide world
Down on me.
CHORUS:
When I get to Heaven, goin' to jump and shout,
Nobody there to turn me out, etc.
CHORUS:
Go down angel, in the north,
All God's children goin' to be lost, etc.
CHORUS:
Go down angel, in the south,
All God's angels goin' to jump and shout, etc.
CHORUS:
When I done travelin' here below,
*Warfare's over an' to Heaven I'll go, etc.
CHORUS:
Sung by Vera Hall, Livingston, Alabama. *Additions from Sims Tartt and group, Boyd, Alabama. from John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip
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