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... ed all their songs by ear, they often strayed into wholly new versions, which sometimes became popular, and entirely banished the others. The second way writing a spiritual is to combine a variety of other hymns and spirituals to make a completely different song. The Staple Singers do exactly this in the song This Train. (found on tape. ) This train is bound for glory, this train. This train is bound for glory, this train. None goin to ride it but the rights and the holy.
This Train bound for glory, this train This train aint carry no gamblers, this train. This train aint carry goin to carry no gamblers, this train, No crab shooters no midnight ramblers. This train bound for glory, this train This train goin carry my mother, this train. This train goin carry my mother, this train. The same train that carry my sisters and brothers. This train bound for glory, this train.
This train leavin in the morning, this train. This train leavin in the morning, this train. Get a bit of money, a new day is dawning, this train. This train bound for glory, this train.
This train is bound for glory, this train. This train is bound for glory, this train. This Train bound for glory, this train, this train... This song alternates between major and minor modes.
Which gives it a feeling of the seriousness of this subject. Its time signature is 4 / 4. This Train leans heavily on phrases from several spirituals. (Dr. Boyer, 1991) Im not quite which spirituals this phrases are coming from but this is a good demonstration of combining other spirituals to convey a meaning. The Staple Singers are trying to warn others to be ready for the Gospel Train. Songs similar to this one about trains would have been used by the slaves for two different reasons.
The first is to remind themselves that God is coming for them and they better be ready. The thought of heaven kept many slaves going, they couldnt wait to see God and to be free. The second reason for the slaves to sing this song was to notify others about when the Underground Railroad would be coming through. The Underground Railroad would take the salves to safety so that they would be free. They would alter the song slightly so covey the message of how many people, and where and when the train would arrive. By simply substituting some words in one of the verses others would pick up on the message.
This train is bound for freedom, this train. This train is bound for freedom, this train. Down by the river, leaving in the morning, This train bound for glory, this train. It would not be this obvious most of the time but the message would be hidden the song similar to this. Messages were hidden in songs for reasons other than nothing about the underground railroad. Messages were also hidden in familiar songs to send messages to each other without the masters and slave keepers finding out.
The final class of spirituals should be mentioned, which originated with the folk preacher and were taught to the congregation by him or the deacon. Black ministers took seriously the notions of Dr. Isaac Watts: Ministers are to cultivate gifts of preaching and prayer through study and diligence; they ought also to cultivate the capacity of composing spiritual songs and exercise it along with the other parts of worship, preaching and prayer. The congregations contributed their share to the composition of these songs. Sometimes an excited preacher would be carried away by his emotion and compose a song during a sermon. More than one contemporary writer witnessed such occurrences.
The final way to write a spiritual was to create a new one from scratch. This was not done often since there always seems to be a little piece of one song in another. Preachers often would make up these new songs on the spot during their sermon as the spirit filled them. Many spirituals are made about sad events in black history. Africville is a good example of this.
For more than 120 years, Africville was home to a community of black families in Nova Scotia. Located on the shores of the Bedford Basin, Africville was part of the city of Halifax. It was a working class community where almost everyone owned their own homes, few were on welfare and unlocked doors were common. The people of Africville worked as stone masons, domestics, railway porters and stevedores. The values were family, religious faith, self-reliance and hard work. Although the residents of Africville paid taxes, the city of Halifax did not provide basic services such as running water, sewage or paved roads.
Still, the community survived with its own school, church and post office. For generations, children had a place to play, families were close-knit... and there was music. No home in Africville was without a piano or an organ. There were guitar players, fiddlers, drummers and some people even made their own instruments. You could get a whole concert going in a split second.
Africville was an exceptional community and a symbol for the struggle against racism and segregation in Nova Scotia. Although it was seen as a haven for the dispossessed, it was a community where most of the residents could trace their kinship back to the founding families of a century before. However, as the spiritual roots of Africville deepened, the city of Halifax was also growing. In time, new development brought such neighbours as a bone-meal fertilizer plant, a slaughterhouse, the city dump and eventually, the railway. The railway lines were built right through the center of the community, dividing it forever, physically, and perhaps even spiritually. Racism and the residents' lack of economic and political influence made the area a choice site for city service facilities not wanted In the 1960 's, Halifax's city government decided to expropriate the land and demolish the houses, destroying the community.
Most residents opposed the decision but the city had its way and the community was scattered. Residents, many of whom were uncertain about their legal right to the land, were simply paid off and left. To the outsider, Africville was a downtrodden community but to those who lived within its borders, it was a viable and desirable place to live. Now, more than thirty years later, the site of the community of Africville is a stark, under-utilized park. web Deep down inside thats where my heart is, and the tears that I cry are a river of dreams of my babys eyes and I realize there a place inside. We know this world can shatter your heart tear you apart, if you dont find your way I close my eyes, and my heart has wings to fly when I return to that place dead in side.
This spiritual was created to convey the message of what the people of Africville went through. Bibliography:
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