Spirituals: Coded Language to Plan Escape or Clandestine Meetings (Continued)
Joel Bresler expands on the lyrics and gives explanation of " Foller de Drinkin' Gou'd" which can be seen in Table 6.1 below (Bresler, 2008-2012, n. p.)
H.B. Parks' Version of the Spiritual
"Foller De Drinking Gou'd"
| Lyrics | Explanation |
|---|---|
| VERSE 1 | Taken together, this verse suggests escaping in the spring and heading North to freedom. |
| When the sun come back, | Refers to the winter or spring. The days are getting longer, and the angle of the sun is higher each day at noon. |
| When the firs' quail call, | Refers to the breeding season. Quail in Alabama start calling to each other in early to mid-April. |
| Then the time is come | |
| Foller the drinkin' gou'd. | The "drinkin' gou'd" alludes to the hollowed out gourd used by slaves (and other rural Americans) as a water dipper. Used here it is a code name for the Big Dipper star formation, which points to Polaris, the Pole Star, and North. |
| CHORUS | |
| Foller the drinkin' gou'd, | |
| Foller the drinkin' gou'd, | |
| For the ole man say, | "Ole man" is nautical slang for "Captain" (or "Commanding Officer.") According to Parks, the Underground Railroad operative Peg Leg Joe was formerly a sailor. |
| "Foller the drinkin' gou'd." | |
| VERSE 2 | Describes how to follow the route, from Mobile, Alabama north. |
| The riva's bank am a very good road, | The first river in the song is the Tombigbee, which empties into Mobile Bay. Its headwaters extend into northeastern Mississippi. |
| The dead trees show the way, | According to Parks, Peg Leg Joe marked trees and other landmarks "with charcoal or mud of the outline of a human left foot and a round spot in place of the right foot." (1) |
| Lef' foot, peg foot goin' on, | |
| Foller the drinkin' gou'd. | |
| CHORUS | |
| VERSE 3 | Describes the route through northeastern Mississippi and into Tennessee. |
| The riva ends a-tween two hills, | The headwaters of the Tombigbee River end near Woodall Mountain, the high point in Mississippi and an ideal reference point for a map song. The "two hills" could mean Woodall Mountain and a neighboring lower hill. But the mountain itself evidently has a twin cone profile and so could represent both hills at once. |
| Foller the drinkin' gou'd; | |
| 'Nuther riva on the other side | The river on the other side of the hills is the Tennessee, which extends outward in an arc above Woodall Mountain. The left-hand side proceeds virtually due north to the Ohio river border with Illinois - definitely the preferred route, since the right hand side meanders back into northern Alabama and then proceeds up into Tennessee. |
| Follers the drinkin' gou'd. | |
| CHORUS | |
| VERSE 4 | Describes the end of the route, in Paducah, Kentucky. |
| Wha the little riva | When the Tennessee... |
| Meet the grea' big un, | ...meets the Ohio River. The Tennessee and Ohio rivers come together in Paducah, KY, opposite southern Illinois. |
| The ole man waits-- | Per one of Parks's informants, the runaways would be met on the banks of the Ohio by the old sailor. Of course, the chances that Peg Leg Joe himself would be there to meet every escapee (as depicted literally in the children's books) are quite small. |
| Foller the drinkin' gou'd. |
Dorothy Scarborough recounts how the eighty-year-old head of the Baptist Publication Society for African Americans told her in the early 1920s how " Steal Away" became a signal for a secret religious meeting during the slave era (Scarborough 1925, 22-23). Russell Ames believes that "Steal Away"-reportedly sung during Nat Turner's slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1831-may have been composed by the charismatic Turner himself (Ames 1955, 151).
Other songs, which various writers link to escaping slavery, include "Steal Away to Jesus," " Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," " Seeking for a City," " Run to Jesus," " Brother Moses Go to de Promised Land ," and " Oh Sinner, You'd Better Get Ready. Slaves likely gave old songs new, perhaps detailed lyrics that outlined specific points of departure or times when escape attempts were being planned (Southern 1997, 144). The vast majority of these songs were "systematically" destroyed, along with all of the other Underground Railroad records (Southern 1997, 144)-the risks of discovery were too significant. Nonetheless, just as the vague writings of Nostradamus can be used to "prove" just about any prophetic notion in recent years, it is possible to read too much into the spirituals.
Go Down, Moses
Dark and thorny is de pathway
Where de pilgrim makes his ways;
But beyond dis vale of sorrow
Lie de fields of endless days.
Booker T. Washington
The plantation songs known as "Spirituals" are the spontaneous outburst of intense religious fervor. They breathe a child-like faith in a personal Father, and glow with the hope that the children of bondage will ultimately pass out of the wilderness of slavery into the land of freedom.