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[ARSCLIST] "Follow the Drinking Gourd" website



Dear colleagues:

I hope this item is of interest to some of you and, for libraries, perhaps your patrons as well.

Sincerely,

Joel

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I am happy to announce that my website devoted to the history and cultural history of the American folk song Follow the Drinking Gourd has now launched. The site may be accessed here: www.followthedrinkinggourd.org

Much of the song?s enduring appeal derives from its perceived status as a unique, historical remnant harkening back to the pre-Civil War South ? no other such map songs survive. But the song as it appears in roughly 200 recordings, dozens of songbooks, several award-winning children's books and many other places could not possibly have been sung by escaping slaves. The signature line in the chorus, "for the old man is awaitin' for to carry you to freedom," was written by Lee Hays eighty years after the end of the Civil War.

Previous explanations of the Drinking Gourd song ? whatever their accuracy ? at least had the virtue of being internally consistent and neatly compelling! I look at how the song has been interpreted over the last 10 years ? wrongly, I believe, in virtually all the existing websites, teacher?s guides, books and other media addressing it. I then examine how this flawed research assumed its current dominant position.

I believe that versions of the Drinking Gourd song were sung by black Americans dating back to at least the early 20th century, and likely earlier than that. However, I propose a tentative new theory to explain the song, which holds that there was no Drinking Gourd song complete with map information sung in the antebellum South.

Appendices include a timeline, samples of 23 of the over 200 recorded versions of the song, and an analysis of the adult and children?s books based on the song. There is more to come.

I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Joel Bresler
Independent Researcher




Joel Bresler 250 E. Emerson Rd. Lexington, MA 02420 USA

781-862-4104 (Telephone & FAX)
joel.br@xxxxxxxxxxx
IN CASE OF VERIZON EMAIL PROBLEMS, PLEASE USE MY BACK-UP EMAIL:
joelbresler-at-gmail.com



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