Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings
VII. TRANSCRIPTIONS *
VII. TRANSCRIPTIONS *
Translation
1. A PLANTATION CHANT
It's eighteen hundred forty and four
Christ done open that Heavenly door
And I don't want to stay here no longer;
Christ done made that dead man alive --
And I don't want to stay here no longer.
You ask me to run home,
Little children --
Run home, that sun done roll--
And I don't want to stay here no longer.
It's eighteen hundred forty and six,
Christ has got us a place done fix --
And I don't want to stay here no longer;
It's eighteen hundred forty and seven
Christ done set a table in Heaven --
And I don't want to stay here no longer.
You ask me to run home,
Little children --
Run home, that sun done roll --
And I don't want to stay here no longer.
It's eighteen hundred forty and eight,
Christ done make that crooked way straight --
And I don't want to stay here no longer.
It's eighteen hundred forty and nine,
Christ done turn that water into wine --
And I don't want to stay here no longer.
You ask me to run home,
Little children --
Run home, that sun done roll --
And I don't want to stay here no longer.
It's eighteen hundred forty and ten,
Christ is the mourner's onliest friend --
And I don't want to stay here no longer;
It eighteen hundred forty and eleven,
Christ will be at hte door when we all get to Heaven--
And I don't want to stay here no longer.
You ask me to run home,
Little children --
Run home, that sun done roll --
And I don't want to stay here no longer.
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Joel Chandler Harris has this *asterisked comment - "If these are adaptations from songs the negroes have caught from the whites, their origin is very remote. I have transcribed them literally, and I regard them as in the highest degree characteristic".]
Informal translation from the idiom by Carol Widing. The indentations of the original are not feasible in this format.
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