Songs were a central part of slave culture. Some songs were religious; others focused on daily concerns. In the following WPA interview, the ex-slave Irene Williams discusses and performs two of the songs she sang as a slave. (3:10)
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Interview with Irene Williams, Rome, Mississippi, October 1940. "Voices from the Days of Slavery" website: < http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/voices/index.html > American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
Transcript
JOHN A. LOMAX Mrs. Irene Williams continues her singing on this record.
IRENE WILLIAMS Another very interesting thing in my early childhood was the Negro baptizing. All the candidates for baptism were standing on the bank of the pond over in Mr. Bailey’s pasture. Dressed in long white gowns with white caps on their heads ready to be buried in baptism. And the song as they were being led into the water by the minister was this:
Keep Your Lamp a-Trimmed
Oh, brother, keep your lamp a-trimmed and a-burning.
Keep your lamp a-trimmed and a-burning.
Keep your lamp a-trimmed and a-burning.
Just like the light of God.
Oh, sister, keep your lamp a-trimmed and a-burning.
Keep your lamp a-trimmed and a-burning.
Keep your lamp a-trimmed and a-burning.
Just like the light of God.
Oh, mourners, keep your lamp a-trimmed and a-burning.
Keep your lamp a-trimmed and a-burning.
Keep your lamp a-trimmed and a-burning.
Just like the light of God.
Oh, sinners, keep your lamp a-trimmed and a-burning.
Keep your lamp a-trimmed and a-burning.
Keep your lamp a-trimmed and a-burning.
Just like the light of God.
[spoken] And another thing that I remember on the plantation that we hadn’t mentioned before was this churn song, [sung by] Little Emma, the baby’s nurse. After the baby was tucked in bed was often called into the kitchen to do the churning. And this is the song that she sang to the milk:
Come Butter Come
Come butter come.
Mistress standing at the gate waiting for the butter cake to,
Come butter come.
Come butter come, Mistress a-waiting.
Come butter come, Mistress a-waiting.
Come butter come, the Mrs. a-waiting.
Come butter come, the Mrs. a-waiting.
Mrs. a-waiting for the butter cake to,
Come butter come.
Come butter come.
Mrs. a-waiting.
Mrs. a-waiting for the butter cake to,
Come butter come.
Mrs. a-waiting.
Come butter come.
Mrs. a-waiting.
[spoken] And this chant would go on through until the churning was through. And the rich golden butter would come into a solid cake on the top of the milk.
Source: Library of Congress, Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center.