This is the text of a song collected in the Port Royal Islands, near Beaufort, South Carolina; it was published in Allen, Slave Songs of the United States, 1867. The call-and-response chorus "An' a Heaven bell a-ring and praise God" would be sung after every line. The song was used as one of the "fast" rowing songs, (above the average of 24 strokes per minute?) according to the arranger, C. P. Ware. New verse lines were probably inserted every time this song was used. The song was also used as a "shout."
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