(月) Sister Mary Had-a But One Child

Roland Hayes (1887-1977)

★Sister Mary Had-a but one child,
Born in Bethlehem.
And Every time-a the baby cried,
"She'd-a rock Him in the weary land,
She'd-a rock Him in the weary land.

O, Three wise men-a to Jerusalem came,
They traveled very far,
They said, "Where is He, born King of The Jews,
For we have a-seen a-His star?"
King Herod's heart was troubled,
He marveled, but his face was grim.
He said, " Tell me where the Child may be found,
I'll go and worship him,
I'll go and worship him."

★ Repeat

An angel appeared to Joseph,
And gave him-a this-a command.
"Arise ye, take-a your wife and Child,
Go flee into Egypt land.
For yonder comes old Herod,
A wicked man and bold.
He's slayin' all the chillun'
From six to eight-a days old,
From six to eight-a days old."

★ Repeat

訳；Sister Maryにはベツレヘム（キリスト生誕の地）で生まれた子どもが一人いました。その子どもはいつも泣いていたので、彼女は疲れきった土地で子どもをあやしていました。三人 の賢い男がエルサレムから広く旅をしてきました。彼らは”Jews はどこにいるんだ？彼の星を見ることが出来る？”といいました。
King Herodの心は病気で、彼は苦しみ、気味の悪い顔をしていた。彼は”どこに行けば子どもを見つけることが出来るか教えてくれ、私は彼に祈りを捧げたいんだ”と言った。
★くり返し★
Josephの前に天使が現われ、彼にこう命令しました。”起き上がって、そして妻と子どもをつれてエジプトへ行き自由になりなさい。ずうずうしく悪い男であるHerodがあそこにむかってくる。彼は六歳から八歳までの子ども達を殺すだろう”
★くり返し★

Why did blacks sing this song?
This song is called a spiritual. Spirituals are made by blacks, mostly by slaves.
The song has two meanings. First, we may understand that they are good slaves,because they followed their master and sang a story taught by the master. However, since Jesus was a slave, too, they wanted to be free like Jesus.
Since the slaves couldn't go against their master, they used an analogy in the song to express their desire to be free.

In this way, by singing a song about Christnianity, they resisted their master.

The song includes two languages. First, it is influenced by African languages, as in the expression "had-a" and "time-a". If we use influences of an African language like this, we can make the rhythm easily. Second, there is English which is in the bible written by the translators of King James. For example,"ye" and "yonder".
These words mean "you," and "over there." In this way, the song mixed several cultures. So this song is interesting, I think.

Shoko Fukuzato

Introduction

This song is written about a story from the Bible. To be specific, the story in the song begins with the birth of Jesus Christ. The line, "She'd-a rock Him in the weary land," brings to mind Sister Mary cradling Jesus Christ in her arms. So, the song is a peaceful song and so it has a berceuse rhythm. "Berceuse" is a musical form similar to the lullaby. Moreover, the rhythm of the song is different from American songs. In general, America songs are up-beat, however, the song's melody begins on the down beat. Actually, emphasizing the downbeat is an African style. The writer of the song isn't known, but Roland Hayes arranged it. He says, "I was born just twenty-four years after the Emancipation Proclamation." So it seems that the atmosphere of the slave days remained during his youth. Later, however, he took university studies with government support. Therefore, he gained skills for writing music. He thought that the song and other spirituals was as important as the famous music of Bach.

This information comes from a book written by Roland Hayes: My Favorite Spirituals

Erika Matsuda

Here is a link to the song: Sister Mary Had-a But One Child

The singer and arranger, Roland Hayes.



Hayes's parents were slaves. Thus, Roland Hayes was "African-American." The Emancipation Proclamation (1868) is a law that freed the slaves. Roland Hayes was born only 24 years later.

Here is the information in Japanese of "African-American".

This page explains the life of Roland Hayes. Listen to a story about Roland Hayes's life.

Although his parents used to be slaves, through his own efforts, he became "the first black male to win acclaim in America and Europe as a concert artist." He couldn't find a professional manager, because nobody would help him in America. So, he went to England, where he was invited to sing before the King and Queen of England. Because of his fame in Europe, he went back to America, where he was finally accepted.

Ayumi Yokoyama


The story behind the song

African-Americans were taken into America from Africa as slaves, and wanted to escape northward from the South where they were slaves. In fact, some people organized the network called "Underground Railroad," and the network helped slaves to escape to the North and Canada.
(This information comes from this page.)














(This map comes from this page.)

African-Americans who were slaves sang spirituals on themes from the Bible, especially about the Jewish people, who were also slaves.
The song describes the story of "the Massacre of the Innocents" in The Gospel According to Matthew. "The Massacre of the innocents" is an episode in which King Herod heard that new King was born in Bethlehem and commanded his officers to kill all boys of age 2 and under because he was afraid that his authority would be challenged by the arrival of a new king.











(Here is the information in Japanese of "the Massacre of the innocents")

Then, Joseph and Maria, who were Jews, went to Egypt not to be killed their son, Jesus.
At that time, Jews were ruled by the Roman Empire, but they escaped and went to Egypt. (This information comes from this page.)
















(This map comes from this page.)
The circumstance of Jews during the Roman Empire is similar to that of the African-Americans. That is to say, what Jews escaped to Egypt means what African-American escape northwaed in this song.

Therefore, African-Americans sympathized with the history of the Jews in the Bible, and they used the stories in the lyrics of the spirituals.

Yumi Higashi