Jump to content

Kingdom Coming

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the Civil War song. For the Emeli Sandé EP, see Kingdom Coming (EP).
The original 1862 sheet music cover by Root & Cady.
The composer Henry Clay Work in a W. S. B. Matthews engraving.

"Kingdom Coming", or "The Year of Jubilo", is an American Civil War-era song written and composed by Henry Clay Work (1832–1884) in 1861. It was published by Root & Cady in 1862 and first advertised in April by the popular minstrel group Christy's Minstrels.

Narrated by Confederate slaves on a plantation, "Kingdom Coming" recounts their impending freedom after their master disguises himself as a contraband and flees to avoid being captured by Union troops. It is a minstrel song, written in a creole similar to African American Vernacular English, spoken by slaves, and intended to be performed by blackface troupes.

Work was an avowed abolitionist and composed numerous pro-Union songs during the Civil War such as "Marching Through Georgia" (1865) and "Babylon is Fallen" (1863)—the sequel to "Kingdom Coming". The song portended the then-President Abraham Lincoln's issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, an executive order liberating all slaves in Confederate territory.

"Kingdom Coming" was one of the most successful Union songs, renowned as a favorite among Black Unionists and minstrel troupes. It amassed sheet music sales of 75,000 copies. The publisher George Frederick Root claimed that it was his firm's most successful piece "for nearly a year and a half" and "the most successful patriotic song in the West".[1] It prominently features as a lively instrumental in Ken Burns' eponymous documentary on the Civil War and in numerous twentieth-century cartoons, such as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Billy Boy.

Background[edit]

Work as a songwriter[edit]

George Frederick Root of the Root & Cady publishing firm, who Work collaborated with throughout the Civil War.

Henry Clay Work arose from a "staunch abolitionist" family.[2] His father Alanson conducted extensive welfare work for slaves, notably aiding 4,000 fugitive slaves attain freedom via the Underground Railroad, on which his house was situated.[3] The humanitarian work the young Henry was exposed to left an indelible impression on him as he cultivated profound sympathy for the oppressed African American population.[4] He spent innumerable hours among freedmen and gradually learned their dialect, which would greatly enhance his songwriting capability.[5] His exposition to minstrelsy and African American performers also influenced his writing style and its authenticity to slaves' lifestyle and concerns.[6] In 1854 Work settled in Chicago to work as a printer. In his spare time, he wrote songs for the minstrel troupe Christy's Minstrels, the same troupe that initiated Stephen Foster's career.[7]

Once the Civil War erupted in 1861, Work diverted his songwriting efforts to aiding the Union effort, seeking to arouse morale among troops in a time when they lacked antislavery vigor. Music was to remedy this dispirited attitude, providing a space to amplify African Americans' sentiments and arouse national sympathy for them.[8] Work began working with another notable songwriter George Frederick Root of the local publishing house Root & Cady, and embarked on a pervasive advertising campaign to promote his compositions.[9] "Kingdom Coming" was his first major song supporting this cause, published by Root in 1862.[10][8] The campaign paid off as Root & Cady would observe its highest sales during Work's collaboration.[11][12]

An 1864 reproduction of the Emancipation Proclamation by W. Roberts.

Work published twenty-nine songs throughout the war's duration, earning him widespread acclaim as one of the Union's national poets.[10][13] A writer for the Hartford Courant gazette observed:

Our country has produced few songwriters whose works have been more widely sung than Mr. Work. Some of his productions have not only been on the lips of nearly every man, women and child in America, but with some variations, in every part of the world. There is scarcely a Grand Army gathering where his songs are not sung, and they are to be sung for generations to come.[14]

Work also made considerable contributions to the ever-growing temperance movement in the nineteenth century's latter half.[10] His 1864 song "Come Home, Father" would be adopted as the theme tune for the Women's Christian Temperance Union.[15]

The Emancipation Proclamation[edit]

The storyline of "Kingdom Coming" portends the Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order issued in January 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln. It mandated that:

all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

Root, along with other Illinoisan Unionists prominently appealed to President Lincoln to issue a degree of emancipation.[16] After the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, on September 27, 1862, approximately 10,000 Chicagoans, accompanied by several musical societies such as Root & Cady, gathered at Bryan Hall and Court House Square to celebrate the occasion. "Kingdom Coming", which symbolized the proclamation's outcome, was one of the tunes chanted by the crowd.[16]

Lyrical analysis[edit]

Vernacular lyrics[17] Standard English translation

Say, darkeys, hab you seen de massa,
Wid the muffstash on his face,
Go long de road some time dis mornin',
Like he gwine to leab de place?
He seen a smoke, way up de ribber,
Whar de Linkum gumboats lay;
He took his hat, an' lef' berry sudden,
An' I spec he's run away!

Say, darkeys, have you seen the "massa",
With the mustache on his face,
Go long the road some time this mornin',
Like he's going to leave the place?
He's seen a smoke way up the river,
Where the Lincoln gunboats lay;
He took his hat and left very sudden,
And I expect he ran away!

De massa run? ha! ha!
De darkey stay? ho! ho!
It mus' be now de kingdom comin',
An' de year ob Jubilo!

The "massa" ran? ha! ha!
The darkey stays? ho! ho!
It must be now the kingdom's comin'
And the year of "Jubilo"!

He six foot one way, two feet tudder,
An' he weigh three hundred pound,
His coat so big, he couldn’t pay de tailor,
An’ it won’t go half way round.
He drill so much, dey call him Cap’an,
An’ he get so drefful tanned,
I spec’ he try an’ fool dem Yankees
For to tink he’s contraband.

— CHORUS

He's six foot one way, two feet the other,
And he weights three hundred pounds,
His coat's so big, he couldn't pay the tailor,
And it won't go half way round.
He drills so much, they call him Cap'n,
And he gets so dreadful tanned,
I expect he'll try and fool them Yankees,
For to think he's contraband.

— CHORUS

De darkeys feel so lonesome
libing in de loghouse on de lawn,
Dey move dar tings to massa’s parlor,
For to keep it while he’s gone,
Dar's wine an’ cider in de kitchen,
An’ de darkeys dey’ll hab some;
I spose dey’ll all be cornfiscated
When de Linkum sojers come.

— CHORUS

The darkeys feel so lonesome
living in the log house on the lawn,
They move their things to "massa"'s parlor,
For to keep it while he's gone,
There's wine and cider in the kitchen,
And the darkeys they'll have some;
I suppose they'll all be confiscated,
When the Lincoln soldiers come.

— CHORUS

De oberseer he make us trouble,
An' he dribe us round a spell,
We lock him up in the smoke house cellar
Wid de key trown in de well.
De whip is lost, de han'cuff broken,
But de massa'll hab his pay,
He's ole enough, big enough, ought to know better
Dan to went an' run away!

— CHORUS

The overseer he makes us trouble,
And he drives us round a spell,
We lock him up in the smoke house cellar
With the key thrown in the well.
The whip is lost, the handcuff broken,
But the "massa"'ll have his pay,
He's old enough, big enough, ought to known better
Than to go, and run away!

— CHORUS


The song is pro-Unionist, and the lyrics are sung from the point of view of slaves ("de darkeys") in Confederate territory, who celebrate their impending freedom after their master flees the approach of Union military forces. The primary persona is a "hypocritical and cowardly"[18] slave owner ("de massa"). They speculate on the future fate of the owner, whom they suspect will pretend to be a runaway slave in order to avoid capture. With their owner absent, the slaves revolt, locking their overseer in a cellar as retribution for his harsh treatment toward them. The slaves then celebrate their impending emancipation by Union soldiers by drinking their absent owner's cider and wine in his kitchen.

The "Year of Jubilo" (Jubilee) refers to the Old Testament practice of freeing bondsmen every fifty years as delineated in the Book of Leviticus:[19]

Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields.[20]

The law "continues to stimulate models for liberation from oppressive forces, for reconciliation, and for new beginnings".[21] To subjugated Blacks it symbolized the end of their servitude.[19]

Legacy[edit]

In the Civil War[edit]

"Kingdom Coming" was first advertised by Christy's Minstrels in April 1862,[22] and became instantly successful[9] and a staple of any minstrel show's repertoire. Its sheet music sold 75,000 copies.[23] Root & Cady reportedly could not keep up with orders for the song, with the publisher claiming: "It is whistled, sung, hummed and instrumentalized everywhere, in fact it is one of the institutions of the day."[24] It was reportedly as popular as "Dixie's Land" during the war and subsequent years.[18]

The sequel "Babylon is Fallen"[edit]

The original 1863 sheet music cover of "Babylon is Fallen".

Due to the success of "Kingdom Coming", Work penned a sequel titled "Babylon is Fallen", in which the "massa" who "went and run away" enlisted in the Confederate Army. He was discovered by his former slaves and imprisoned. The title alludes to the Book of Revelation of the New Testament: "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great" (14:8),[25] referring to the downfall of despotism, appropriate for the slave master's demise.[1]

In popular culture[edit]

The tune to "Kingdom Coming" features in several cartoons. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer made use of it in The Three Little Pups,[26] (with Droopy) and Billy Boy, as well as in Michael Lah's Blackboard Jumble and Sheep Wrecked. The piece is whistled throughout all four pictures by a dimwitted wolf character voiced by Daws Butler (using the same slow Southern drawl he would later employ for Huckleberry Hound). This wolf character has no official name, but is commonly referred to as "Jubilo Wolf", in reference to "Year of Jubilo". It also occasionally appears in Warner Bros. cartoons, such as being used throughout the 1938 Porky Pig cartoon Injun Trouble and its 1945 remake Wagon Heels, and the closing scenes of the 1945 Bugs Bunny cartoons The Unruly Hare and Hare Trigger.

Some films exercise it. In The Telegraph Trail (1933), John Trent (John Wayne) whistles this tune. It is instrumental background music in The Horse Soldiers (1959) (also starring Wayne).[27] In Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Esther Smith (Judy Garland) sings new lyrics, written for the movie, to the tune of "Year of Jubilo".[28] The lyrics are in standard English and are inoffensive, with no reference to slavery, the Civil War, or any other controversial subject.

The tune was also used in the introductory section to the second movement of John Philip Sousa's 1925 suite Cubaland.

Notable recordings[edit]

1927 phonographic recording by Frank Crumit.
  • The McGee Brothers and Todd recorded the song with lyrics in 1927 as "Old Master's Runaway"
  • Frank Crumit recorded "Kingdom Coming and the Year of Jubilo" on November 29, 1927. It was released on Victor 21108.
  • Sauter-Finegan Orchestra recorded an instrumental version titled "Doodletown Fifers", which they released as their first record,[29] and it reached No. 12 on the Billboard Most Played by Disk Jockeys chart in 1952.[30] "Doodletown Fifers" has also been recorded by the Boston Pops Orchestra.[31]
  • Western pop singer "Tennessee" Ernie Ford had a hit record in 1958 titled "Sunday Barbecue", which became the latest incarnation of the original tune. It was released on Capitol # F3997.
  • A solo piano rendition of the song is included on jazz pianist Bill Carrothers' album, The Blues and the Greys, which features popular music from the time of the Civil War.
  • The song appears on the soundtrack to Ken Burns' Civil War, usually played whenever pictures of General Ulysses S. Grant are shown on screen.
  • The song is performed by Pokey LaFarge in the 2013 collection Divided and United: The Songs of the Civil War, titled as "Kingdom Come".

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ a b qtd. Carder 2008, p. 133
  2. ^
    • qtd. Silber 2006, p. 306
    • Work 1923, p. 6 (preface): "Even in those early days Alan Work was a noted and fearless anti-slavery advocate."
    • McWhirter 2012, p. 146: "Work's father, Alanson, had been a staunch abolitionist [...]"
  3. ^
    • Work 1923, p. 6 (preface): "While in Illinois and Missouri, he [Alanson] helped nearly 4,000 slaves to reach freedom by means of the 'Underground Railroad'."
    • Carder 2008, p. 114: "Alanson spent his days in welfare work for the slaves and actively helped the Underground Railroad."
    • Bailey, Natalie & Cukor-Avila 1991, p. 197: "Work was a Northern abolitionist whose family home had served as an 'underground railway' for Southern slaves seeking freedom and whose father was eventually imprisoned for his role in 'the liberation of several thousand slaves'."
  4. ^
    • Work 1923, p. 6 (preface): "That Henry Clay Work drew much of the inspiration for his songs from his youthful experiences can not be doubted."
    • Finson 1994, p. 56: "Work's family background led him to endow most of his songs with a pronounced moralistic zeal."
    • Bailey, Natalie & Cukor-Avila 1991, p. 197: "This contact with the slaves contributed to the younger Work's sentiments as well as his ability to write in dialect."
  5. ^
    • Work 1923, p. 6 (preface): "His close contact with the negroes accounts for the faithfulness of the dialect of his negro melodies which have so strong an appeal to the darkies themselves."
    • Bailey, Natalie & Cukor-Avila 1991, p. 197: "This contact with the slaves contributed to the younger Work's sentiments as well as his ability to write in dialect."
    • McWhirter 2012, p. 146: "Henry [...] came into contact with African Americans and their music."
  6. ^
    • Work 1923, p. 6 (preface): "In keeping with their [African Americans'] natural dramatic instincts as entertainers, they must have amused the child [the young Henry Clay Work] with stories and songs of plantation life [...]"
    • McWhirter 2012, p. 146: "Furthermore, Henry grew up in relative poverty, which likely exposed him to working-class minstrelsy. As a result, Henry's early songwriting efforts were heavily influenced by blackface performers."
  7. ^
    • Work 1923, p. 6 (preface): "In 1854 Work, a young man, went to Chicago, where he earned his living as a printer. During his spare hours he labored hard at song writing, but with little success."
    • Hill 1953, p. 216: "[...] the boy was allowed to be a tailor. His own inclinations would have led him to study music, but since that seemed out of the question in those days, he did his best to teach himself the rudiments of music while he was being taught his trade."
    • Hill 1953, p. 216: "When he was only twenty-one, he composed his first song, and after he had submitted it to the famous minstrel, E. P. Christy, who had helped Foster get his start, the song was published."
  8. ^ a b McWhirter 2012, p. 146
  9. ^ a b Silber 2006, p. 306
  10. ^ a b c Work 1923, preface
  11. ^ Bailey, Natalie & Cukor-Avila 1991, p. 197: "This contact with the slaves contributed to the younger Work's sentiments as well as his ability to write in dialect."
  12. ^ Hill 1953, p. 211
  13. ^ Kelley & Snell 2004, pp. 119–121
  14. ^ Kelley & Snell 2004, p. 122
  15. ^ Finson 1994, pp. 56–57
  16. ^ a b Carder 2008, p. 122
  17. ^ copied from: Work 1923, pp. 122–124
  18. ^ a b Hursh & Goertzen 2009, p. 174
  19. ^ a b Finson 1994, p. 211
  20. ^ Leviticus 25:10–12 NIV
  21. ^ Carmichael 2006, p. 122
  22. ^ Cohen 2015, p. 126
  23. ^ Smith 2003, p. 592
  24. ^ Carder 2008, p. 114
  25. ^ Revelation 14:8 NIV
  26. ^ Whistling Wolf from "Droopy Dog (1953) The Three Little Pups" YouTube
  27. ^ the second piece in the trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knQahiIpwYw
  28. ^ Songwriters Hall of Fame: "His "Kingdom Coming" appears in Judy Garland film "Meet Me In St. Louis"."
  29. ^ Sultanof, Jeff (2017). Experiencing Big Band Jazz: A Listener's Companion. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 104. ISBN 9781442242432.
  30. ^ "The Billboard Popularity Chart - Records Most Played by Disk Jockeys". Billboard. September 6, 1952. p. 56.
  31. ^ "Doodletown Fifers". AllMusic.

Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]

Recordings[edit]

Sheet music[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kingdom_Coming&oldid=1227738439"