{"id":7026,"date":"2005-03-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-03-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2019-11-07T14:52:38","modified_gmt":"2019-11-07T18:52:38","slug":"follow-the-drinking-gourd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/?p=7026","title":{"rendered":"Follow The Drinking Gourd"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden\/php\/images\/gourd.gif\" height=\"390\" width=\"550\" alt=\"gourd.gif\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"audio\">\n<div class=\"alignright caption\"><a href=\"?page_id=6069\">How do I download this Mp3?<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"audio_link\">Mp3: <a href=\"http:\/\/ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden\/php\/music\/Follow.mp3\">Follow The Drinking Gourd<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"about\">Special thanks to Nedra Talley Ross (of the Ronettes) for background vocals.<br \/>\nhttp:\/\/www.history-of-rock.com\/ronettes.htm<\/p>\n<p>FOLLOW THE DRINKING GOURD DECODED<\/p>\n<p>[A] Follow the [Em] drinking gourd!<br \/>\n[A] Follow the [Em] drinking gourd.<br \/>\nFor the [G] old man is [D] waiting to [C] carry you to [D] freedom<br \/>\n[Em] Follow the [D] drinking [Em] gourd.<\/p>\n<p>The old man in this chorus was Peg Leg Joe, a sailor-turned-carpenter who had lost part of his right leg in an accident at sea. Joe wintered in the South doing odd jobs, from plantation to plantation.  When he wasn&#8217;t working he taught the slaves this song containing a secret escape route to freedom in the North.<\/p>\n<p>The Drinking Gourd is not a gourd, but the Big Dipper with its two pointer stars (Dubhe and Merak) that visually lead to the North Star.<br \/>\nBy following the North Star the slaves were able to consistently navigate northward.<\/p>\n<p>When the sun comes back and the first quail calls,<br \/>\nFollow the drinking gourd,<br \/>\nFor the old man is waiting to carry you to freedom<br \/>\nIf you follow the drinking gourd.<\/p>\n<p>Each year when the quails migrated south, the slaves were told to begin their journey northward, which entailed crossing the unnavigable Ohio River. It was too swift and wide to cross, except in winter, when it was frozen and slaves could walk to the other shore on the ice.<\/p>\n<p>The riverbank makes a very good road,<br \/>\nThe dead trees will show you the way,<br \/>\nLeft foot, peg foot traveling on,<br \/>\nFollowing the drinking gourd.<\/p>\n<p>Peg Leg Joe marked one bank of the Tombigbee River in Mississippi with his easily identifiable footprints. By following them and the dead trees along the riverbank, the slaves could have a safe journey free from plantation owner&#8217;s hounds.<\/p>\n<p>The river ends between two hills,<br \/>\nFollow the drinking gourd,<br \/>\nThere&#8217;s another river on the other side,<br \/>\nFollow the drinking gourd.<\/p>\n<p>When the Tombigbee ended, the slaves were told to continue northward, over the hills,  to the Tennessee River where the Underground Railroad would help them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"lyrics-header\">Lyrics:<\/div>\n<div class=\"lyrics\">\nFOLLOW THE DRINKING GOURD<\/p>\n<p>[Em] When the sun goes back and the [C] first quail calls<br \/>\n[Em] Follow the [D] drinking [Em] gourd<br \/>\n[Em] The old man is a-waitin&#8217; for to [C] carry you to freedom<br \/>\n[Em] Follow the [D] drinking [Em] gourd<\/p>\n<p>[A] Follow the [Em] drinking gourd!<br \/>\n[A] Follow the [Em] drinking gourd.<br \/>\nFor the [G] old man is [D] waiting to [C] carry you to [D] freedom<br \/>\n[Em] Follow the [D] drinking [Em] gourd.<\/p>\n<p>The river bed makes a mighty fine road,<br \/>\nDead trees to show you the way<br \/>\nAnd it&#8217;s left foot, peg foot, traveling on<br \/>\nFollow the drinking gourd<\/p>\n<p>CHORUS<\/p>\n<p>The river ends between two hills<br \/>\nFollow the drinking gourd<br \/>\nThere&#8217;s another river on the other side<br \/>\nFollow the drinking gourd<\/p>\n<p>CHORUS<\/p>\n<p>I thought I heard the angels say<br \/>\nFollow the drinking gourd<br \/>\nThe stars in the heavens gonna show you the way<br \/>\nFollow the drinking gourd<\/p>\n<p>CHORUS<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How do I download this Mp3? Mp3: Follow The Drinking Gourd Special thanks to Nedra Talley Ross (of the Ronettes) for background vocals. http:\/\/www.history-of-rock.com\/ronettes.htm FOLLOW THE DRINKING GOURD DECODED [A] Follow the [Em] drinking gourd! [A] Follow the [Em] drinking gourd. For the [G] old man is [D] waiting to [C] carry you to [D] &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/?p=7026\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Follow The Drinking Gourd&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mountainsouthernus","category-railroad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7026"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8655,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7026\/revisions\/8655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/jimmy\/folkden-wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}