ON THE TRAIL OF NEGRO FOLK-SONGS

A Collection Of Negro Traditional & Folk Songs with Sheet Music Lyrics & Commentaries - online book

	WORK-SONGS	223
	Norah was a hundred and twenty years builcuV de ark of God, And ev'ry time his hammer ring, Norah cried, "Amen!" Chorus Well, who build de ark? Norah build it. Who build de ark? Norah build it. Who build de ark? Norah build it, Cut his timber down. Fust thing dat Norah done, Cut his timber down. Second thing dat Norah done, Hewed it all around. Norah was a hundred and twenty years buildin' de ark of God, And ev'ry time his hammer ring, Norah cried, "Amen!" Chorus Well, who build de ark? Norah build it. Hammer keep a-ringin', said, "Norah build it!" Well, who build de ark? Norah build it. Who build de ark? Norah build it. Who build de ark? Norah build it, Cut his timber down. Some of the problems of the ante-bellum Negro with respect to his work are shown in his folk-songs. The pathos with which a slave would yearn toward the hope of ultimate freedom, freedom possible only upon the will of the master, and liable to be denied by circum­stance as well as greed, appears in variants of an old song. Garmet Eskew gave me the following version, which is very old: MY OLE MISTIS