''Follow the Drinking Gourd'' is an African-American

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

first published in 1928. The "drinking gourd" is another name for the

Big Dipper The Big Dipper (American English, US, Canadian English, Canada) or the Plough (British English, UK, Hiberno-English, Ireland) is an asterism (astronomy), asterism consisting of seven bright stars of the constellation Ursa Major; six of them ar ...

asterism. Folklore has it that

enslaved people Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

in the United States used it as a point of reference so they would not get lost during their journey of escape to the North and to freedom. According to legend, the song was used by a conductor of the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

, called Peg Leg Joe, to guide some fugitive slaves, and many of the lyrics are simply cartographic directions to advise the runaways on their escape route. While the song may possibly refer to some lost fragment of history, the origin and context remain a mystery. A more recent source challenges the claim that the song helped free anyone from slavery, as no pre-1910 reference to it has ever been found.Kelley, James. Song, Story, or History: Resisting Claims of a Coded Message in the African American Spiritual "Follow the Drinking Gourd". ''The Journal of Popular Culture'' 41.2 (April 2008): 262–80.

History

Texas Folklore Society and H. B. Parks

''Follow the Drinking Gourd'' was collected by H. B. Parks, an

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

and amateur

folklorist Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...

, in the 1910s. Parks reported that Peg Leg Joe, an operative of the

, had passed as a laborer and spread the song to different plantations, giving directions for

slaves Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

to escape. The song was published by the Texas Folklore Society in 1928. (The cover spells the title "Foller de Drinkin' Gou'd.")

Lee Hays

In 1947,

Lee Hays Lee Elhardt Hays (March 14, 1914 – August 26, 1981) was an American folk singer and songwriter, best known for singing bass with the Weavers. Throughout his life, he was concerned with overcoming racism, inequality, and violence in soc ...

, of the

Almanac Singers The Almanac Singers was an American New York City-based folk music group, active between 1940 and 1943, founded by Millard Lampell, Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, and were joined by Woody Guthrie. The group specialized in topical songs, mostly songs a ...

and

The Weavers The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City originally consisting of Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman. Founded in 1948, the group sang traditional folk songs from ...

, rearranged ''Follow the Drinkin' Gourd'' and published it in the '' People's Songs Bulletin.'' Familiar with

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

music and culture,Hays "used to visit Negro churches and sit in the back pew, and he used to visit the homes of Negro farmers, soaking up the richest musical sounds and harmonies that have ever come our way." Hays stated that he himself had heard parts of the song from an elderly black woman named Aunty Laura. Hays described the melody as coming from Aunty Laura, while the lyrics came from anthologies – probably the Parks version.

Randy Sparks/John Woodum

In 1955, singer

Randy Sparks Lloyd Arrington Sparks (July 29, 1933 – February 11, 2024), known professionally as Randy Sparks, was an American musician, singer-songwriter, and founder of The New Christy Minstrels and The Back Porch Majority. Biography Sparks was born on ...

heard the song from an elderly street singer named John Woodum. These lyrics diverged greatly from the Parks and Hays versions and included no geographical information. Sparks later founded

The New Christy Minstrels The New Christy Minstrels are an American large-ensemble folk music group founded by Randy Sparks in 1961. The group has recorded more than 20 albums and scored several hits, including "Green, Green (song), Green, Green", "Saturday Night", "Tod ...

, with whom he recorded a version of the song based on Woodum's lyrics.This version included the line "Think I heard the angels say, Stars in the heaven gonna show you the way," which would appear in the

New Christy Minstrels The New Christy Minstrels are an American large-ensemble folk music group founded by Randy Sparks in 1961. The group has recorded more than 20 albums and scored several hits, including " Green, Green", "Saturday Night", "Today", "Denver" and "T ...

version of the song, sung by

Gayle Caldwell Gayle or Gayl may refer to: People * Gayle (given name), people with the given name * Gayle (surname), people with the surname * Gayle (singer) (born 2004), American singer-songwriter Places * Gayle, North Yorkshire, England * Gayle, Jamaica ...

Song Lyrics

Follow the drinkin' gourd
Follow the drinkin' gourd
For the old man is comin' just to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinkin' gourd

When the sun comes back, and the first quail calls Follow the drinkin' gourd
For the old man is waiting just to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinkin' gourd

Follow the drinkin' gourd Follow the drinkin' gourd For the old man is waiting to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinkin' gourd
Well the river bank makes a mighty good road
Dead trees will show you the way
Left foot, peg foot, travelin' on
Follow the drinkin' gourd

Follow the drinkin' gourd
Follow the drinkin' gourd
For the old man is waiting to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinkin' gourd

Well the river ends, between two hills
Follow the drinkin' gourd
There's another river on the other side
Follow the drinkin' gourd

Follow the drinkin' gourd
Follow the drinkin' gourd
For the old man is waiting to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinkin' gourd

Well, where the great big river meets the little river
Follow the drinkin' gourd
The old man is waiting to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinkin' gourd

Follow the drinkin' gourd
Follow the drinkin' gourd
For the old man is waiting to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinkin' gourd

For the old man is waiting just to carry you to freedom
If you follow the drinkin' gourd

https://uppercanadachorus.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/drinking-gourd.pdf

Meaning

Two of the stars in the Big Dipper line up very closely with and point to

Polaris Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris (Latinisation of names, Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an ...

. Polaris is a

circumpolar star A circumpolar star is a star that, as viewed from a given latitude on Earth, never sets below the horizon due to its apparent proximity to one of the celestial poles. Circumpolar stars are therefore visible from said location toward the nearest p ...

, and so it is always seen pretty close to the direction of true north. Hence, according to a popular myth, all slaves had to do was look for the Drinking Gourd and follow it to the North Star (Polaris) north to freedom. James Kelley has argued against the historicity of this interpretation in the ''

Journal of Popular Culture ''The Journal of Popular Culture'' (''JPC'') is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes academic essays on all aspects of popular or mass culture. It is published six times a year, printed by Wiley-Blackwell. As of Summer 2022, the edito ...

''.

Notes

External links

*
Follow the Drinkin' Gourd
' MP3 featuring

Roger McGuinn James Roger McGuinn (; born James Joseph McGuinn III; July 13, 1942) is an American musician, best known for being the frontman and leader of the Byrds. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 as a member of the band. As a so ...

and

Nedra Talley Nedra Talley (born January 27, 1946), now known as Nedra Talley-Ross, is an American singer. She is best known as a former member of the girl group the Ronettes, in which she performed with her cousins Ronnie and Estelle Bennett. Since Ronnie's ...

Ross (of

The Ronettes The Ronettes were an American girl group from Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York City. The group consisted of the lead singer Veronica Bennett (later known as Ronnie Spector), her older sister Estelle Bennett, and their cousin Nedra Ta ...

) at the

Folk Den Folk Den is a folk music website founded in 1995 by Roger McGuinn, former front man of The Byrds. Hosted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's ibiblio, the site is intended to preserve and promote folk music and offers a new folk so ...

*
The New Christy Minstrels & Gene Clark-1963-Part lll
' (The Muddy Road to Freedom: Follow the Drinking Gourd) Live at Fordham University {{Underground Railroad Asterisms (astronomy) Songs about American slavery Songs about the Underground Railroad African-American spiritual songs