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FOLKLIFE FOLKLIFE
ASSOCIATION
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SIPSEY RIVER PRIMITIVE BAPTIST ASSOCIATION MUSICS OF ALABAMA:
Elder Fred Cockrell, the song leader on "Sure Been Good to Me," is the pastor of Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Church in Eutaw, AL and the Moderator of the Sispey River Primitive Baptist Association. He and his wife Nellie are vitally interested in preserving the "Dr. Watts" style of singing as well as the spirituals sung by his ancestors. While some members of the Sipsey River Association do not believe spirituals belong in church services, Elder Cockrell remembers that his parents sang them and he sees to it that various people in his congregation start them at times during the service. He also tries to introduce other spirituals into the repertoire by inviting visitors at the Annual meeting of the Association to lead hymns and spirituals in the way they are sung in their home congregations. The traditional song variety here, known as the "spiritual" in African American churches in Alabama, is a subject area in need of more documentation and study. While many spirituals were collected in the past there still are many individuals who remember a good number of these songs. Most were learned regionally through a strong oral tradition in an individual's church and at home from elder family members. The form of this spiritual "Sure Been Good To Me" is strophic. Each strophe exhibits a repetition of the phrase "all of these years" between Elder Cockrell's more spontaneous interjections. After the phrase is repeated three times the end tag of "Sure been Good to Me" is sung at a concluding cadence. This simple but heartfelt poetic form is typical of many spirituals. The same formulaic device may have been an inspiration for the secular blues poetic structure. "SURE BEEN GOOD TO ME" was
led by Elder Fred Cockrell at
Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Church. Recorded by Joyce
Cauthen on May 12, 1996 during the field work for the
recently released Alabama Folklife Association
publication Benjamin Lloyd’s Hymn Book: A Primitive
Baptist Song Tradition a
book of essays with a CD recording documenting the
history and current use of an historic hymn book. |
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