INTRODUCTION.
Ill
and are the outgrowth of their peculiar experiences,
reflections, and fancies. These have been collected by
the compiler in various Avays and from many sources.
Some were written down as he heard them sung in
religious meetings; others from dictation; others were
found in "ballad-books;" and a few have been com¬
posed by Dr. Taylor when he found no appropriate
words—that is, no words appropriate for his book-
attached to tunes which he desired to preserve.
In many instances, as was to be expected, different
versions of the same songs have been found, and much
carefulness and skill have been required in fitting to¬
gether the best parts of these versions and in writing
for them the music to which they were originally
sung. The result, it is believed, is a unique and val¬
uable collection of the religious songs and the weird,
but charming, melodies for which the colored people
of America have become famous the world over.
Strange as it now seems, until within a compara¬
tively brief period of time, only a few of the genuine
songs and melodies of the Southern negro were known
in the North among that very considerable majority of
our population who had never visited the South. But
in very recent years, through the agency of the '' Ju¬
bilee Singers," " Tennesseeans," and other concert
troupes, it has become universally known in the North,
and in Europe as well, that in addition to whatever
was of a humorous and festive character, the negroes
of the South have a considerable body of religious
music and song,—weird, pathetic, and jubilant, ex¬
ceedingly varied in style and measure, and wholly un¬
like that which exists elsewhere in the world. The
performances of the bands of singers referred to, re¬
ceived everywhere with enthusiastic applause, awak¬
ened a very general desire that every song and mel-
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