Joshua Fought the Battle at Jericho (1800s)
African-American Spiritual, USA
| Euroclassical function names: | tonic | dominant |
| Tagg: | tonic | counterpoise |
| Riemann: | T | D or D7 |
| scale degrees: | I | V or V7 |
| chord names: | F | C or C7 |
chorus:
Dm
|/ / / / |/ / / / |
A Dm A
|/ / / / |/ / / / |
Dm
|/ / / / |/ / / / |
A Dm
|/ / / / |/ / / / |
verse:
Dm
|/ / / / |/ / / / |
Dm A
|/ / / / |/ / / / |
Dm
|/ / / / |/ / / / |
A Dm A
|/ / / / |/ / / / |
mode: D minor — D E F G A Bb (B) C (C#) D
melody: ltdrml’
form: verse – ABAC; chorus – DDDC
meter: duple
suggested time signature: 4|4, 2|2
other recordings:
Wee Sing, D minor (Way better than I would have expected! But more of a jazz arrangement with a modulation…)
Hoot Chissum, D minor
Willie Wright, Eb minor (The vocal performance on this one is very much worth a listen.)
Fisk Jubilee Singers, Eb minor
Harrod’s Jubilee Singers, Ab minor
Mahalia Jackson, A minor
Clara Ward, A minor
Odetta, A minor
Paul Robeson, Bb minor
Ella Jenkins, Bb minor
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Bb minor (Recommended by Ken Thomson!)
Pete Seeger, B minor
This is an African-American spiritual, based on the story in the Old Testament about Joshua leading the Israelites against Canaan (Joshua 6:1-21).
(I would love a songbook of all the spirituals in Biblical order! Why read the Bible when you could sing it? Of course, then I’d need, like, all the Renaissance choir pieces in Biblical order, all the atonal settings in Biblical order, and so on…)
Spirituals have a special place in American culture and history. These songs were really a matter of life and death for the slaves who sang them:
from the Library of Congress website:
“The African population in the American colonies had initially been introduced to Christianity in the seventeenth century. Uptake of the religion was relatively slow at first. But the slave population was fascinated by Biblical stories containing parallels to their own lives and created spirituals that retold narratives about Biblical figures like Daniel and Moses. As Africanized Christianity took hold of the slave population, spirituals served as a way to express the community’s new faith, as well as its sorrows and hopes.”
Pamela Crosby writes:
“The slave’s acceptance of Christianity, while experiencing the conflicting behavior of slave owners, is a testament to the power of the gospel. Often slaves believed that the salvation and new life of which they learned when “worshipping” with their owners would happen not on earth, but, rather, when they went to heaven. While many slaves understood God’s promises were meant for all people while on earth, they also knew they could not openly pray for deliverance and equality. Imagine hearing of a God who loves and cares for all, who provides for needs and urges God’s children to ask for their needs, but all the while being afraid to request openly for fear of beating or death. In their songs, the slaves named issues and fears they could not express publicly. Meeting in the woods or arbors, out of the sight and hearing of slave owners and overseers, the slaves were free to worship and praise, to express their true feelings and to offer unbridled prayers and requests to God. They could lay their burdens down and find strength to face another day. Many of the spirituals carried dual meanings and symbolic messages unknown to slave owners.“
two chords 