"Waterboy" / "Water Boy" | |
---|---|
![]() Cover of
sheet music to a piano version of the "negro convict song" arranged by
Avery Robinson for singer
Roland Hayes, 1950 | |
Song | |
Published | 1922 |
Genre | Jazz, Folk, Blues |
Length | Typically 3-4 mins |
Composer(s) | Avery Robinson ( arr.) |
Lyricist(s) | Traditional |
"Waterboy" (a.k.a. "The Water Boy") is an American traditional folk song. It is built on the call "Water boy, where are you hidin'?" [1] The call is one of several water boy calls in cotton plantation folk tradition. [2]
Numerous artists have written and/or recorded their own versions of this African-American traditional song, including Jacques Wolfe, a Romanian immigrant, and Avery Robinson [3] who popularized "Water Boy" as a jazz song in the 1920s. From 1949 onwards, many blues and folk artists have performed their own arrangements of it.
The opening call to the "water boy" has been said to bear a resemblance to melodies found in classical works by Cui, Tchaikovsky, and Liszt, as well as a Jewish marriage song and a Native American tune. [4] The first melody of the subsequent refrain is similar to the old German tune "Mendebras," used for the hymn "Oh Day of Rest and Gladness." [4] [5] [6]
The work song, 'Water Boy', is built around the cry for water of a gang of condemned and laboring men. Robeson sang the refrain (the water cry itself, 'Water boy, where are you hidin'?') a cappella and very softly, and the verses themselves ...
In the cotton fields and the cornfields of the present time, as on the old plantations, the water carrier is in constant demand. The call for the water boy (or girl), in one or another of ... Some water calls such as 'Water Boy, Where Are You Hidin'?' have come to be regarded as true songs, and may be heard on phonograph recordings.