No. 220 Jester or I Belong to This Band (A), Osh 531
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
If our fathers want to go,
Why don’t they come along?
I belong to this band, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, hallelujah,
I belong to this band, hallelujah.
The tune was first printed in the Union Harp as recorded by S. M. Denson of Alabama. Subsequent verses are made by the use of “mothers”, “sisters,” etc. That the negroes used this formula is shown in White Spirituals, 247. The refrain “I belong to this band, hallelujah” reappears in ‘I Belong to This Band (B)’ in this collection.