THE YEAR OF JUBILO ~ aka Kingdom Coming, by Henry Clay Work

Written by Henry Clay Work (1832-1884),"The Year of Jubilo", or possibly better known as "Kingdom Coming", was published in Chicago, in 1862, a year in which the Union was still struggling to find commanders who could lead their forces to the victories that had so often eluded them for the greater part of two years. Finally, in September of '62, claiming the Confederate retreat following the Battle of Antietam a great victory for the Union, President Lincoln issued his historic Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all the slaves in the South. Work's song, published in April of 1862, seemed to foreshadow Lincoln's Proclamation. The title, "Kingdom Coming", refers to the advent of the actual Kingdom of God on earth as foretold by Jesus in the Bible, where troubles will be over and peace will reign eternal. The phrase, "Year of Jubilo", is a biblical reference to an ancient policy (a "Jubilee") that every 50 years mandated freedom for bondsmen (enslaved persons). One can only imagine how thrilling to hear the song's chorus must have seemed to both ardent abolitionists and liberated and enslaved blacks alike: "It must be now the Kingdom Comin' and the Year of Jubilo !" Of the perhaps ten thousand or so songs published during America's Civil War, "Kingdom Coming / Year of Jubilo" was certainly one of the most popular and ultimately enduring of the lot.. Though the song is decidedly pro-Union, it was often heard being played in both camps. With a catchy rhythm and insidiously memorable melody, the song is mockingly sung from the perspective of plantation slaves. Seeing smoke from approaching Union gunboats upriver, the humorous lyrics tell of their 'massa' fleeing his plantation in a panic to avoid capture by the Yankees. Finding themselves suddenly on their own, they seize the opportunity to capture the plantation's harsh overseer and lock him in a smokehouse cellar. Then, while awaiting their imminent liberation by the advancing Yankees, they move into the "massa's parlor" and help themselves to his food and drink, while laughing heartily about how fat he is, his rank in a local rebel militia, and how he may pretend to be a runaway slave to escape the Yankees. Work is best known for his patriotic Civil War songs, such as "Kingdom Coming", "Grafted Into the Army", "Babylon Is Fallen", "Corporal Schnapps", and his most popular, "Marching Through Georgia", in 1865, which sold an unprecedented million sheet-music copies. Following the war, however, he went on to write a few that many here in the 21st century will recognize: "The Ship That Never Returned", which later became the "MTA Song", or "My Grandfather's Clock" (1875), both still popular in the bluegrass world. @2ndSouthCarolinaStringBand ​