Jump for Joy

I believe this song, “Jump for Joy,” is extremely obscure, and that’s amazing. I only happened to hear it, barely listening to an old a Sarah Vaughn record. I stopped short, “Did she just say that?”
It’s a blithe and satirical “protest song” Duke Ellington wrote in 1941 for an all-black musical review of the same name.
He said it “would take Uncle Tom out of the theater, and say things that would make the audience think.”
—
Jump for Joy
Fare thee well land of cotton.
Cotton lisle is out of style,
Honey chile
Jump for Joy
—
Don’t you grieve little Eve
All the hounds I do believe
Have been killed
Ain’t ‘cha thrilled?
Jump for Joy
—
Have you seen pastures groovy?
“Green Pastures” was just a Technicolor movie
When you stomp up to heaven and you meet old Saint Pete
Tell that boy
Jump for joy
Step right in
Give Pete some skin and
Jump for Joy
—-
(BTW, I don’t believe “Sir Duke” was literally anti-dog.)