Year of Jubilo

Henry Clay Work, a New England abolitionist, wrote words and music in 1862 and published the song as "Kingdom Coming." It was written for the minstrel stage, and its verses tell of enslaved people left behind when their master runs from the approaching Union gunboats. The chorus names the biblical jubilee year, when slaves were set free. Work also wrote "Marching Through Georgia" and "My Grandfather's Clock."

Fiddlers took the tune into dance music as a march and polka. An anonymous American music manuscript from 1862 already has a version, and the Hollow Rock String Band's recording helped make it a revival favorite.