Swing Low, sweet Chariot.

Function

The function of Swing Low sweet Chariot ranges from several different perspectives. The slave owners and overseers felt they the African Americans sang out of boredom of the work they were doing because of banned native languages and use of drums they reached to the one thing they felt acceptable. The African Americans used a call and response as well as improvisation.

In West African cultures, call and response is a pervasive pattern of democratic participation -- in public gatherings in the discussion of civic affairs, in religious rituals, as well as in vocal and instrumental musical expression. It is this tradition that African bondsmen and women brought with them to the New World and which has been transmitted over the centuries in various forms of cultural expression. [1]

Spirituals functioned on many levels for enslaved African Americans. While the songs primarily expressed deeply held religious convictions, especially for newly converted Christians, they also reflected deep longings for freedom, often masked in the form of secret codes or messages imbedded in the lyrics of the songs.[2]