Vernon, first of all, I so apologize for the delay in responding -- life just keeps happening and then you lose track!

To your comment, I have to say, while you and yours, born in Alabama, packed the song away every Sunday -- The Gullah-Geechie Heritage Corridor (https://gullahgeecheecorridor.org/) runs from the Eastern coast of Florida up to and through North Carolina and it spans the entire United States, not only through "The Great Migration," but due to our moving around this country and world for education and job opportunities (I got my BA at Talladega College and trust me, plenty of folk there knew of, and made fun of the way I spoke).

WE, are everywhere and we've taken our culture and language with us (because, it's not just a song for us which we pack away every Sunday -- it is our "language," one that many folk on the islands still speak, but of which we've been made to feel ashamed, not only by white folk -- but by northern Black folk alike. It is, and always has been our way of communicating our lived experiences -- and as I say, there are plenty of us.

Hell, as I believe I noted in the post, even Harvard is now trying to include our language in their linguistic studies because it IS recognized as a LANGUAGE -- one of which "Come by yah" is an integral part. Of course they'll probably be talking about how they "discovered" this unique language which has been in existence for centuries after having been brought here in chains from West Africa by the likes of their "scholars."