Waterboy (song)

{{Infobox song

| name = Waterboy" / "Water Boy

| cover = Water Boy sheet music.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Cover of sheet music to a piano version of the "negro convict song" arranged by Avery Robinson for singer Roland Hayes, 1950

| type =

| artist =

| album =

| EP =

| written =

| published = 1922

| released =

| format =

| recorded =

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = Jazz, Folk, Blues

| length = Typically 3-4 mins

| label =

| writer =

| composer = Avery Robinson (arr.)

| lyricist = Traditional

| producer =

| prev_title =

| prev_year =

| title =

| next_title =

| next_year =

}}

"Waterboy" (a.k.a. "The Water Boy") is an American traditional folk song. It is built on the call "Water boy, where are you hidin'?"{{cite book|first1=Sheila Tully |last1=Boyle |first2=Andrew |last2=Buni |title=Paul Robeson: The Years of Promise And Achievement |year=2005 |page=147 |quote=The work song, 'Water Boy', is built around the cry for water of a gang of condemned and laboring men. Robeson sang the refrain (the water cry itself, 'Water boy, where are you hidin'?') a cappella and very softly, and the verses themselves ... |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press}} The call is one of several water boy calls in cotton plantation folk tradition.{{cite book|first=Harold |last=Courlander |title=Negro Folk Music U.S.A. |year=1963 |page=86 |quote=In the cotton fields and the cornfields of the present time, as on the old plantations, the water carrier is in constant demand. The call for the water boy (or girl), in one or another of ... Some water calls such as 'Water Boy, Where Are You Hidin'?' have come to be regarded as true songs, and may be heard on phonograph recordings. |publisher=Columbia University Press}}

Numerous artists have written and/or recorded their own versions of this African-American traditional song, including Jacques Wolfe, a Romanian immigrant, and Avery Robinson{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p313923/songs|pure_url=yes}} |title=Songs composed by Avery Robinson |work=AllMusic}} who popularized "Water Boy" as a jazz song in the 1920s. From 1949 onwards, many blues and folk artists have performed their own arrangements of it.

The opening call to the "water boy" has been said to bear a resemblance to melodies found in classical works by Cui, Tchaikovsky, and Liszt, as well as a Jewish marriage song and a Native American tune.{{cite book|first=Sigmund |last=Spaeth |title=Read 'Em and Weep. The Songs you Forgot to Remember |publisher=Halcyon House |year=1927 |page=40 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1WQJAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA40 |access-date=24 July 2023 |via=Google Books}} The first melody of the subsequent refrain is similar to the old German tune "Mendebras," used for the hymn "Oh Day of Rest and Gladness."{{cite book|first=Gerald |last=Bordman |title=Jerome Kern: His Life and Music |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1980 |page=146}}A sample of "Mendebras" is available online at [https://www.ccel.org/cceh/0008/x000849.htm CCEH: Tunes: "Mendebras"].