<P> In 1947, Lee Hays, of the Almanac Singers and The Weavers, rearranged Follow the Drinkin' Gourd and published it in the People's Songs Bulletin . Familiar with African - American music and culture, Hays stated that he himself had heard parts of the song from an elderly black woman named Aunty Laura . Hays described the melody as coming from Aunty Laura, while the lyrics came from anthologies--probably the Parks version . </P> <P> In 1955, singer Randy Sparks heard the song from an elderly street singer named John Woodum . These lyrics diverged greatly from the Parks and Hays versions and included no geographical information . Sparks later founded The New Christy Minstrels, with whom he recorded a version of the song based on Woodum's lyrics . </P> <P> Two of the stars in the Big Dipper line up very closely with and point to Polaris . Polaris is a circumpolar star, and so it is always seen pretty close to the direction of true north . Hence, according to a popular myth, all slaves had to do was look for the Drinking Gourd and follow it to the North Star (Polaris) north to freedom . James Kelley has argued against the historicity of this interpretation in the Journal of Popular Culture . </P>

Who made the song follow the drinking gourd