Getting happy, an experience seen almost exclusively in the Black Church and in Pentecostal churches generally, refers to the experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit, usually involving ecstatic singing, dancing, and a general spiritual fervor. It is heavily associated with shout music (as the music and the bodily expression are largely inseparable).

Accounts of nineteenth century African American slave spirituality use the term, as recorded in the book God Struck Me Dead: Voices of Ex-Slaves.

All of my people were great Christians. Shouting, singing, praying, and good old heartfelt religion make up the things that filled their lives. [...] Aunt Charlotte used to cry most all the time when she got happy. —an ex-slave preacher, in God Struck Me Dead, page 75.

One of the early nineteenth century traditional 'Negro Spirituals' to use the phrase, is the following:

GOOD MORNING EVERYBODY

Good morning everybody

Good morning everybody, Lord

My soul got happy this morning

My soul got happy this morning, Lord

You may call me “hypocrite member”

You may call me “hypocrite member”, Lord

But my soul got happy, this morning

But my soul got happy this morning, Lord

I’m going to see my mother

I’m going to see my mother, Lord

Going to sit down by my Jesus

Going to sit down by my Jesus, Lord.

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Further information

For other examples of such gospel music see the following:

Say Amen, Somebody featuring Thomas A. Dorsey on DVD video

Greatest Gospel Hits by Shirley Caesar

References

God Struck Me Dead: Voices of Ex-Slaves by Clifton H. Johnson ISBN 0-8298-0945-7