Glory to God ‎#825

825. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

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Refrain:
Swing low, sweet chariot,
coming for to carry me home.
Swing low, sweet chariot,
coming for to carry me home.

1 I looked over Jordan, and what did I see
coming for to carry me home?
A band of angels coming after me,
coming for to carry me home. O, [Refrain]

2 If you get there before I do,
coming for to carry me home,
tell all my friends I’m coming too,
coming for to carry me home. O, [Refrain]

3 The brightest day that ever I saw,
coming for to carry me home,
when Jesus washed my sins away,
coming for to carry me home. O, [Refrain]

4 I’m sometimes up and sometimes down,
coming for to carry me home,
but still my soul feels heavenly bound,
coming for to carry me home. O, [Refrain]

Text Information

• First Line: I looked over Jordan, and what did I see
• Title: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
• Refrain First Line: Swing low, sweet chariot
• Meter: Irregular
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 2013
• Scripture:
  2 Kings 2:11
• Topic: Freedom; Living and Dying in Christ
• Source: African American spiritual

Tune Information

• Name: SWING LOW
• Arranger: Robert Nathaniel Dett (1936)
• Meter: Irregular
• Key: F Major
• Source: African American spiritual
• Copyright: Arr. © 1936, ren. Belwin-Mills Publishing Corp. (admin. Alfred Publishing Co., Inc.)

Text Information:

While ostensibly based on Elijah’s ascent into heaven (2 Kings 2:11), this African American spiritual also communicates the enslaved people’s hope that they might find deliverance across a river (i.e. in the free states beyond the Ohio). Call and response singing enhances this piece.