824 | Glory to God#825 | 826 |
Text: | Swing Low, Sweet Chariot |
Tune: | SWING LOW |
Arranger: | Robert Nathaniel Dett |
Media: | Audio recording |
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 | |
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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: | |
Topic: | Freedom; Living and Dying in Christ |
Source: | African American spiritual |
Tune Information | |
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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.) |
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.
Media | |
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Audio recording: | Audio (MP3) |