JONAH
As recorded by The Golden Gate Quartet, 1937.

CHORUS: Oh, Jonah! Oh, oh, Jonah!
Oh, Jonah! Oh, Jonah!
Go down Nineveh, serve the Lord.
An' it's oh, Jonah! Oh, oh, Jonah!
Oh, Jonah! Oh, Jonah!
Go down Nineveh, serve the Lord.
Go down, Jonah; go down in Nineveh, said my Lord.

1. Well, God spoke to Jonah, a Christian man,
And said: "Go down to Nineveh an' take my command."
Well, he gave him his orders from his royal throne,
Said: "Go down to Nineveh, preach my doom.
Tell 'em forty long days will pass them by.
I'm gon' destroy the city with fire."
But Jonah didn't want to hear God's command,
So he got him a ticket out for Joppa lan';
Then he got that ticket, and got on boa'd,
And the ship went to rockin' on down the sho'.

CHORUS: And it's oh, Jonah.... [etc.]

2. Well, Jonah got a ticket an' got on boa'd,
And the ship went a-rockin' on down the sho',
But my God caused the wind to rise,
And the cap'n an' crew got troubled in mind.
They say they'll all be lost if the storm don't stop.
I'd better search the vessel from bottom to top.
So they searched that ship from bottom to top,
And they found them a man lyin' fast asleep.
They says: "Wake up, Jonah; get up, man.
Your God a'mighty's gon' 'stroy the lan'." CHORUS

3. Then they woke ol' Jonah from his sleep,
And said: "Jonah, your God destroyin' the deep."
Jonah woke up an' said: "I'm the man
That didn't want to go down to Nineveh lan'."
Say: "You cast my body in the sea,
'Cause I don't want you to suffer for me."
So they cast ol' Jonah right overboa'd.
Along came a fish and swallowed him whole,
But the fish got sick by God's command,
And he cast ol' Jonah right on the san'.
But the sun shone down on Jonah's head,
So God grew a vine to give him shade,
But along came a worm and cut it down.
Well, that's another star in Jonah's crown. CHORUS

[Note: The chorus is actually more complex than I have indicated here. There is a lot more repetition as well as overlapping singing of different words by different voices.]