Mudcat Café message #2500419

The Mudcat Café ^TM
Thread #3744 Message #2500419
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
22-Nov-08 - 08:18 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Go Tell It on the Mountain
Subject: RE: Origins: Go Tell It on the Mountain

Dressed in white- another floater, in several old spirituals, but best-known from:

Wade in the Water- or-"God's a-Gwineter Trouble De Water"

See dat host all dressed in white
God's a-gwineter trouble de water
The leader looks like de Israelite
God's a-gwineter trouble de water.

James W. and J. R. Johnson, "The Books of American Negro Spirituals," 1925-1926 and reprints.
(negrospirituals.com has the verse without dialect)
Also in Work.