The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #24379   Message #3155217
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
16-May-11 - 01:41 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Deep River (Spiritual)
Subject: RE: Origins: Deep River
This is a difficult one, in that "Deep River" may be an added verse to "Steal Away," or floater collections. The 'deep river-campground' chorus may be quite late (20th c., my speculation).
I believe that the known versions are pretty well covered in thread 24379:

Deep River or Steal Away

The song, with Deep River in one of the verses, appears in Dann, Dett (Hampton Singers), Fisher, Frey, Grey, Johnson, White. To this list from the Cleveland Index, add Wier, 1929, "Songs of the Sunny South."
In the latter, the verse is
Oh, chillun, don't you want to go to the gospel feast
along with the usual 'cross over into campground'.

Quite a few floaters in the versions.