I am hearing some differences as I listen to the recording at Southern Mosaic: The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip.

I hear "have an everlasting life." The notes indicate it ought to be HOME, not life or love, but clearly they are NOT singing "home." I suppose it could be any one of those, if you think about the meaning of the song.

I'm also hearing some other differences.

"He that believe in both the Father and the Son" I hear differently in each repetition of the chorus, one example being "He that believe on the Father an' the Son" and another being "He that believe in the power of the Son."

"Oh there I put my head to see," I hear as "Oh there I stretch my hand to plead." But it's awful unclear in the recording.

"Oh that Noah will help, I know," I hear as "Oh there's no other help, I know."

The Lomax field notes (Section 17: Livingston, Alabama and vicinity; May 26-30) give the following fragment:

Chorus:

He that believe have an everlasting home
He that believe on the Father an' the son, have an everlastin' home.

Listen, no other help I know--
Sometimes up an' sometimes down
I'm sometimes almost level with the ground.

I here by give myself away
This is all that I can do.

=================================

I think of these as possible approaches, not corrections to the "real" version, beause the magic of the genre was its malleability in each circumstance in which one would sing it. I think if we were to do this one now, I would edit it heavily, make sure the rhyme pattern is followed, create some new verses to fill it out a bit.

Any other recordings or versions of this, anyone?

~Susan