Lyr Add: I Want to Be Ready (spiritual)

Subject: Lyr Add: I Want to Be Ready (spiritual)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 07 Apr 10 - 08:45 PM

Lyr. Add: I Want to Be Ready
Arr. Clarence Cameron White

1
I want to be ready,
I want to be ready,
I want to be ready, my Lord,
To walk in Jerusalem, just like John.

John said the city was just four-square.
Walk in Jerusalem,
Just like John,
And he declared he'd meet me there,-

Walk in Jerusalem, just like John,
I want to be ready,
I want to be ready,
I want to be ready, my Lord,
To walk in Jerusalem, just like John.

Clarence Cameron White, 1927, Forty Negro Spirituals compiled and arranged for solo voice with pianoforte accompaniment. Theodore Presser Co., Philadelphia.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Want to Be Ready (spiritual)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 07 Apr 10 - 08:56 PM

Lyr. Add: I Want to Be Ready
Dett, as sung at Hampton Institute

Refrain
I want to be ready,
I want to be ready,
I want to be ready
To walk in Jerusalem just like John.
1
John said that Jerusalem was four-square,
Walk in Jerusalem just like John.
I hope, good Lord, I'll meet you there,
Walk in Jerusalem just like John.
2
When Peter was preaching at Pentecost,
Walk in Jerusalem just like John.
O he was filled with the Holy Ghost,
Walk in Jerusalem just like John.

R. Nathaniel Dett, 1927, Religious Folk-Songs of the Negro as Sung at Hampton Institute, Hampton Institute Press, Hampton, VA.
P. 33, with score 2/4.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Want to Be Ready (spiritual)
From: Richie
Date: 08 Apr 10 - 12:44 PM

Here's a version published in 1898:

http://books.google.com/books?id=aqcNAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA35&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html

Richie

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Want to Be Ready (spiritual)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Apr 10 - 03:03 PM

Lyr. Add: Walk Jerusalem Jes' Like John
From Barton, Coll. 1880-1887

Walk Jerusalem jes' Like John,
When I come to die,
I want to be ready,
When I come to die.

Walk Jerusalem, jes' like John,
Walk Jerusalem up and down,

Omit or repeat at will

Walk Jerusalem walk Jerusalem.
Walk Jerusalem jes' like John,
Walk Jerusalem round and round.

Collector's comment- Heard from workmen drilling a tunnel. "The men are hurried in after an explosion to drill with speed for another double row of blasts. They work two and two, one holding and turning the drill, the other striking it with a sledge. The sledges descend in unison as the long low chant gives the time. I wonder if the reader can imagine the effect of it all, the powder smoke filling the place, the darkness made barely visible by the little lights on the hats of the men, the echoing sounds of men and mules toward the outlet loading and carting away the rock thrown out by the last blast, and the men at the heading droning their low chant to the chink! chink! of the steel. A single musical phrase or a succession of a half dozen notes caught on a visit...sticks in one's mind forever. .........

Chink! Chink!
O-O! Lu-lah! Lu-lah!

"One occasionally hears these long songs in an evening meeting. They are interminable, and the only way to end them is to stop. One of them, a part of which has been published, and the whole of which no man knows, is "Walk Jerusalem just like John. Different versions of it have been printed, but none like the one I have.
"This song throws in almost at random couplets like:

Walk around from do' to do',
What to do I did not know;

Walk Jerusalem on Zion's hill,
Walk about on heaven and earth;

Satan thought he had me fast,
Thank the Lord I'm free at last;

I bless the Lord I'm going to die,
I'm going to judgement by and by.

Oh, John he heard the trumpet blow.
Hills and mountains fall below.

"It has no proper end. It goes on at the will of the leader, and unlike the ordinary hymn, which may be ended with a stanza or the refrain and usually is meant to end with the latter, this is meant never to end so far as the structure of the song is concerned.
.............
"....but the refrain is of variable occurrence, and may come every two lines, or run on for an epitomized biography of some Bible character."

I have inserted the text at length; it helps one to understand how the song was used and sung; note the contrast with most of the songs about "John Henry," and "hammer" verses which were not sung at work but during periods of relaxation.

William E. Barton, "Recent Negro Melodies," Feb. 1899, New England Magazine, pp. 707-719. Third of three articles.

Subject: Origins: Walk in Jerusalem Just Like John
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 May 17 - 02:09 AM

Here's the entry for this song in the Traditional Ballad Index

Walk in Jerusalem Just Like John

DESCRIPTION: "I want to be ready (x3) To walk in Jerusalem just like John." "John said the city was just foursquare... And he declared we'd meet him there." "When Peter was preaching at Pentecost, He was endowed with the Holy Ghost"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1899 (Barton)
KEYWORDS: religious Bible nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Barton, pp. 34-35, "Walk Jerusalem Jes Like John" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dett, p. 33, "I Want to Be Ready" (1 text, 1 tune; p. 163 in the 1909 edition)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 11, (no title) (1 fragment)
Warren-Spirit, pp. 60-61, "I Want to Be Ready (Walk In Jerusalem)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 356, "Walk In Jerusalem, Just Like John" (1 text)
DT, WALKJERU
Roud #12109
RECORDINGS:
Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys, "Walking In Jerusalem Just Like John" (Decca 28608, 1953)
Excelsior Quartet, "Walk In Jerusalem Just Like John" (OKeh 4619, 1922)
Homer Rodeheaver, "Walk In Jerusalem Just Like John" (Rainbow 1092, 1923)
Sunset Four Jubilee Quartette, "Walk In Jerusalem Just Like John" (Paramount 12292, 1925)
West Virginia Collegiate Institute Glee Club, "Walk in Jerusalem Just Like John" (Brunswick 3498, 1927; Supertone S-2126 [as Harmony Glee Club], 1930)
NOTES: The Biblical references here are a bit confused. The New Jerusalem is said to be descending in Rev. 21:2, and is said to be foursquare in Rev. 21:16 -- but there is no promise to meet John there. The coming of the Spirit at Pentecost is told in Acts 2 -- but the Spirit came FIRST, upon a large group, and only then did Peter preach about it. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.0
File: FSWB356A

---

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The Ballad Index Copyright 2016 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.
Here are the lyrics from the Digital Tradition - no source information is given, but it's very similar to the version in the Folksinger's Wordbook:

WALK IN JERUSALEM JUST LIKE JOHN

(cho) I wanna be ready
I wanna be ready
I wanna be ready
To walk in Jerusalem just like John

John said the city was just foursquare
Walk in Jerusalem just like John
And he declared he'd meet me there
Walk in Jerusalem just like John (cho)

Oh John oh John oh didn't you say
You'd be there on that great day

Some came crippled and some came lame
Some came walking in Jesus' name

Now brother, better mind how you step on the cross
Your feet might slip and your soul get lost

If you get there before I do
Just tell my friends I'm coming, too

@gospel
filename[ WALKJERU
TUNE FILE: WALKJERU
CLICK TO PLAY
MC

Subject: ADD Version: Walk in Jerusalem
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 May 17 - 02:14 AM

Thread #129086   Message #2902333
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
07-May-10 - 05:24 PM
Thread Name: Jubilee Songs, Fisk Jubilee Singers
Subject: I Want to Be Ready; Walk in Jerusalem .... John

No. 122. I Want to Be ready; or, Walk in Jerusalem Just Like John

Chorus:
I want to be ready,
I want to be ready,
I want to be ready....
To walk in Jerusalem just like John.

1
John said the city was just four-square,
Walk in Jerusalem just like John,
And he declared he's meet me there,
Walk in Jerusalem just like John.
2
Oh, John ! oh, John ! what do you say ?
Walk in Jerusalem just like John,
That I'll be there at the coming day,
Walk in Jerusalem just like John.
3
When Peter was preaching at Pentecost,
Walk in Jerusalem just like John,
He was endowed with the Holy Ghost,
Walk in Jerusalem just like John.

Subject: ADD Version: Walk in Jerusalem
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 May 17 - 02:18 AM

Thread #130508   Message #2945297
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
14-Jul-10 - 11:11 PM
Thread Name: St. Helena Island Spirituals Permathread
Subject: Walk in Jerusalem Jis Like John

56 Walk in Jerusalem jis Like John

Chorus-
Ah Jerusalem Lawd
Ah Jerusalem Lawd
Ah Jerusalem Lawd
Walk in Jerusalem just like John.

1
Leader
Walk in Jerusalem
Chorus
All Gawd's people
Leader
Walk in Jerusalem
Chorus
Jis like John.
2
Walk in Jerusalem -my dear brudduh
Walk in Jerusalem -jis like John.

The words mother, sister, deacon, pastor, etc. may be used.

Variants widespread.
Carl Diton, Thirty-six South Carolina Spirituals collected a version on Frogmore Island, 1913, with the following verses:
1
Last Sunday morning (3x)
Walk in Jerusalem just like John
2
Train am a-coming, etc.
3
She is loaded down with angels, etc.
The song includes other material, a more complex song than the one from Saint Helena.

Subject: ADD Version: Walk in Jerusalem Just Like John
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 May 17 - 02:33 AM

WALK IN JERUSALEM JUST LIKE JOHN

CHORUS
I want to be ready,
I want to be ready,
I want to be ready,
To walk in Jerusalem just like John.

John said the city was just four square,
Walk in Jerusalem just like John,
And he declared he'd meet me there,
Walk in Jerusalem just like John.

Oh John, Oh John, what do you say?
Walk in Jerusalem just like John.
That I'll be there in the coming day,
Walk in Jerusalem just like John.

When Peter was preaching at Pentecost,
Walk in Jerusalem just like John.
He was endowed with the Holy Ghost,
Walk in Jerusalem just like John.

Source: Folksinger's Wordbook, Silber & Silber, page 356