Pronunciation of Sweet Chariot

Subject: Pronunciation of Sweet Chariot
From: GUEST,Truman Price
Date: 14 Oct 21 - 02:24 PM

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot; Comin' for to carry me home --

I was taught 70 years ago, to pronounce chariot in this song as chario', to rhyme with low or home. Everyone I meet these days thinks it should rhyme with not, got, rot. I think it is pretter with the open O sound. Was anyone else taught this way? Or have historical evidence of the open Oh sound?

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Sweet Chariot
From: cnd
Date: 15 Oct 21 - 08:16 AM

I've listened to a number of recordings from the 50s to current and every one I've heard had the t at the end as best as I can remember. I think dropping the t could be an attempt to imitate black dialect, as well as help the rhyme, but I could be mistaken

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Sweet Chariot
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 15 Oct 21 - 10:14 AM

Always thought that a chariot (without pronouncingthe “t”) was a French supermarket trolley.

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Sweet Chariot
From: meself
Date: 15 Oct 21 - 11:08 AM

While there may be some valid reason for that pronunciation, I believe it would be quite distracting to any audience now.

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Sweet Chariot
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Oct 21 - 12:08 PM

I think you'd be best off pronouncing it with a soft t, annunciation everything but the tongue hit at the end

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Sweet Chariot
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 15 Oct 21 - 12:13 PM

awful song anyway, The instrumental was far better!!

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Sweet Chariot
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 15 Oct 21 - 05:04 PM

The Chariot was an object of popular religious mythology, therefore it would be interesting to know how the word was pronounced when used in that sense. As Ray pointed out, it is of French origin – if the borrowing took place in spoken language, a somewhat French pronunciation may be historically correct. Anyone who knows?

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Sweet Chariot
From: Lighter
Date: 15 Oct 21 - 05:39 PM

I was taught this song in grade school around 1957. The pronunciation was "chariot."

I can't imagine anybody I've ever known saying "chario'." (We don't say "aprico'" either.)

I've just now listened to snippets of about twenty singers on Amazon, white and black, from Paul Robeson to Johnny Cash to Leadbelly and Osceola Mays.

They all say "chariot." (Often "chariat" or "chariet," if you want to be picky.)

With a T.

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Sweet Chariot
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Oct 21 - 06:07 PM

I have a choir director who sometimes has us drop the final consonant in lines, because she says the sound is better. She always gets a fight from me, because I say he meaning is just as important.

I've always identified "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" with the Fisk Jubilee Singers, who made the song popular in the 19th century. Here's a 1909 recording by the Fisk Jubilee Singers that pronounces the "t," but lightly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUvBGZnL9rE

And here's a more recent Fisk performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoTGtiriybg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_Low%2C_Sweet_Chariot

Subject: RE: Pronunciation of Sweet Chariot
From: Manitas_at_home
Date: 15 Oct 21 - 07:30 PM

Dropping the final t won't make it rhyme with home but why does it even have to rhyme, it's not at the end of a sentence is it,?