I wish to apologize for errors in dating The Gospel Train- Jubilee songs. Also for memory loss; Stewie worked out the dates in thread 18648, but I had forgotten.

The date for the song in the booklet of songs published by Church and Co. is 1884 (Jubilee 1, above), not 1904. Moreover, it appeared in the second edition of 64 spirituals published in 1872 by Seward (not seen). - it is in the 3rd edition with 139 songs published in 1892 (Jubilee 2).

I am assuming that the edition of "69" reported by John in Brisbane is the second edition of 1872; Gospel Train is included in his list of contents- thread 18648: Help- USA Jubilee

The earliest published date for the song thus seems to be 1872 (Gospel Train 2), also reported by Cohen in "The Long Steel Rail; the version by Taylor is 1882; the Jubilee Singers version in the Church and Co. booklet is 1884. I still have my doubts about this song originally being a spiritual; it seems more like southern white gospel. The comment by Odum and Johnson (1st posting) that it lacks the usual characteristics of form and dialect seems pertinent.