Rock My Soul in de Bosom of Abraham

Well, rock er my soul in de bosom of Abraham,
Rock er my soul in de bosom of Abraham,
Rock er my soul in de bosom of Abraham,
O, de rock er my soul.

Ole Satan is er liar en er conjurer, too,
Oh, de rock er my soul.
Ef you don't mind he'll conjure you.
Oh, de rock er my soul.

O, rock er my soul in de bosom of Abraham,
Rock er my soul in de bosom of Abraham,
Rock er my soul in de bosom of Abraham,
O, de rock er my soul.


source: Honey in the Rock: The Ruby Pickens Tartt Collection of Religious Folk Songs from Sumter County, Alabama.

Notes:

The New Testament story of the rich man (called "Dives" after the Vulgate translation of the adjective rich) and the beggar Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) has had wide appeal for impoverished masses who have seen in it grim justice and hope for the rectification of their suffering. In Afro- American folk religious tradition, the parable is given expression by hundreds of sermons and folk narratives and many spirituals, particularly the Lazarus-Dives ballad and this famous "rocking' chorus to which various migratory stanzas are attached.
Rock has numerous imagistic associations: the rhythms of lullaby which croon the child to sleep, as here the soul, the child of Christ, is clasped to the bosom of the guardian Abraham; the swaying movements of worshippers; the reeling and rocking of Noah's ark, and by exten sion the stormy tumult of conversion from sin; and the analogical sexual connotation in blues and other secular folk music.
Lomax recorded an extraordinary performance of "Rocky my soul" from Richard Brown in Sumter County which points up the startling differences between folk and concert styles. (Brown-Owens, Toting the Lead Row, 30-32, briefly relates the recording session, and includes some of Rich's text along with a photograph of Rich and John Lomax.) See also the version of this chorus offered by Allen, Ware, and Garrison, Slave Songs of the United States, 73.