On Rounder CD1137, available from CAMSCO:

A Warrior on the Battlefield
a capella Trail Blazers: 1920'2 - 1940's
[Black "Barbershop" Quartets]

From album notes: This unusual 3/4 piece is probably from the blind composer Fanny J. Crosby, who copyrighted the title in 1908. Hmm-- she was a text writer, not a composer, as far as I know. The verses are a call-and-response pattern as in spirituals. I think there are some transcription errors in the lyrics supplied in the liner notes.

~S~
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JESUS, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
As recorded by the Bethel Quartet, Sept. 21, 1928
Lyrics as per liner notes

REFRAIN:
Walk in this light, beautiful light
Come where the dewdrops of mercy shine bright
Shine all around us by day and by night
Jesus, the light of the world

1. If you've been there when I come through
(Jesus, the light of the world)
Just tell my Lord I'm coming too
(Jesus, the light of the world)

2. Jesus my all to heaven is God
(Jesus, the light of the world)
He whom my faith, my hopes are upon
(Jesus, the light of the world)

3. Upon the Christian fame and doubt
(Jesus, the light of the world)
With joy full I cast my golden crown
(Jesus, the light of the world)


SH

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What I'm hearing, with the aid of Pacemaker software that slows down sound without altering pitch:

1. If you'll been there when I come through
(Jesus, the light of the world)
Just tell my Lord I'm coming too
(Jesus, the light of the world)

2. Jesus my all to heaven is gone
(Jesus, the light of the world)
He whom my faith, my hope's upon
(Jesus, the light of the world)

3. Upon the Christian [unclear] down
(Jesus, the light of the world)
With joyful eye cast my golden crown
(Jesus, the light of the world)

Verse one is clearly a mishearing of the oft-used floating/zipper verse:
If you get there before I do
Just tell my Lord [or, "my friends"] I'm coming too

I think these differences are a combination of Mondegreens heard and reproduced as the song was passed down to the Bethel Quartet, as well as in the transcription of their version for the liner notes. Any sources in spirituals clear these up? In the last verse in particular, what is the golden crown being cast down upon? Might it originally have been the Cross, not "Christian"?

~Susan