Hi, Jim-
There's a pretty good explanation in the Traditional Ballad Index.
-Joe Offer-

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Run Come See

DESCRIPTION: "It was in nineteen hundred and twenty nine, I remember that day pretty well...." The singer describes the great storm that threatened the Ethel, Myrtle, and Praetoria, sinking the last. The Captain, George Brown, calls on the passengers to pray
AUTHOR: claimed by "Blind Blake" Higgs
EARLIEST DATE: 1940s (recording, Blake Higgs)
KEYWORDS: religious ship storm wreck
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1929 - The Bahamas are devastated by a hurricane with little or no advance warning. Three boats, the Ethel, Myrtle, and Praetoria, bound for Andros, are caught in the storm; the Praetoria sinks, and thirty-three are lost.
FOUND IN: West Indies(Bahamas)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 58, "Run Come See" (1 text)
DT, RUNCOME
ADDITIONAL: Harold Courlander, _A Treasury of Afro-American Folklore_, Crown Publishers, 1976, pp. 131-137, "The Singing of the Pytoria" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Blind Blake Higgs, "Run Come See Jerusalem" (on WIHIGGS01)
John Roberts & group, "Pytoria (Run Come See Jerusalem)" (on MuBahamas2)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A Great Storm Pass Over" (subject)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Run Come See Jerusalem
NOTES [28 words]: John Roberts claims to have composed this song within four days of the ship's sinking, rather than Blake Higgs. On reading his account, I'm inclined to believe him. - PJS
Last updated in version 3.7
File: FSWB058

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The Ballad Index Copyright 2019 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

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Note that there is another song about the same storm on one of the Lomax recordings:

Great Storm Pass Over, A

DESCRIPTION: A hurricane passes over Andros Island; for three days the sun is blotted out. The singer fixes his heart on Jesus; while many are crippled, wounded, or killed, he is spared. He tells sinners that the time of judgement is coming; they had better pray
AUTHOR: "Tappy Toe" (nickname, real name unknown; Andros Island sponger)
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (recording, men from Andros Island)
KEYWORDS: warning death disaster storm Caribbean Jesus
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1929 - The Bahamas are devastated by a hurricane with little or no advance warning. Many deaths and much damage results
FOUND IN: West Indies(Bahamas)
Roud #15622
RECORDINGS:
Unidentified men from Andros Island, "A Great Storm Pass Over" (AAFS 504 A, 1935; on LomaxCD1822-2)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Run Come See" (subject)
NOTES [17 words]: While the storm described is the same one described in "Run Come See," this is an independent song. - PJS
File: RcAGSPO

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Barry posted the lyrics to "A Great Storm Pass Over" in another thread: Thread #84455   Message #1559238
Posted By: Barry Finn
08-Sep-05 - 03:39 PM
Thread Name: Req/Add: Wasn't That a Mighty Storm
Subject: Lyr Add: A GREAT STORM PASS OVER (trad. Bahamas)

Another, not only great song but a great hurricane song that was collected by the younger Lomax, Allen in 1935. The song comes from Andros Island in the Bahamas & it's about the 1929 hurricane that drove through Hurricane Alley.


See Lomax collection. Rounder Records.

Deep River of Song; Bahamas 1935
Chantey's & Anthems from Andros & Cat Islands

A Great Storm Pass Over

REFRAIN: It's a great storm pass over(3x)
The time is drawin' nigh

'Bout nineteen hundred and twenty nine
As the sun did cross the line
It is a great storm pass over Andros Island
And the time is drawin' nigh (refrain)

Three long days and three long nights
That the sun refuse to see
And I fix my heart on Jesus Christ
And he turn the light on me (refrain 2x)

Many a soul, female and male
They suffer in that gale
No tongue can ever tell that tale
But Jesus found a way. [Tell 'em 'bout] (refrain 2x)

O that storm, that wonderful storm
It took some life away
And then it wounded some and cripple some way some
And it leave some there to pray {tell 'em 'bout it}

O you sinner, you better pray
Get saved in time of storm
But the Judgment Day is drawin' nigh
As long as God is nigh 'em 'bout (refrain 2x)


Barry