At Last! I am typing this on our brand-new computer, and construction on the church next door seems to have passed the cutting-phone-and-cable-lines-every-other-day phase.!Hopefully I"ll be able to be around the Mudcat more regularly now.

Hildebrand's version does seem to be connected to mine--I'll have to rummage around and see if I can find a Bahama link to the version I sing. Unfortunately, I never got any background when I learned it; it was during a singing weekend many years ago, and I just picked it up from hearing and singing it.I don't think Ain't No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down is the same song...it is a great one, though. Helen Schneyer used to reduce everyone in earshot to tears singing a slightly different version it; she may have recorded it, but I just can't remember offhand. I'll check.

One of the reasons I am drawn to this song is the ambiguity of the chorus. It makes me suspect that it is an older song or derived from one; the sixties' singaround choices, as I recall, tended to the most obvious meanings. So, are we to depend on God, or on each other, or the "other" also singing, who knows the code words? I could argue the point for this song being tied in somehow to the conductors on the underground railroad, but it would be pure speculation on my part, and part of the fun for me is singing it with other people and seeing where it takes them.

Have fun!
Carly Gewirz