The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #100593   Message #2020241
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
08-Apr-07 - 10:33 PM
Thread Name: Origins: 'SINNER MAN 3'?
Subject: Lyr. Add: No Hiding-Place Down There.
No composer, typical of what I call mix and match religious songs, in this case the sinner group. The verses of Sinner Man 3 all appear in Odum and Johnson, 1925.

The chorus in Sinner Man 3 is verse 1 in this song, minus the 'no room to hide' line.

No Title
O hell is deep and hell is wide, (3x)
O hell ain't got no bottom or side.

Well, before I lay in hell all day, hell all day, (3x)
I goin' to sing an' pray myself away, self away.

O sinner, don't you let this harves' pass, harves' pass, (3x)
Do you die an' go to Hell at las', hell at las'.

Collected by Odum and Johnson, in 1925, "The Negro and His Songs," p. 49, p. 72.

All of the verses appear in the following song, No. 74, Religious Songs, Odum and Johnson, 1925, pp. 121-122.
Verse 3 of Sinner Man 3 appears as verse 2 in "No Hiding-place," and verse 1 of Sinner Man 3 appears as verse 4. Verse 2 of S M 3 is almost the same as verse 6. Also in Odum and Johnson, from 1918 MS, VA.

NO HIDING-PLACE DOWN THERE
(Odum and Johnson, 1925)

1.
Went down to the rocks to hide my face, (3x)
The rocks cried out no hiding-place,
No hiding-place down here.
2.
Pharaoh's daughter lookin' for roses, (3x)
Stumped her toe and fell over Moses,
No hiding-place down there.
3.
Sister Mary wears a golden chain, (3x)
And every link's in Jesus name,
No hiding-place down there.
4.
Sinnaman sitting on the gates of hell, (3x)
The gates flew open and in he fell,
No hiding-place down there.
5.
Sinnaman row your boat one side, (3x)
Cause you can't get to heaven on the ebbing tide,
No hiding-place down there.
6.
Cause hell is deep and hell is wide, (3x)
You can't touch the bottom and you can't touch the side,
No hiding-place down there.

Extracts from notes:
Last stanza occurs in Murphy, 1904, p. 35. Cf. also Perrow 1913, Johnson 1925,...
Verse 3 from "Sister Mary" group.
Also sung by Negroes around Durham, SC. Also known in Alabama.

I haven't checked Perrow yet, but I doubt that much could be added.