The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #128668 Message #2882351
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
08-Apr-10 - 04:27 PM
Thread Name: Ain't I Glad I Got Out of The Wilderness
Subject: RE: Ain't I Glad I Got Out of The Wilderness
"Ain't I glad I got out of the Wilderness" seems to date to 1858, in the song Down in Alabam posted in thread 11138 and song sheets Ain't I Glad to Get Out of the Wilderness, of the Civil War period. A Hampton song indicates that it is earlier.
I have found one Black religious song with that line, although several have only 'go in the wilderness'.
Leanin' on de Lord, sung at Hampton. One student there said "My father sang this hymn, and said he knew a time when a great many slaves were allowed to have a revival for two days, while their masters and families had one......" The version the student had:
Go in de wilderness, Leanin' on de Lord.
Oh, brother how d'ye feel, when ye come out de wilderness, come out de wilderness, come out de wilderness. When ye come out de wilderness, Leanin' on de Lord.
R. Nathaniel Dett, Religious Folk-Songs of the Negro as sung at Hampton Institute, Hampton Institute Press, Hampton, VA.
Dates not stated, but if it was sung by slaves, it is pre-Civil War.