Hey Folks!

I've been doing research on Jonah songs and I've been trying to decipher Henry Thomas' 1927 "Jonah in the Wilderness"

There is an old discussion on a forum out there, but I hear it differently. I even have a feeling that it is actually "john" and not Jonah. John was the wilderness preacher after all.

Here's a link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUp-KUETdKY

Hey, Jonah (John?), Hallelujah! 
Hey, Jonah, preaching in that wilderness 

Preaching in that wilderness, preaching in that wilderness 



Go down yonder to the bottom of the ship 

See can you find the (sturdy true-hearted???) Christian 

Go yonder to the power of God
See can you find the ??? Christian 

Sure to come back, sure to say to the Lord 

Could not find the ??? Christian 

Go yonder to the (hills I saw)?
See can you find the … Christian 

Sure to come back, sure to say to the Lord 

Could not find the … Christian 



Lord told Jonah, said to go and preach 

Jonah declared that he would not go 

Hid hisself in the bottom of the ship 

Searched that ship from bottom to top 

Here Brother Jonah sent overboard 

Fast come a bird and dropped the seed 

Dropped the seed, that sprung the root 


From the root that sprung the vine 

From the vine that sprung the shade 

Under that shade brother Jonah laid 

I Walked right up I read him by his room?
God has choosed that Jonah's got on (Got his shoes?) 

When we get to heaven, I will sit and tell 

I've escaped old death and hell 



Ship rocked from shore to shore 

Ship rocked from door to door

God declared that the ship went wrong 

Jonah's gotta leave this standin' round



God told Noah go to build an Ark 

God told em go to build an Ark
fast as they that wooden ark built
Flooded (hunted?) forty days and forty nights