The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #149681   Message #3483392
Posted By: Azizi
24-Feb-13 - 07:35 PM
Thread Name: Jamaican Songs About The River Jordan
Subject: Lyr Add: ROLL JORDAN ROLL
Here's my transcription of "Roll Jordan Roll" as sung by members of a Jamaican church:

LYRICS: ROLL JORDAN ROLL
(Zion Sacred Heart Sabbath Church congregation - Jamaica)

[This song is already in progress when the video begins.]

Group- Roll, Jordan, roll
Roll, Jordan, roll
Roll, Jordan, roll
I want to go to heaven when I die
to hear oh Jordan roll

Lead Singer: Roll!
Response: One day Jordan gonna roll
Lead: Roll!
Response: One day Jordan gonna roll
Lead: Roll!
Response: One day Jordan gonna roll
Lead: Roll!
Response: One day Jordan gonna roll
Lead: Roll!
Response: One day Jordan gonna roll
Lead: Roll!
Response: One day Jordan gonna roll
Lead: Roll!
Response: One day Jordan gonna roll
Both: For I want to go to heaven when I die to
hear oh Jordan roll.

[The entire call & response portion is repeated multiple times.]
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell from the video. Additions and corrections are very welcome.

This video is Example #3 in (Pancocojams Jamaican Songs About The River Jordan, Part I).

"Zion Sacred Heart Sabbath Church" is a Jamaican originating Christian denomination. Churches in this denomination are found in Jamaica, in New York City (Brooklyn, Manhattan), in Toronto, Canada and in some other locations.

Most of the examples of these Jamaican songs don't adhere as closely as even this one to the lyrics and the tune of the African American Spiritual "Roll Jordan Roll". And most of those examples would probably not be considered Spirituals in the traditional sense of that word.