Lyr. Add: GWINE LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR MY LORD

De Lord giv' me mer trumpet an' tole me ter blow,
He giv' me mer commission an' tole me ter go.

   Fer my Lord, fer my Lord, fer my Lord,
   Gwine lay down my life fer my Lord.

You can hinder me here, but you can't hinder me dere,
For de Lord in Heaven gwine hear my prayer.

De enemy's great but my Cap'n is strong,
Um fightin' fer de city an' de time ain't long.

When I git dar I'll be able fer to tell,
How I whipped ole Satan at de door ob hell.

My head got wet wid de midnight dew,
Dat mornin' star was shinin' too.

No musical score, pp. 91-92; 1925, "The Negro and His Songs: A study of typical Negro songs in the South," Negro Universities Press (reprints).

Writing in the 1920s, the authors discuss the abundance of these songs and how few of them have been collected, "But this wealth of song will not continue indefinitely. Already the processes of civilization are operating to make the Negro ashamed of his old spirituals and to relegate the more naïve of his social songs to a rapidly diminishing lower class.
"Slowly but surely the folk creative urge will be dulled and this great body of folk song, perhaps the last of its kind, will pass away."