George Pullen Jackson shows a "Negro" version and a "White" one side by side with tunes and notes.

DOWN IN THE VALLEY TO PRAY (White spiritual)
(Hexatonic, mode 1A)

Come, brothers, let's go down,
Let's go down, let's go down;
Come brothers, let's go down,
Down in the valley to pray.

As I went down in the valley to pray,
A-studying about that good old way,
O who shall wear the starry crown?
Good Lord, show me the way.

(Note: The song is taken from L.L. McDowell's middle Tennessee Songs of the Old Camp Ground, p. 44, and used here by kind permission. Variants: Spiritual Folk-Songs, No. 207; and Olive Leaf, 1878, p. 8.)

DOWN IN THE VALLEY TO PRAY (Negro spiritual)
(Pentatonic, mode 1)

O brother, less go down,
less go down, less go down,
O brother, less go down,
Down in the valley to pray.

'S I went down to the valley to pray,
Studyin' about dat good ole way,
You shall wear a starry crown,
Good Lord, show me de way.

(Note: Found in Barton's middle Tennessee collection, 1880-1887, p. 4. Variants: Slave Songs, as sung in Nashville, Tennessee, No. 104; White's Fisk Jubilee Songs, 1872, p. 42; and John Work, pp. 69 and 193.)

SOURCE: George Pullen Jackson, White and Negro Spirituals (1944; Da Capo, 1975), nos. 30 and XXX.

The Jubilee Singers' version is:

COME, LET US ALL GO DOWN

1. As I went down in the valley to pray,
Studying about that good old way;
You shall wear the starry crown,
Good Lord, show me the way.

2. I think I hear the sinner say,
Come, let's go in the valley to pray; You shall wear the starry crown,
Good Lord, show me the way.

3. I think I hear the mourner say,
Come, let's go in the valle to pray;
You shall wear the starry crown,
Good Lord, show me the way.

(Chorus)
By-and-by we'll all go down,
all go down, all go down,
By-and-by we'll all go down,
Down in the valley to pray.

SOURCE: J.T.B. Marsh, The Story of the Jublilee Singers; With Their Songs, revised edition (1880; AMS, 1971), no. 33.

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