The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #3744   Message #585101
Posted By: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
02-Nov-01 - 08:14 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Go Tell It on the Mountain
Subject: RE: Go tell it on the Mountain
Go Tell It On the Mountain (unnumbered version) in DT is the spiritual, as recorded by John W. Work in "American Negro Songs and Spirituals." The next to last verse (He made me a watchman, etc., appears in the version in Fenner and in Dett. In Fenner, and Dett, the last line of the chorus is "That Jesus Christ is a-born." Dett gives an easier melody in an Appendix and changes a-born to born.
This carol was first printed in 1874, thus is one of the older ones recorded. Other modifications are more recent.