The version in Solomon, Honey in the Rock: The Ruby Pickens Tartt Collection of religious Folk Songs from Sumter County, Alabama (p. 33) is longer.
WHEN THE LOVE COMES TWINKLE-LIN' DOWN
-1-
Oh, brother, you oughter been there
Brother, you oughter been there
Brother, you oughter been there
When the love come twinkle-in' down.
-2-
My mother, you oughter been there
Mother, you oughter been there
Mother, you oughter been there
When the love come twinkle-in' down.
-3-
My elder, where were you
My elder, where were you
My elder, where were you
When the love come twinkle-in' down.
-Chorus-
Oh seek, seek, seek en you shall find,
Knock en the door shall be open,
Ask en it shall be given,
When the love come twinkle-in' down.
-4-
Oh my sister, where were you
My sister, where were you
My sister, where were you
When the love come twinkle-in' down.
-5-
Oh, sinner, you oughter been there
Sinner, you oughter been there
Sinner, you oughter been there
When the love come twinkle-in' down.
-6-
Oh, pretender, you oughter been there
Pretender, you oughter been there
Pretender, you oughter been there
When the love come twinkle-in' down.
Another version is in Religious Folk Songs of the Negro, new ed. (1920; AMS, 1973, p. 101; with music)["Seek and Ye Shall Find"].
James Weldon Johnson says (in the preface to The Book of American Negro Spirituals, vol. 1, p. 41), when he cites another spiritual (CRUCIFIXION, stz. 4: "De blood came twinkiln' down,/An' He never said a mumblin' word./De blood came twinkiln' down,/An' He never said a mumblin' word,/Not a word--not a word--not a word."), "The word 'twinklin'' ... is a Negro pronunciation of the word 'trinkling.' But in this way what a magical poetic phrase was stumbled upon, 'The blood came twinkling down.'"
Other sound recordings were made before World War II by Wood's Famous Blind Jubilee Singers (on Document)["Seek and Ye Shall Find"]; Pace Jubilee Singers ["Seek and Ye Shall Find"]; and The Pettways And Friends ["Seek And Ye Shall Find (And the Boold Come A-Twinking Down)"].
~Masato