We sang a song, back in my school choir days, called "Poor Man Lazrus," which was arranged by Jester Hairston--eveidently an arranger of some renown, who also provided Sidney Poitier's singing voice in "The Lilies of the Field.". It was attributed as an African-American spritual, and had the repeating line:

"Dip your finger in the water,
Come and cool my tongue,
'Cause I'm tormented in the flame."

It was set up as a call and response type song--

Poor man Lazrus, Sick and disabled,
Dip your finger in the water...etc.
He had to eat crumbs from the rich man's table,
Dip your finger in the water...etc.

Rich man Dives, he lived so well,
Dip your...etc.
And when he died, he went straight to hell,
Dip your...etc.

There were more verses than that, but those are the first two that sprang to mind. Neither of the tunes mentioned are anything like the tune we learned, unless there are more than one with the same name, and I'm just not familiar!

It was one of my all-time favorites from junior high school choir.

Denise:^)