Too bad only the "burden" (chorus) was remembered from "Shock Along, John." Just repetition of "Shock Along John" and no other lyrics.

Dena J. Epstein, in "Sinful Tunes and Spirituals, p. 207ff., discusses the opposition among religious Negroes to secular songs. "When Helen W. Ludlow of Hampton Institute attempted to persuade a former slave to sing corn songs for her, she was told, "Nuffin's good dat ain't religious, madam. Nobody sings dem corn-shuckin' songs after dey's done got religion." The teachings of the white ministers and evangelists were mostly responsible for this attitude, and as a result, many slavery era secular songs were lost and we are left with the falseimpression of a great preponderance of religious or "spiritual" songs.

From the half dozen corn songs preserved by early observers, they apparently consisted mostly of one line statements followed by a chorused response.

From the 1830s onward, there was a strong interchange between minstrel compositions and Negro folk rhymes. It is difficult to establish which source was the originator of many of the rhymes preserved by Talley and others. Shock Along John and Walk Along John may be related but we will never know because the slave song has been lost.