Lyr Req: Jordan River

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jordan River
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Dec 12 - 09:07 PM

Jordan River so deep and wide
Jordan River so deep and wide
Oh, Jordan River so deep and wide.
I have a home on the other side.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jordan River
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 16 Aug 02 - 08:55 AM

Crossing Jordan certainly was an image for going to Heaven, but I have read that during the days of slavery, it also had a more coded message of escaping north to freedom, just as Follow The Drinking Gourd did. Just what I've read. Can't vouch for it. I wasn't there.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jordan River
From: masato sakurai
Date: 16 Aug 02 - 04:47 AM

Previous "On Jordan's Stormy Banks" threads are:

Tune Req: I'm bound for the promised land

Lyr Add: 'On Jordan's Stormy Banks'/BndforPro

On Jordan's Stormy Banks

~Masato

Subject: Lyr Add: ON JORDAN'S STORMY BANKS I STAND
From: Burke
Date: 15 Aug 02 - 07:30 PM

Crossing Jordan was a very popular image in 18th & 19th century hymns as an image of going to heaven when we die. The chorus to Wayfaring Stranger is "I'm only going over Jordan, I'm only going over home."

I think the chorusless "On Jordan's stormy banks I stand," written by the English Baptist minister Samuel Stennett in 1787 also makes this clear. This was very popular as a shape note text, it's used twice in Southern Harmony & at least 6 times in the Sacred Harp.

On Jordan's stormy banks I stand,
And cast a wishful eye,
To Canaan's fair and happy land,
Where my possessions lie.

Oh, the transporting, rapt'rous scene,
That rises to my sight,
Sweet fields arrayed in living green,
And rivers of delight.

There gen'rous fruits that never fail,
On trees immortal grow;
There rocks and hills and brooks, and vales,
With milk and honey flow.

O'er all those wide, extended plains
Shines one eternal day!
There God the Son forever reigns,
And scatters night away.

No chilling winds, no pois'nous breath,
Can reach that healthful shore;
Sickness and sorrow, pain and death,
Are felt and feared no more.

When shall I reach that happy place
And be forever blest?
When shall I see my Father's face,
And in His bosom rest?

Filled with delight, my raptured soul
Would here no longer stay!
Though Jordan's waves around me roll,
Fearless I'd launch away.

There on those high and flowery plains,
Our spirits ne'er shall tire;
But in perpetual joyful strains,
Redeeming; love admire.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jordan River
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 15 Aug 02 - 01:50 AM

From what I've read, the Jordan River is sung about so much in black spirituals because it symbolized escaping across the river to freedom. The song On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand seems to make that connection clear:

"On Jordan's stormy banks I stand
And cast a wishful eye
To Canaan's fair and happy land
Where my possessions lie

I am bound for the promised land
I am bound for the promised land
Oh, who will come and go with me?
I am bound for the promised land

Jerry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jordan River
From: GUEST,cookieless Blackcatter
Date: 15 Aug 02 - 01:09 AM

People sure like to write about the Jordan. A folk ensemble I was in a few years ago had 4 songs that mentioned it or used it as their focus.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jordan River
From: masato sakurai
Date: 14 Aug 02 - 04:16 AM

Arranged scores are in James Weldon Johnson, The Book of American Negro Spirituals (Viking, pp. 82-84); Hall Johnson, Thirty Spirituals (G. Schirmer, pp. 62-63); and H.T. Burleigh, Album of Negro Spirituals (Franco Colombo, pp. 18-19) [all titled "Stan' Still Jordan"].

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jordan River
From:
Date: 14 Aug 02 - 04:08 AM

Thanks Masato. I took a guess and looked for "I got a mother in heaven", and got a hit. I was just lucky.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jordan River
From: masato sakurai
Date: 14 Aug 02 - 04:00 AM

Thanks, George, that must be the one. Paul Robeson's version lacks the third stanza but is almost the same otherwise, which is on The Collector's Paul Robeson (Monitor MCD-61580).

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jordan River
From:
Date: 14 Aug 02 - 03:58 AM

e-mail sent.

For more on African American Spirituals, check out this Mudcat Thread:

African-American Spirituals

Subject: Lyr Add: STAND STILL JORDAN (Negro Spiritual)
From:
Date: 14 Aug 02 - 03:44 AM

From http://www.negrospirituals.com/news-song/stand_still_jordan.htm

STAND STILL JORDAN

Stand still Jordan
Stand still Jordan
Stand still Jordan
Lord, I can't stand still
 
I got a mother in heaven
I got a mother in heaven
I got a mother in heaven
Lord, I can't stand still
 
When I get up in glory
When I get up in glory
When I get up in glory
Lord, I can't stand still
 
Stand still Jordan
Stand still Jordan
Stand still Jordan
Lord, I can't stand still
 
Jordan river
Jordan river
Jordan river
is chilly and cold
 
It will chill-a my body
It will chill-a my body
It will chill-a my body,
but not my soul
 
Stand still Jordan
Stand still Jordan
Stand still Jordan
Lord, I can't stand still

Subject: Lyr Add: EVERY TIME I FEEL THE SPIRIT
From: masato sakurai
Date: 14 Aug 02 - 03:19 AM

The song might be "Every Time I Feel the Spirit," but there're some differences. A version is posted here: Lyr Add: EVERYTIME I FEEL THE SPIRIT. Paul Robeson's recording of the song is on The Odyssey of Paul Robeson (OMEGA Classics OCD 3007):

EVERY TIME I FEEL THE SPIRIT

Every time I feel the spirit
Movin' in my heart, I will pray.
Every time I feel the spirit
Movin' in my heart, I will pray.

On the mountain my Lord spoke
Out his mouth came fire and smoke
In the valley on my knee
Asked my Lord, have mercy please.

Every time I feel the spirit
Movin' in my heart, I will pray.
Every time I feel the spirit
Movin' in my heart, I will pray.

Jordan river, chilly and cold
Chills the body but not the soul.
All around me looks so shine
Asked my Lord if all is mine.

Every time I feel the spirit
Movin' in my heart, I will pray.
Every time I feel the spirit
Movin' in my heart, I will pray.

Also on Paul Robeson: The Power and the Glory (Columbia/Legacy) [medley with "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"].

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jordan River
From: masato sakurai
Date: 13 Aug 02 - 11:32 PM

MICHAEL, ROW THE BOAT ASHORE has this verse:

Jordan's river is chilly and cold, Hallelujah,
Chills the body but not the soul, Hallelujah.

~Masato

Subject: Jordan River
From:
Date: 13 Aug 02 - 11:07 PM

I have only the following: Jordan River (x3) am chilly and cold. It will chilla my body (x3) but not my soul. I got a mother in heaven.... Can you help me with other verses? I think Robeson sang this song but can't find it anywhere on the web. Des Rainey, Auckland, New Zealand.