Lyr Req: I Can't Sit Down/Get On Board

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I Can't Sit Down/Get On Board
From: Janie
Date: 25 Apr 10 - 12:05 AM

You can take a listen to Big Medicine's version at http://www.bigmedmusic.com/

The link takes you to their home page. Click on "Music". Scrolled down and click the link under the album "Too Old to Be Controlled."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I Can't Sit Down/Get On Board
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Dec 07 - 08:35 PM

"Get on Board" is properly titled "Gospel Train," an old spiritual sung by the Jubilee Singers. Many versions. See thread 62341: Gospel Train
Also see African-American Spirituals Permathread (Link in FAQ).

Steep Canyon Rangers do that 'sit down' song on Youtube" sit down
It uses common floater verses that appear in several different spirituals.
It may have originated with the opera "Porgy and Bess" (Gershwin), "Oh, I Can't Sit Down."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I Can't Sit Down/Get On Board
From: Bugsy
Date: 10 Dec 07 - 07:03 PM

Glad to be of assistance


Cheers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I Can't Sit Down/Get On Board
From: Gern
Date: 10 Dec 07 - 05:39 PM

Wow! I was answered as I asked. Thanks for the help, all!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I Can't Sit Down/Get On Board
From: Gern
Date: 10 Dec 07 - 05:37 PM

Bugsy's is the one,with interchangeable verses. How about the other, usually sung slowly, perhaps spelled "Git On Board" in the manner of "Dem Golden Slippers."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I Can't Sit Down/Get On Board
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 10 Dec 07 - 05:37 PM

The conventional version:

GIT ON BOARD

From Beatrice Landeck, "Get On Board," Edward B. Marks Music Corp 1944

CHO
Git on board, little children,
Git on board, little children,
Git on board, little children,
There's room for many a more.

Gospel train am comin',
I hear it close at hand,
I hear the car wheels movin'
And rumblin' through the land,

CHO

The fare is cheap and all can go,
The rich and poor are there,
No second class aboard dis train,
No difference in de fare.

But of course it's been found with other verses too. Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I Can't Sit Down/Get On Board
From: Bugsy
Date: 10 Dec 07 - 05:20 PM

Chorus
Won't you sit down
Lord I can't sit down
Won't you sit down
Lord I can't sit down
Won't you sit down
Lord I Can't sit down
'Cos I just got to Heaven
Got to look around

Who's that yonder dressed in red
Well it mus be the children that Moses led
(Repeat}

(Chorus)

Who's that yonder dressed in white?
Must be the children of the Israelite.
(repeat)

{Chorus}

Who's that yonder dressed in black
Well it mus be the hypocrites turning back
(repeat)

(and so on, and so forth)


Cheers


Bugsy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I Can't Sit Down/Get On Board
From: GUEST,Hope this is one of them. If so it is from
Date: 10 Dec 07 - 02:18 PM

www.akordy.sk/piesen.ltc?interpret=186&piesen=4397

I can´t sit down
Oh I can't sit down
I gotta keep a goin' like the flowin' of a song
Oh I can't sit down
I guess I'll take my honey an' her sunny smile along

Today I am gay an' I'm free
Oh just a bubblin,' nothin' troubblin' me
Oh I can't sit down
I can't sit down

Happy feelin' in my bones astealin', no concealin' det is picnic day!
Yeah I'm feelin' happy, I'm feelin' happy, so happy, det is picnic day!
Sure is dandy, got de likker handy, Me an' Mandy
Sure I'm feelin' happy, I'm feelin' happy, so happy
We are on de way because it's picnic day!

Oh I can't sit down
I gotta keep a jumpin' like de thumpin' of a drum
Oh I can't sit down
I'm full of all commotion like an ocean full of rhum!

Today I am gay an' I'm free
Oh just a bubblin' nothin' troubblin' me
Oh I'm goin' to town
I can't sit down
I can't sit down

Oh baby I can't sit down
Oh baby I can't sit down
Gotta keep agoin'
Keep agoin' like a song…

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I Can't Sit Down/Get On Board
From: GLoux
Date: 10 Dec 07 - 11:44 AM

Old-time string band, Big Medicine, does a great version of "I Can't Sit Down" on their "Too Old To Be Controlled" CD. They call it "Sit Down (I Can't Sit Down)". Yodel-Ay-Hee 043.

-Greg

Subject: Lyr Req: I Can't Sit Down/Get On Board
From: Gern
Date: 10 Dec 07 - 11:13 AM

I'm looking for both of these once-common spirituals. "I Can't Sit Down" features the line, "I just got to heaven, gotta look around." I quite possibly have either or both titles wrong.