Lyr Add: Go Chain the Lion Down (Spiritual)

Subject: Lyr Add: Go Chain the Lion Down (Spiritual)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 24 Feb 05 - 05:52 PM

Posting of "The Mockingbird" (thread 78732) reminded me of this old song, sung by The Fisk Jubilee Singers and said to be a favorite of Mark Twain's.

Lyr. Add: Go Chain the Lion Down.

1. Do you see the good old sister,
Come a wagging up the hill so slow,
She wants to get to heav'n in due time,
Before the heav'n doors close.

Refrain:
Go chain the lion down,
Go chain the lion down,
Go chain the lion down,
Before the heav'n doors close.

2. Do you see the good old Christians
Come a wagging up the hill so slow,
They wants to get to heav'n in due time,
Before the heav'n doors close.

3. Do you see the good old preachers
Come a wagging up the hill so slow,
They wants to get to heav'n in due time,
Before the heav'n doors close.

Gilbert Clifford Noble, 1911, collector and arranger, "The Most Popular Plantation Songs," Hinds, Noble and Eldridge, NYC, p. 93, with music.
Listed in the Cleveland Index, "Index to Negro Spirituals," Chicago.

Any information available on the history and place of origin of this spiritual?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Go Chain the Lion Down (Spiritual)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 25 Feb 05 - 12:03 PM

Q-

May have been a precursor to "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport."

Maybe I'll "research" this.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Go Chain the Lion Down (Spiritual)
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 25 Feb 05 - 12:35 PM

Real interesting song, Q. Makes me think of the Staples Singers and Rev. Gary Davis singing similar songs with the line "trying to get to heaven in due time, 'fore the heaven doors close."

Jerry