Origins: Wade in the Water

18 Aug 98 - 12:48 PM (#35233)
Subject: Wade in the Water
From: Jeanie Murphy

Does anyone have the OT verses to "Wade in the Water"? Not the corny ones, but the ones where everyone's dressed in colors: such as, "Who's that yonder dressed in black, must be the hypocrite turning back." I'd sure appreciate them and we could get them on the data base.

---

18 Aug 98 - 02:18 PM (#35242)
Subject: Lyr Add: WADE IN THE WATER (trad + Paul Ashton)
From: Joe Offer

WADE IN THE WATER
traditional, additional verses by Paul Ashton ©1968

Chorus:
Wade in the water, wade in the water, children
Wade in the water, God's gonna trouble the water!

Who are those children there dressed in red?
God's gonna trouble the waters.
Must be the children that Moses led
God's gonna trouble the waters.

…white / Must be the people getting ready for the fight

…blue / Must be the people gonna see this through

…black / Must be the hypocrites turning back

(next 2 verses below are by Paul Ashton)

He spoke and divided the sea in two / God's gonna….
Allowing all his people to pass on through / God's gonna..

He spoke and the water flowed back again…
And drowned the oppressors pursuing them…

The enemy's great but my Captain's strong…
I'm marchin' to the City and the road ain't long…

(note that some of these verses are also used in "Go Tell It On the Mountain")
source: Rise Up Singing songbook

---

18 Aug 98 - 03:18 PM (#35252)
Subject: Lyr Add: WADE IN THE WATER (from Lomax)
From: Joe Offer

WADE IN THE WATER
traditional
this version, from "Folk Songs of North America," by Alan Lomax, © 1960

Chorus:
Wade in the water, wade in the water, children
Wade in the water, God's gonna trouble the water!

'Member one thing an' it's certainly sho'
Wade in the water
Judgment's comin' and I don' know,
Wade in the water.
(Chorus)

Up on the mountain, Jehovah, he spoke, wade…
Out of his mouth came fire and smoke, wade…

I heard a rumblin' up in the sky…
Must a-been Jesus passin' by…

Down in the valley, down on my knees…
Askin' my Lawd to save me, please…

You can hinder me here, you can hinder me there…
But the Lawd in Heaven will hear my prayer…

The enemy's great, but my Captain's strong…
I'm marching to the city and the road ain't long…

I tell you once and I tell you twice…
My soul's been anchored in Jesus Christ…

You may baptize Peter and baptize Paul…
But the Lord-God-er-mighty gonna baptize um all…

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and john…
Tell me where my Saviour gone?…

My Lawd spoke in a 'ponstrous voice…
Shook the world to its very jois'…

Rung through Heaven and down in Hell…
My dungeon shook and my chains, they fell….

---

18 Aug 98 - 05:30 PM (#35263)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Barry Finn

I believe that the Georgia Sea Island Singers did this in a workshop recently & refered to it as a "code song" & was made up for when Harriet Tubman came around. When Harriet came into the area the slaves would sing a new song to let everyone know her train was coming through, but the songs would change so that no one would put 2 & 2 together. Frankie Quimby claims at least 4 songs she sings are these Harriet Tubman songs. Barry

---

18 Aug 98 - 06:52 PM (#35288)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Ian HP

There's a wonderful version of this on the Sweet Honey in the Rock at Carnegie Hall CD.

---

18 Aug 98 - 07:36 PM (#35292)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Joe Offer

I meant to mention the 4-CD series called "Wade in the Water" from Smithsonian Folkways. It's absolutely the best collection of black gospel music I've ever seen. Bernice Johnson Reagon, who founded Sweet Honey in the Rock, put together this collection after the success of her radio series with the same title. It was a great radio series, too - sure wish I could hear the series again.
-Joe Offer-

---

18 Aug 98 - 08:09 PM (#35295)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Barry Finn

Joe you may be interested in Lomaxs' Southern Jouneys, if you haven't already checked it out , there's at least 1 volume of gospel. Barry

---

18 Aug 98 - 08:39 PM (#35301)
Subject: Lyr/Chords Add: FREE GRACE
From: BSeed

Joe's second Offering (excuse me) of verses for Wade in the Water remind me of another Georgia Sea Island Singers song, "Free Grace." Here's the way we sing it:


(G)Mary and Martha (G)just gone along,
(D)Mary and Martha Just gone a-(G)long,
(G)Mary and Martha (C)just gone along(C)
To (G)ring them [D]chimin' (G)bells (a-cryin')
--chorus--
(G)Free grace, I'm (G)dyin', Lord,
(Free grace) Free [D]grace, I'm dyin', (G)Lord.
(Free grace) Free grace, I'm (C) dyin', Lord,
To (G)ring them [D]chimin' (G)bells.

The preacher and the teacher just gone along (3 times)
To ring them chimin' bells(a-cryin)

Way over Jordan roll (3 times, etc.)

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (3 times)

(The words in parentheses are lines for bass voices)

I think that's about it. Additional verses could be made up to fit the occasion, of course. I don't know if it's in the digitrad, or not.
--seed

---

18 Aug 98 - 10:05 PM (#35310)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Joe Offer

Sounds interesting, Seed. Are the square brackets around the D chords for a reason, like maybe to indicate a D7 chord? Now, any way you might be able to master MIDITXT and enter a tune?

Oh, and Seed, you've been here long enough now that you can no longer get away with a phrase like, "I don't know if it's in the digitrad, or not." See that box in the upper-right corner of the page?

Once we have you searching the database and posting tunes, then we'll give you your Official Mudcat Whiskers and you, too, can be a real Mudcateer.

You're an hon-o-ra-ry
Mud-Cat-TEER!!!!!

-Joe Offer-

---

19 Aug 98 - 03:04 AM (#35325)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Barry Finn

harpgirl, it sounds like it could be a ring game song. I'll see if I can't check it out somewhere. Barry

---

19 Aug 98 - 05:29 PM (#35368)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Kathleen

I don't know if these are the "corny" verses or not, but I sang this with a chamber choir this year:

See that band all dressed in white Well it looks like a band of Israelites God's gonna. . .

See that band all dressed in red Well it looks like the band that Moses led God's gonna . . .

That's all we sang. It's a good song when you've got a strong alto for the solo

Later,

Kathleen

---

19 Aug 98 - 05:55 PM (#35370)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Barbara

Maybe we need a Zipper Gospel thread.
Seems like there's a set of interchangeable verses to a lot of these. I posted some for Gene in the Lighthouse thread earlier. In addition to those mentioned above, there's:

Paul and Silas bound in jail
Ain't nobody to go their bail

One of these days about 12 o'clock
This ol' world gonna reel and rock

One of these days before very long
The whole wide world gonna sing this song

If you get to heaven before I do
Tell all my friends I'll be there too

My Lord he done just what he said
He healed the sick and he raised the dead

These can go to Go Tell it on the Mountain, Wade in the Water, Lighthouse, Swing Low, Go Down Moses, Rock My Soul, and more...
Blessings,
Barbara

---

20 Aug 98 - 10:47 AM (#35407)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Dani

...and to Oh, Mary Don't You Weep, and to...

---

20 Aug 98 - 11:41 AM (#35412)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Tinwhistler

add: green/hypocrites turning mean

---

21 Aug 98 - 01:37 PM (#35543)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Kathleen

This has nothing to do with 'Wade' but has anyone heard the song "Elijah Rock" done well? There's an arrangement of it with eight parts and it sounds great if the singers know what they're doing. I think maybe Sweet Honey in the Rock has done it.

---

21 Aug 98 - 02:38 PM (#35545)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Joe Offer

Hi, Kathleen - Our Hero and Resident Wizard Max has added yet another feature to the Mudcat Cafe. If you search for a song using the search box at the upper-right corner of most pages here, you'll go to another page thate eher does or does not have the lyrics. Here's the new thing: on the top of that page, you can choose to search a number of CD merchants, who pay Mudcat a fee if you buy through their link. The CDNow link says there are recordings by Janie Frickie, Mahalia Jackson, by Acappella, and a few other artists - no sound samples on this particular song, unfortunately. I'll betcha the recording you heard was by Acappella. I have the Mahalia Jackson recording of "Elijah Rock,", and it's a good one.
-Joe Offer-

---

27 Aug 98 - 02:24 PM (#36136)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Kathleen

Hello!

Thanks for the new info, Joe. Actually, we sang that song last year as part of my choir's Sacred Concert. I just really like the piece. I'll have to check out that new service.

Later,

Kathleen

---

27 Aug 98 - 03:57 PM (#36141)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: BSeed

Joe, I couldn't remember where I had posted "Free Grace," so I used the forum search (unsuccessfully, at first--I used full lines, forgetting that I had inserted the chords. Finally, just the words Free Grace got me this thread, and a link to Has Anyone the Courage Now, where I had mentioned the song in one of my postings.

That's how I missed your question about the chord names in brackets. I use the brackets to indicate a chord that comes in mid measure. I started doing this when I posted verses I had written for "Abilene" in a thread of that name.

I just ran across the What is ABC thread, and am going to take the time to learn it. Meantime, "Free Grace" uses some very familiar old folk melody I can't identify. --seed

---

28 Aug 98 - 01:18 PM (#36254)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Sir

Does anyone remember Herb Alpert having version out in his Tijuana Brass days?

---

28 Aug 98 - 01:20 PM (#36255)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Sir

A version of "Wade in the Water", that is...

---

29 Aug 98 - 02:44 AM (#36329)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: BSeed

Joe, I still haven't learned ABC, but I have refined and explained my harmony notation: Check it out on the thread Abilene II. --seed

---

06 Dec 01 - 07:55 PM (#605314)
Subject: Lyr Add: GOD'S GONNA TROUBLE THE WATERS
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)

GOD'S GONNA TROUBLE THE WATERS

Oh, see that man dressed in white,
God's a-gonna trouble the waters,
He looks like the leader of the Israelites,
God's a-gonna trouble the waters.
Cho.
Wading in the water,
Wading in the water, children,
Wading in the water,
God's a-gonna trouble the water.

Oh, see that man dressed in red,
God's a-gonna trouble the waters,
He looks like the man that Moses saved,
God's a-gonna trouble the waters.

Wading in the waters,
Wading in the waters, children,
Wading in the waters,
God's a-gonna trouble the waters.

Oh, look over yonder, what do I see,
God's a-gonna trouble the waters,
The Holy Ghost coming down on me,
God's a-gonna trouble the waters.
Cho.
If you don't believe that I've been redeemed,
God's a-gonna trouble the waters,
Then follow me down to the Jordan stream,
God's a-gonna trouble the waters.
Cho.

One of the better gospel versions. The Carter Family, song texts.
www.silcom.com/~peterf/ideas/carter2.htm
@religion @gospel @spiritual

---

14 Jan 02 - 08:55 PM (#628048)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: GUEST,sarah

i was wondering if anyone had the meaning of the song wade in the water, like, the decoded version of it. if you do please contact me. [e-mail] thanks a lot!

---

14 Jan 02 - 10:02 PM (#628092)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)

Wade in the water(s) is used it at least two ways in versions of this song. God troubling the waters, letting the Israelites through, and as a song theme during the baptizing ceremony. In other versions, the fire that will come next time is mentioned.
I doubt that there is any special "code" involved here. Of course, any word or line change in any song may be used as a code if the change is agreed upon by those who wish to give or receive a signal or pass a message. There are several versions of this song; it would be difficult to determine which one was in use in any particular area at a particular time. Even if there was a message, its form and meaning would be lost as a result of the changes made through the years.
Some people think of the Sea Islands as if they were completely cut off geographically and in time. This is simply not true. Isolation from the mainstream, yes, but the phonograph, the islands owners and their visitors, the radio after the 1920s, children going to the mainland to find work and then returning to visit, etc., would influence the way songs were preserved and would allow some new material to be added. Gullah-speaking natives of the islands were not infrequent as servants in the coastal mainland towns. We are lucky that so much was still there when the collectors became interested.

---

15 Jan 02 - 01:08 PM (#628405)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Ringer

A) Where are the Georgia Sea Islands?
B) Who is/was Harriet Tubman?

---

16 Jan 02 - 04:02 PM (#629212)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)

There are many bios of Harriet Tubman See www.nyhistory.com/harriettubman/life.htm, or go to Google. She was born ca. 1820 in MD, married a freedman, John Tubman, at age 25, escaped to Canada, and thereafter worked with the underground railroad helping slaves to freedom. During the war, she worked as a nurse and spy. After the war, she returned to NY and was active in womens rights, and ran a home for the aged. She died in 1913.
The Georgia Sea Islands extend along most of the Georgia coast; sometimes the adjacent SC coast to Port Royal is included in discussions.

---

16 Jan 02 - 04:51 PM (#629247)
Subject: Lyr Add: GOD GONNA TROUBLE THE WATER (from Alabama
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)

There are many versions of Wade In The Water or God Gonna Trouble The Water. Here is one from Alabama.

GOD GONNA TROUBLE THE WATER

Chorus
I'm er wadin', I'm er wadin' in the water, chillun (3 times)
God gonna trouble the water.

Oh, Satan is er liar en er conjurer too,
God gonna trouble the water,
Ef you don't watch out he'll conjure you,
God gonna trouble the water.

I 'members the day, I 'members hit well,
God gonna trouble the water,
When Jesus freed my soul from hell,
God gonna trouble the water.

Chorus

One day, one day I went out to pray,
God gonna trouble the water,
My soul got happy en I stayed all day,
God gonna trouble the water.

Ole Satan mad en I am glad,
God gonna trouble the water,
He missed er soul he thought he had,
God gonna trouble the water.

To "wade in the water" is to undergo the spiritual regeneration symbolized by baptism. "The migratory Satan stanzas may appear to bear ...no relationship...to the theme of rebirth, but rebirth frees the soul from the sin that Satan personifies. "Got happy" is a Southern folk expression for the religious ecstasy of conversion or other transcendent experience."
Olivia and Jack Solomon, "Honey In The Rock," The Ruby Pickens Tartt Collection, 1991, p. 10.
@religion @spiritual

---

16 Jan 02 - 05:27 PM (#629260)
Subject: Lyr Add: GOD'S A-GWINETER TROUBLE DE WATER
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)

Lyr Add: GOD'S A-GWINETER TROUBLE DE WATER

Chorus
Wade in de water, children (3 times)
God's a-gwineter trouble de water.

See dat host all dressed in white,
God's a-gwineter trouble de water,
De leader looks like de Israelite,
God's a-gwineter trouble de water,
Cho.
See dat ban' all dressed in red,
God's a-gwineter trouble de water,
Looks like de ban' dat Moses led,
God's a-gwineter trouble de water.
Cho.
Johnson and Johnson, 1953, The Books of American Negro Spirituals, Book 2, p. 84, with music.
@religion @spiritual

---

16 Jan 02 - 06:02 PM (#629281)
Subject: Lyr Add: LET GOD'S SAINTS COME IN
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)

Lyr Add: LET GOD'S SAINTS COME IN

Cho.
Come down, angel, and trouble the water, (3 times)
And let God's saints come in.

Canaan land is the land for me,
And let God's saints come in.
Canaan land is the land for me,
And let God's saints come in.

There was a wicked man,
He kept them children in Egypt land.
etc.

God did say to Moses one day,
Say, Moses, go to Egypt land,

And tell him to let my people go,
And pharoah would not let 'em go.

God did go to Moses house,
And God did tell him who he was,

God and Moses walked and talked,
And God did show him who he was.

Chorus and 1st verse used together as a chorus.
From William Francis Allen, Slave Songs of the United States, 1867, p. 76 No. 99.
@religion @spiritual

---

25 Jan 02 - 06:31 PM (#635643)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: GUEST,Pam

I am a middle school choral director and plan to use the spiritual, WADE IN THE WATER in our spring concert. I would like to tell my students the history, meaning, interpretation of the lyrics. Can anyone help me? Thanks you, PY

---

25 Jan 02 - 06:46 PM (#635652)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)

Try Here
If that doesn't work, the website is :
www.si.edu/sites/exhibit/wade.htm

---

25 Jan 02 - 06:55 PM (#635662)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)

I thought that website had some information, but not so. The basic background of Wade in the Water is mentioned in my post of 14 Jan 02. At the same Smithsonian site "it is said" that Harriet Tubman used the Wade in the Water simile to urge escaping slaves on the underground railway to keep going ahead. it is a good one, but whether she actually used it or not is open to discussion.

---

25 Jan 02 - 11:35 PM (#635824)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: masato sakurai

Was this song recorded in the 19th century? According to the Cleveland Public Library's Index to Negro Spirituals and A. Kathleen Abromeit, An Index to African-American Spirituals for the Solo Voice (Greenwood, 1999), the records before the Second World War are:

Frederick Work, New Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers (1902)
Work, Folk Songs of the American Negro (1907)
Fisher, Seventy Negro Spirituals (1926)
James Johnson, The Second Book of American Negro Spirituals (1926) ["God's a-Gwineter Trouble de Water"]
Parrish, Slave Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands (1942, 1992, pp. 170-172)

Sound clip of this song by the present-day Fisk Jubilee Singers is HERE.

~Masato

---

26 Jan 02 - 12:40 AM (#635881)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)

Agreed, Masato, I don't know of any 19C references. The references to Tubman's use of the song is not backed up by any literature (that is why I emphasized the "it is said").
The version "God's A-gwineter Trouble The Water" could be an assembled song, part old spiritual and part (the chorus) a relatively recent addition, but only the subject matter, not the form, seems to appear in older spirituals. Unfortunately, lack of documentation is true of a number of "old" spirituals and songs.
Jeannie, color was used for separation of groups or characters and for emphasis in a number of the songs. This was not considered "corny" by those who sang them.

---

26 Jan 02 - 01:32 PM (#636123)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: GUEST,Amy

Responding to a previous thread posted by Kathleen... A great arrangement of Elijah Rock was done by Moses Hogan. If you can get a CD...his choir is great. The arrangments have full harmonies and some very low bass parts. As for Wade in Water...I have recently really enjoyed listening to the late Eva Cassidy singing this song on the CD "Songbird." Nice collection of songs on this album too...

---

11 Mar 02 - 06:36 AM (#666795)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: GUEST,Denis Keane

I have recently bought Eva Cassidy's CD "Songbird" and was overwhelmed by "Wade in the Water" (as well as the other songs). I have a youth choir and think that they would really enjoy "Wade in the Water". Does anyone have the Guitar chords of same, particularly Eva Cassidy's version.

---

11 Mar 02 - 10:13 AM (#666914)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: masato sakurai

Gracenote (click here) lists 404 CDs containing "Wade in the Water" (duplications and other songs included).

~Masato

---

11 Mar 02 - 11:34 AM (#666973)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)

Denis, Try ABC plus

---

11 Mar 02 - 11:37 AM (#666976)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)

MP3 of Cassidy, Wade in the Water: cassidy

---

20 Nov 03 - 08:56 PM (#1058181)
Subject: Lyr Add: WADE IN NUH WATUH CHILDUN
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Mentioned in this thread by Masato, but not reproduced, is the version of the baptismal song from the Georgia Sea Islands collected by Lydia Parrish.

Lyr. Add: WADE IN NUH WATUH CHILDUN

Chorus:
Wade in nuh watuh childun
Wade in nuh watuh childun
Wade in nuh watuh
Gawd's go'nah trouble duh watuh

If a you don' believe Ah been redeem'
Gawd's go'nah trouble duh watuh
Follow me down to Jurdun stream
Gawd's go'nuh trouble duh watuh.

Repeat chorus

Who dat yonduh drest in white
Gawd's go'nuh trouble duh watuh
Mus' be the childun uv the Isralite
Gard's go'nuh trouble duh watuh.

Repeat the chorus.

"Although the water was bitterly cold that February morning, the young people behaved very well, and only one squealed a little- which was considered very bad form. If you do not come up like a lamb it is "suspicioned" that your conversion has not been authentic, and the baptism may need to be performed again."
"In the old days,.... baptism in the tidewater section took place ... no matter how inconvenient the hour, on the outgoing tide".

At the baptisms, the congregation may "pray to the river;" in Sea Island and Georgia coastal speech, this means that they pray beside the river, not to the river. Comments and quotes from Lydia Parrish.

Lydia Parrish, "Slave Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands," 1942 (reprint 1992), Univ. Georgia Press, pp. 170-171 with sheet music.

---

20 Nov 03 - 09:03 PM (#1058186)
Subject: RE: Wade in the Water
From: Amos

Denis:

Just saw this presumably unanswered question. The version I know works well with Em, A, and B7. A C7 can be thrown in for spice. There is a whole family of spirituals built on this formation, another member of which is "Keep Your Hand on the Plow", and another "Oh, What a Beautiful City" in some versions.

A

---

08 Sep 04 - 10:51 PM (#1267287)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wade in the Water/Green Sally Up
From: Azizi

I am gonna trouble the water by referring to a post in Aug 1998 by harpgirl in which she mentions the song "Green Sally, Up."

Harpgirl included the verse:

Green Sally up, Green Sally down
Last one to squat got to till the ground.
--
This African American children's game song is included on Disc 4 of Alan Lomax'z Sounds of the South, A Musical Journey fromt the Georgia Sea Isles to the Mississippi Delta.{Atlantic 787496-2; 1993}

The notes for Green Sally,Up says this is "a black children's singing
game performed by a group of women in Como, Miss. The slaves have passed on to a modern generation of children a whole literature of children's songs which resemble the familiar English Ring Around the Rosie, but which were gayer and more syncopated."

Given these notes, this song should probably not be listed in Mudcat's wonderful African America file of African American spirituals. Instead it should be included in the children's songs and African American slavery dance song files {if you have the last mentioned file}.

The words to this song sound to me like
Green Sally up, Green Sally down
last one squat got to till {touch ?}the ground

Ole {Oh?}Miss Lucy dead and gone.
Left me hear to weep and moan.
If you hate it fold your arms
If you love it clap your hands.
--
The same verses are repeated again and again. The tempo of this song is rather slow and handclapping is the only accompaniment.

In my opinion, the "Ole Miss Lucy etc. sounds alot like the "My ole missus {master} promised me" floating verses such as this one found in Dorothy Scarborough's On The Trail Of Negro Folk Songs:

My ole marster promised me
Ef I broke de record h'd set me free.
My ole marster dead and gone,
He lef' Bre'r Wahington hillin' up corn.

--
Could it be that "Green Sally, Up" was a coded way for enslaved people to rejoice in the death of a cruel slave owner while singing a song that seemed to indicate that they weeped and moaned her passing?

Remember that way back then "Miss" was a title that was reserved for white women, so "Miss Lucy" could have been the slave master's wife or some other family member. And since most people were bound to prefer clapping their hands to folding their arms,if Miss Lucy was a mean ole woman who left the slaves to weep and moan {over their terrible hardships not Miss Lucy's passing},then there was bound to have been whole lot of handclapping going on when this song was sung.

"Green" Sally here could mean a young, naive, inexperienced woman who actually beleived that the Missus was going to free her.

Any thoughts on this theory?

Also, Bessie Jones has another version of 'Green sally,Up' in Step It Down, the book on African Amerrican children's songs from the Georgia Seal Isle that was Bessie Jones co-authored with Bess Lomax-Hawes. That version is presented as a syncopated handclap rhyme and dance song with a number of familiar floating verses, including verses that are most often now associated with Mary Mack:

Green Sally up, Green Sally down
Green Sally bake her possum brown.

Asked my mama for fifteen cents
to see the elephant jump the fence.
He jumped so high, he touched the sky
He never got back till the fourth of July.

You see that house upon that hill,
That's where me and my baby live.

Oh the rabbit in the hash come a-stepping in the dash,
With his long-tailed coat and his beaver on.
--
Bess Lomax-Hawes indicates that "The last couplet 'Oh, the rabbit in the hash' may be repeated over and over, either at a steady tempo or speeded uo as much as three times faster. The 'Green Sally" couplet functions as a refrain, and may be put in anywhere ou want it". Also, the book relates that one of the Sea Islanders, Peter Davis, had said that he always said "Rabbit in the hatchet". This seems to be an example of folk etymology..

Unfortunately, I don't have a recording of the "Step It Down" version, but it's description leaves me to believe it's much faster tthan the Sounds of the South version.

Is anyone familiar with this version of this song?

---

09 Sep 04 - 07:21 AM (#1267473)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wade in the Water
From: Mooh

I love this song, but it evaded me until about 10 years ago when I heard Eve Goldberg do it. It's fun to do with a cappella breaks and rhythm percussion instruments in jam situations.

Peace, Mooh.

---

09 Sep 04 - 10:20 AM (#1267585)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wade in the Water
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Play songs are poorly represented in early collections.

There is a version here: Flower
Azizi, you probably have seen this, but I wondered, where did the name "Flower" come from?

---

09 Sep 04 - 10:34 AM (#1267598)
Subject: Add: Green Sally Up
From: wysiwyg

From Q's link above:

Green Sally up
And green Sally down
Lift and squat
Gotta tear the ground

Old miss Lucy's dead and gone
Left me here to weep and moan


Azizi, welcome to Mudcat!

There's not a separate section as you describe it, now; the Spirituals permathread has become a place to stash related musics. It would be GREAT if you could keep posting here like you did above! WOW!!!!! And maybe a separate project will evolve with more accurate focus than we have here, so far. In the meantime I will add Green Sally Up to the permathread listings, but indicate that it's a children's song. (See this post's subject line to see how to make new songs easier to find on later searches, when they are added to threads of other song-names.)

~S~

---

09 Sep 04 - 10:51 AM (#1267614)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wade in the Water
From: M'Grath of Altcar

I'm listening a great jazz piano version of the tune by Ramsey Lewis! It Rocks!!!!

---

09 Sep 04 - 12:17 PM (#1267663)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wade in the Water
From: M'Grath of Altcar

Just discovered that Ramsey Lewis' version of Wade in the water is Northern Soul!

Northern Soul / folk music fusion. No wonder I like as much as I do.

MMmm.. I think this deserves another thread.

MofA

---

09 Sep 04 - 07:54 PM (#1268058)
Subject: Lyr Add: WATER-FLOWER
From: Azizi

WYSIWG, thank you. Nice to be in such good company.

Q, I'm not sure where the name "Flower" came from in relation to the song "Green Sally Up".

I've learned from my "Jim Along Josie" experience not to state something with assurance unless I'm really sure. Notice how I try to qualify my supposings with "maybes", "could bes" and "IMOs".

{Remember when I said that a josie was a woman's undergarment? That erroneous statement was circulated all around the Mudcat Cafe and the Internet and may still be... So, one more time, I was wrong...A josie is a joseph is a woman's riding coat..)

This of course has very little to do with "Flower" as a name for Green Sally, Up.

But I wonder, isn't there an old British folk rhyme called Wallflower? And doesn't that rhyme mention death? Green Sally mentions death. Is there any connection between these two rhymes?

Could "Green Sally" be the name of a greenish flower growing near a wall? Probably not.

But, just for the heck of it, here's what is "probably" a variant of the Wallflower children's rhyme. This girl/boy ring game with one person in the center is from from Altona Trent John's 1944 book "Playsongs of the Deep South."

WATER-FLOWER
Water-flower, water-flower,
Growing up so tall,
All the young ladies must surely, surely die;
All except Miss 'Lindy Watkins,
She is everywhere,-
The white folks say, the white folks say,
Turn your back and tell your beau's name.

Doctor, Doctor can you tell
What will make poor 'Lindy well?
She is sick and 'bout to die,
That will make poor Johnnie cry!

Marry, marry, marry, quick!
'Lindy, you are just love sick!

Johnnie is a ver' nice man,
Comes to the door with hat in hand,
Pulls off his gloves and show his rings,
'Morrow is the wedding-day.
---

So this may not have anything to do with Green Sally Up. It certainly has nothing to do with Wade in the Water, which after all is the name of this thread- except that flowers need water...and so Green Sally has to travel upstream to go wading....

Never mind...

---

09 Sep 04 - 08:29 PM (#1268086)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wade in the Water
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Azizi, this thread is wandering far from "Wade in the Water." I am moving my comments on water-wildflowers to the thread on Children's Street Games, thread 4300: Children's Games
They will be easier to relocate here.

---

09 Sep 04 - 11:13 PM (#1268199)
Subject: Add: WATER-FLOWER
From: wysiwyg

Thanks, Azizi, for sharing that one. Now that Mudcat searches work better than they used to, we don't worry too much about things creeping into other threads. But Q is a good one to traipse after, if you have not yet looked at that threadlink he gave....

~S~

---

10 Sep 04 - 05:27 PM (#1268825)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wade in the Water
From: LilyFestre

I can't tell you what all the lyrics are but what I CAN tell you is that you haven't ever heard it sung if you haven't heard my pastor sing it...and it HAS to be in front of some of the stuffier older ladies with their jaws hanging down to the floor to make it complete!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dang...I LOVE THIS SONG!   

Here's to you Father Greg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ler 'er rip!!!!!!!!



Michelle

---

14 Apr 05 - 09:31 AM (#1460996)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wade in the Water
From: harpgirl

I thought I just posted this.....
Azizi, did I mention that I heard "Green Sally Up" from the singing of Bryan Bowers? He claimed it was a field hand song. I don't know whether he heard it in Virginia or picked it up from someone else along the way. Joe could ask him this Friday night!

l,h

---

29 May 05 - 09:53 PM (#1495810)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wade in the Water
From: GUEST,Diane

I really want to thank the folks who supplied the Alan Lemax-recorded versions of "Wade in the Water", a title I'd been racking my brains to remember from the 'sixties popular version (civil rights era?). I'm a big jazz fan, even more than I'm a blues fan, and I wanted the reference to this song from a snippet I keep listening to in a larger song written and performed by the late Charles Mingus. I think the pieces will all fall together now, so my sincere thanks!

---

01 Jun 05 - 04:34 AM (#1497215)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wade in the Water
From: Margret RoadKnight

Brilliant interpretaion included in "Revelations", Alvin Ailey's pivotal work.

---

05 Jun 05 - 11:44 AM (#1500520)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wade in the Water
From: harpgirl

Oh Azizi, I see you mentioned the book I told you I got from FFF. It is a very interesting book, isn't it? Now if I ever get grandchildren, I will have lots of ryhming games to play....

---

05 Jun 05 - 12:25 PM (#1500537)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wade in the Water
From: Azizi

Yes, Bessie Jones' and Bess Hawes Lomax's Step it Down is a wonderful book.

I've heard tell that there is a videotape and/or CD associated with this book. Does anyone have any information about that?

---

12 Mar 07 - 08:52 PM (#1994931)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wade in the Water
From: GUEST

Thanks for the helpful info!

---

08 Apr 08 - 04:41 PM (#2310516)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wade in the Water
From: GUEST

hi i love the words to this song

---

08 Apr 08 - 04:52 PM (#2310525)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wade in the Water
From: Azizi

Here's a link to Alvin Ailey's dance company's Wade In The Water:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9uEq9Sjefg&feature=related
Alvin Ailey Dance-Wade in the Water from "Revelations"

**

I've had the pleasure of seeing this company perform this dance couple of times. It is stunning!!

There are other YouTube videos available of Alvin Ailey's now classic dance "Revelations".

---

28 Feb 10 - 07:43 PM (#2852603)
Subject: Lyr Req: Wade in the water
From: JeffB

There have been a number of threads lately on the River Jordan/Jerdan, just when I decided to learn Wade in the Water. With concertina accompaniement. Don't know if that's been done before. Anyway, the DT has a few verses, but not many and they seem to be floaters. Does anyone have any verses more specifically associated with this spiritual? Or failing that, any more floaters that might be suitable.

---

28 Feb 10 - 07:58 PM (#2852612)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wade in the water
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Please see previous thread:
Wade in the Water

Please check with filter for previous threads.

---

01 Mar 10 - 09:21 AM (#2852983)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wade in the water
From: JeffB

Thanks Q, should have done that first obviously.

---

10 May 11 - 10:45 AM (#3151417)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wade in the Water
From: GUEST,msjae1025

My daughter once sang a verse that started: "In the beginning when the world began..." Is anyone fmailiar with the rest of this?

---

23 Apr 15 - 09:12 PM (#3703722)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wade in the Water
From: wysiwyg

Atca song circle tonight I was asked to teach this song out of RISE UP SINGING. There are verses in that version about children drowning during the escapes of enslaved people and it disturbs me to think that particular slant has been promulgated as the definitive story of the songs or the people who originated the song, because the world of that time and that song were far more complex (see any Ira Berlin book on slavery).

While it is true that crying children or babies have sometimes been 'silenced' with fatal results, most white folks do not know that culturally, many civilizations have not put children first when species survival is threatened-- that's a white, privileged, recent ethic. The elders and their accumulated wisdom have more often been the priority group.


But the song was a work song first, a code song second as well as a bible-teaching song among folks prohibited from reading. IMNSHO, only much later did some well-intentioned person add verses about 'drownings.'

Also, few know that only towards the end of slavery was it so difficult and dangerous to travel as to have left the plantation at night (See Berlin) that children would be drowned.

~Susan

---

20 Feb 23 - 04:17 PM (#4165653)
Subject: RE: Origins: Wade in the Water
From: Joe Offer

The "trouble the water" passage comes from the healing of the paralytic at Bethesda

Lots of scriptural references in this song. Could be a tour of the entire Hebrew and Christian Bibles.

-Joe-

---