Witness for My Lord

DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "Soul is a witness for my Lord, Who'll be a witness for my Lord?" Moses receives the commandments. Samson kills three thousand but is betrayed by his wife. Christ's disciples watch him die. Methusaleh and Daniel are also among the witnesses.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (LomaxCD1708)
KEYWORDS: Bible nonballad religious Jesus
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
ADDITIONAL: James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson, The Books of American Negro Spirituals (New York: Viking Press, 1969 (copyright 1925, 1926)), Book 1, pp. 130-133, "Who'll Be a Witness for My Lord?" (1 text, 1 tune)
John W. Work, American Negro Songs (New York: Crown Publishers, 1940 (republished by Mineola: Dover Publications, 1998)), pp. 177-179, "Witness" (1 text, 1 tune)
Howard W. Odum and Guy B. Johnson, The Negro and his Songs (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1925 ("Digitized by Internet Archive"), pp. 132-133, "Witness for My Lord" (1 text)
Roud #12131
RECORDINGS:
Silver Leaf Quartett, "Witness for My Lord" (on LomaxCD1708)
NOTES [63 words]: Samson's unlikely exploits are detailed in Judges 13-16, but nowhere are we told how many he killed. Given that the Philistines were a very great threat after the period of the Judges, it's unlikely that he did them much actual damage. If he accomplished anything, it might have been to cause the Philistines some overconfidence: "Amazing how stupid those Israelites can be." - RBW
Last updated in version 4.2
File: AdWitfML

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