Ezekiel Saw the Wheel

DESCRIPTION: "Ezekiel saw the wheel, Way up in the middle of the air... And the big wheel (run/turn) by faith, and the little wheel (run/turn) by the grace of God. (There's) a wheel in a wheel, Way in the middle of the air."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute)
KEYWORDS: religious Bible nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute, pp. 60-61, "Ezekiel Saw de Wheel" (1 text, 1 tune; pp. 164-165 in the 1909 edition)
Courlander-NegroFolkMusic, p. 52, (no title) (1 text, probably partial)
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, pp. 488-492, "Ezekiel, You and Me" (1 heavily composite text, 1 composite tune; the first verse is "Ezekiel Saw the Wheel," the second is from "Keep A-Inchin' Along," the third is "Standing in the Need of Prayer," the fourth is "Chilly Water" [Roud #15312], the last probably derived from "Sowing on the Mountain")
Warren-EveryTimeIFeelTheSpirit, pp. 34-35, "Ezekiel Saw the Wheel" (1 text. 1 tune)
Messerli-ListenToTheMockingbird, pp. 30, "Ezekiel Wheel" (1 text)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 357, "Ezekiel Saw The Wheel" (1 text)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Portia Naomi Crawford, "A Study of Negro Folk Songs from Greensboro, North Carolina and Surrounding Towns," Vol. XVI, No. 2 (Oct 1968), pp. 98-100, "Well, Don't You Want to Take a Ride" (1 text, 1 tune, clearly inspired by this although it may have taken on parts of another song)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, pp. 415, 444, "Ezekiel Saw a Wheel" (notes only)
ADDITIONAL: Harold Courlander, _A Treasury of Afro-American Folklore_, Crown Publishers, 1976, p. 31`5, "(no title)" (1 text)
Roud #12241
RECORDINGS:
Biddle University Quartet, "Ezekiel Saw de Wheel" (Pathe 22400, 1920/Perfect 11225, 1925)
Elkins-Payne Jubilee Singers, "Ezekiel Saw de Wheel" (OKeh 40250, 1925; rec. 1924)
Fisk University Jubilee Quartet, "Ezekiel Saw de Wheel" (Columbia A3370, 1921; Silvertone 3283 [as Border Male Quartet], n.d.; rec. 1920)
Hall Johnson Negro Choir, "Ezekiel Saw de Wheel" (Victor 36020, 1930)
Hampton Institute Quartette, "Exekiel Saw de Wheel" (Musicraft 232, prob. 1939)
Norfolk Jubilee Quartette, "Ezekiel Saw de Wheel" (Paramount 12217, 1924)
Pace Jubilee Singers w. Hattie Parker, "Ezekiel Saw De Wheel" (Victor 21582, 1928)
Paul Robeson & Lawrence Brown, "Ezekiel Saw de Wheel" (Victor 20604, 1927)
West Virginia Collegiate Institute Glee Club, "Ezekial Saw de Wheel" (Brunswick 3498, 1927; Supertone S-2126 [as Harmony Glee Club], 1930)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Rock, Chariot, I Told You to Rock"
cf. "John Done Saw That Number"
cf. "A Wheel in a Wheel" (theme)
cf. "I Wouldn't Mind Dying" (Ezekiel's wheel theme)
NOTES [138 words]: This is based on Ezekiel's vision in Ezekiel 1. The "wheel" is first mentioned in 1:15, and the "wheel in a wheel" in 1:16. As far as I know, there is no disagreement about the interpretation of the word "wheel" -- although interpreters disagree whether the wheels looked like "beryl" or "topaz."
The text of verse 16 is somewhat uncertain; NRSV reads the verse as "As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl; and the four had the same form, their construction being somewhat like a wheel within a wheel." But the original Septuagint (LXX) Greek translation omits "and their construction." Many textual critics think the Greek is original here, and the Hebrew text underlying the King James Bible wrong, but the writer of this song surely did not know that. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: CNFM052

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