Wonder Where Is My Brother Gone?

DESCRIPTION: "Wonder where is my brother gone? Wonder where is my brother John? He is gone to the wilderness, Ain't comin' no more. Wonder where will I lie down? (x2) In some lonesome place, Lord, down on the ground."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Fuson-BalladsOfTheKentuckyHighlands)
KEYWORDS: religious
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Courlander-NegroFolkMusic, p. 61, (no title) (partial text); p. 228, "Wonder Where Is My Brother Gone?" (1 tune, partial text)
Fuson-BalladsOfTheKentuckyHighlands, p. 150, "I Wonder Where My Father Be" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Harold Courlander, _A Treasury of Afro-American Folklore_, Crown Publishers, 1976, p. 349, "Wonder Where Is My Brother Gone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10969
RECORDINGS:
Annie Grace Horn Dodson, "Wonder Where My Brother Gone" (on NFMAla2)
NOTES [112 words]: Courlander's text (which is the basis for the description above) clearly refers to John the Baptist: "John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance..." (Mark 1:4; compare Matt. 3:1, Luke 3:2).
Fuson-BalladsOfTheKentuckyHighlands's text is much more secular: "I wonder where my father be, That he hain't been here with me. He's buried in some distant land And he won't be here with me. To sleep, to sleep, that lonesome sweet sleep, He is laid in his grave to sleep," and similarly with mother, brother, sisters, etc.
It may be that these are two separate songs, but neither seems sufficiently attested to make it worth splitting them. - RBW
Last updated in version 3.5
File: CNFM061B

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