Going to Live Humble to the Lord

DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "Humble, humble, humble yourselves, Going to live humble to the Lord"(2x). Verse: The singer, who has "my trials," was "walking along... elements opened... love came down." If you aim for the sky, don't lie.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute, pp. 6-7, "Gwine to Live Humble to de Lord" (1 text, 1 tune; p. 135 in the 1901 edition)
Work-FolkSongOfTheAmericanNegro, p. 54, "Live a Humble"; p. 74, "Live a Humble" (2 copies of the same text))
Roud #11952
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Hide Away (Jonah and the Whale)" (chorus: "Live humble ....")
NOTES [115 words]: Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute's verses include the floater, "If you get there before I do, Tell all my friends I'm coming too." The second and fourth line of each verse is "Going to live humble to the Lord." - BS
Work's version is quite different, with chorus, "Live a humble, humble, humble yourself, the bells done rung" (repeated. There is no internal refrain in the verses. I was very tempted to split them. But it's very hard to define this sort of plot-less, idea-less, song that almost certainly originated among illiterate slaves or ex-slaves. Roud lumps the two, so I do too, because there isn't much actual point in splitting them. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.0
File: Dett006

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography