Listen to the Lambs
DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "Listen to the lambs (x3), crying, I want to go to Heaven when I die." Verses: "Come on, sister, with your ups and downs, Angels waiting to give you a crown." "Come on sister and don't be ashamed, Angels waiting for to write your name"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious sheep
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute, pp. 136-137, "Listen to de Lambs" (1 text, 1 tune; p. 158 in the 1909 edition)
Curtis-Burlin-NegroFolkSongs-TheHamptonSeries (II), pp. 57-63, "Listen to de Lambs" (1 text with variants, 1 tune with variants)
ADDITIONAL: John W. Work, American Negro Songs (New York: Crown Publishers, 1940 (republished by Mineola: Dover Publications, 1998)), p. 111, "Listen to the Lambs" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12260
NOTES [27 words]: In Work's and Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute's verses, every alternate line is "Want to go to heaven when I die." - BS
Last updated in version 5.0
File: Dett136
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
The Ballad Index Copyright 2024 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.