He Is King of Kings

DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "King of kings, Lord of lords, Jesus Christ, first and last, No man works like him." Verses: "He built a platform in the air, He meets the saints from everywhere." "He pitched a tent on Canaan's ground, And broke the Roman kingdom down."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute); 1893 (see notes)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious Jesus
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute, p. 146, "He Is King of Kings" (1 text) (1 tune; p. 99 in the 1901 edition); Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute, p. 151, "Why, He's the Lord of Lords (He's the Lord of Lords)" (1 text, 1 tune; p. 96 in the 1901 edition) [for 1893 edition, see notes]
Work-FolkSongOfTheAmericanNegro, p. 68, "He Is King of Kings" (1 text)
SongsOfManyNations, "King of Kings" (1 text, 1 tune) (12th edition, p. 57)
Roud #11961
NOTES [116 words]: In Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute's verses, every alternate line is "No man works like him" or "No one can work like him. The version Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute calls "Why, He's the Lord of Lords" the verses include the floater "Paul and Silas bound in jail."
The index to the 1893 edition [of Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute] has "He's the Lord of Lords" on page 96, with the note "Fisk Jubilee Collection, by permission" (Thomas P. Fenner and Frederic G. Rathbun, Cabin and Plantation Songs (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1893)). I have not seen page 96. - BS
Last updated in version 6.3
File: Dett146

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