My Lord's Riding All the Time

DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "He sees all you do and He hears all you say, My Lord's a-riding all the time (x2)." Verses: "When I was down in Egypt, I heard a mighty talking about the promised land." "Come down come down my Lord come down, And take me up to wear the crown"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute); 1893 (see notes)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute, p. 150, "My Lord's a-Riding All the Time" (1 text, 1 tune; p. 98 in the 1901 edition) [for 1893 edition, see notes]
Roud #15244
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I Can't Stay In Egypt Land" (theme: this world is Egypt)
NOTES [84 words]: In Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute's verses, every alternate line is "My Lord's a-riding all the time."
The index to the 1893 edition [of Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute] has "My Lord's a-riding all the time" on page 98, 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 98. - BS
Last updated in version 4.2
File: Dett150

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