Prayer Is the Key To Heaven

DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "Prayer is the key to heaven (x3), Faith unlocks the door (x2)."Verses: The singer recalls when "Jesus freed this soul of mine," "My head got wet with midnight dew, The morning star was witness too"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious Jesus
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute, p. 171, "Prayer Is de Key of Heaven" (1 text, 1 tune; p. 146 in the 1901 edition)
ADDITIONAL: John Wesley Work, Folk Song of the American Negro (Nashville: Fisk University, 1915 ("Digitized by the Internet Archive")), p. 120, ("Prayer is the key to heaven") (1 fragment)
Roud #15234
NOTES [23 words]: In Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute's verses, every alternate line is "Faith unlocks the door." - BS
Last updated in version 4.0
File: Dett171

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