Wrestling Jacob

DESCRIPTION: "(Wrestling Jacob dawn is a breaking) (3x) (I'll wrestle till the break of day Never to let thee go) (2x)"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (Elder-FolkSongAndFolkLifeInCharlotteville)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious
FOUND IN: West Indies(Tobago)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Elder-FolkSongAndFolkLifeInCharlotteville, p. 57, "Wrestling Jacob" (1 short text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Wrestle On, Jacob" (lyrics, subject)
cf. "Wrestlin' Jacob" (lyrics, subject)
NOTES [409 words]: The current description is all of the Elder-Charlottville text.
Elder-Charlottville p. 57, during a Tobago Wake: "Just before day-break the singers chant this spiritual - only the near relatives and close friends of the bereaved family stay on till break of day ('wrestling with the Lord'), all others having taken part, leave for home early in the morning."
The reference is to Genesis 32.24-30: King James 32.24, 26 is "And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day .... And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." This clear source presents this problem: are all songs with just this set of elements the same song?
For example, Arnold's "Oh Rastle Jacob" (Byron Arnold, Folksongs of Alabama (Birmingham :University of Alabama Press, 1950),p. 167): "Oh, rastle Jacob, day's a breakin', Rastle Jacob, Day's a breakin', Oh, rastle Jacob, and he would not let me go, I rastled till the break of day, And he would not let me go."
The chorus of Brown's "Wrestlin' Jacob" (Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 656 p. 684): "Wrestle Jacob; day is a breakin'; Wrestle Jacob! Lord, I will not let thee go, An' I will not let thee go, An' I will not let thee go; Till Jesus bless my soul I will not let thee go. Wrestle Jacob; day is a-breakin'; wrestle Jacob! Lord, I will not let thee go" - indexed here as "Wrestlin' Jacob."
Fenner's "Raslin' Jacob" (Thomas P Fenner, Religious Folk Songs of the Negro (Hampton: The [Hampton Normal and Agricultural] Institute Press, 1909 (fourth revision of the 1874 edition) "Digitized by the Internet Archive"), p. 131): Chorus - ((Raslin' Jacob let me go)(3x) I will not let you go) Verses - ((Day is breakin Jacob, let me go)(3x) I will not let you go) (If you'll bless my soul, I'll let you go ....) (When I'm sinking down, pity me ....)
The chorus and first two verses of Allen/Ware/Garrison-SlaveSongsUnitedStates's "Wrestle On, Jacob" (Allen/Ware/Garrison-SlaveSongsUnitedStates, #6 p. 4): (Wrestl' on Jacob, day is a-breakin, Wrestl' on Jacob, Oh he would not let him go), (I hold my brudder wid a tremblin' han, De Lord will bless my soul) (2x), (I will not let you go, my Lord) (2x). - indexed here as "Wrestle On, Jacob."
While the elements of the King James text are common, and stated almost the same way, the structure of the songs is different. I think these are all different songs bound together by a well known source. - BS
Last updated in version 4.0
File: ElCh057

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