Children Go Where I Send Thee

DESCRIPTION: Cumulative song: "Children, go where I send thee. How shall I send thee? I'm gonna send thee one by one, One for the little bitty baby...." Add "Two by two, two for Paul and Silas" on up to "Twelve for the Twelve Apostles."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (recording, Dennis Crampton & Robert Summers)
KEYWORDS: Bible religious Jesus cumulative nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 115, "Come Let Us Sing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 254, "The Holy Babe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-SingingFamilyOfTheCumberlands, pp. 163-164, 195, "[Children, Go Where I Send Thee]" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Ritchie-FolkSongsOfTheSouthernAppalachians, p. 54, "Little Bitty Baby (Children Go Where I Send Thee)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-TreasuryOfSouthernFolklore, p. 754, "Holy Babe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 383, "Children, Go Where I Send Thee" (1 text)
SongsOfAllTime, p. 34, "Children, Go Where I Send Thee" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GOSEND

Roud #133
RECORDINGS:
Alphabetical Four, "Go Where I Send Thee" (Decca 7704, 1940; on AlphabFour01)
Dennis Crampton & Robert Summers, "Go I'll Send Thee" (ARC 6-10-62, 1936)
Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet, "Go Where I Send Thee" (Bluebird B-7340, 1937; Victor 20-2134, 1947)
Kelley Pace, Aaron Brown, Joe Green, Matthew Johnson & Paul Hayes, "Holy Babe" (AFS 3803 A2+B, 1942; on LC10)
Reverend Smith and Family, "Children, Go Where I Send Thee" (on USMississippi01)

CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Green Grow the Rushes-O (The Twelve Apostles, Come and I Will Sing You)" (theme and structure)
cf. "Eleven to Heaven" (theme and structure)
NOTES [43 words]: This could well be an American version of "Green Grow the Rushes-O" (Roud naturally lumps those two and several others). But it's easy to create songs such as this one; in the absence of certainty, I treat them as separate. See also the notes on that song. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: LoF254

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.