John on the Island, I Hear Him Groan

DESCRIPTION: "John on the island, I hear him groan." John says, "Eli, I can't stand. Eli ee ee ay Lord." "John went to heaven and I am glad"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1942 (Parrish-SlaveSongsOfTheGeorgiaSeaIslands)
KEYWORDS: ordeal Bible nonballad religious
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Parrish-SlaveSongsOfTheGeorgiaSeaIslands 11, pp. 74-79, "Eli Ah Can't Stan'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Rosenbaum-ShoutBecauseFree, pp. 150-151, "John on the Island, I Hear Him Groan" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Lawrence McKiver and the McIntosh County Shouters, "John on the Island, I Hear Him Groan" (on McIntosh1)
Freddie Palmer and The McIntosh County Shouters, "John on the Island and I Heard Him Groan" (on McIntoshShouters-RingShoutPresentation)
Willis Proctor and the Georgia Sea Island Singers, "Eli, You Can't Stand" (on LomaxCD1712, recorded 1959)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Oh, They Put John on the Island" (theme) and references there
NOTES [129 words]: The introduction to the McIntoshShouters-RingShoutPresentation video has John as a slave whom the other slaves can hear.
The Parrish text, Rosenbaum-ShoutBecauseFree/McIntoshShouters-RingShoutSongs text and track, and LomaxCD1712 tracks are "ring shout" songs. The McIntoshShouters-RingShoutPresentation video shows the shout. - BS
There are no details about John's tribulations on the island of Patmos at Revelation 1:9, or elsewhere, in the Bible. What stories about that were current in the Sea Islands? - BS
Nonetheless John was in exile. The usual legend is that he had been working in Ephesus and was forced to go to Patmos because of the persecution of Domitian. So he need not have been suffering torture on Patmos; he might simply have been lonely or homesick. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: Parr074

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