Jesus Is a Rock

DESCRIPTION: "Jesus is a rock in a wearied land, In a wearied land, in a wearied land... A shelter in a time of storm, in a time of storms." "He is whom I fix my hopes upon, A narrow way till in my view...."
AUTHOR: Probably W. E. Penn (see NOTES)
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (Henry, from Hettie Twiggs)
KEYWORDS: religious Jesus mother storm
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Randolph 657, "Jesus Is a Rock" (1 fragment)
Henry-SongsSungInTheSouthernAppalachians, p. 193, "Jesus is a Rock" (1 text)
Parrish-SlaveSongsOfTheGeorgiaSeaIslands 37, pp. 161-163, "My God Is a Rock In a Weary Land" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7580
RECORDINGS:
Peter Davis and the Georgia Sea Island Singers, "Rock In the Weary Land" (on LomaxCD1712, recorded 1959)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
My God is a Rock in a Weary Land
NOTES [124 words]: This reminds me somewhat of "My Father's Gone to View That Land," but Randolph's fragment doesn't seem to have any actual words in common with that piece.
Henry's fragment is rather different in form ("Jesus is a rock in a whirly wind, A shelter in the time of storm, Hope my mother will be there, A shelter in the time of storm," repeated with other family members replacing "Mother," but the overall similarity is clear.
W. E. Penn (1832-1895) published a song "There Is a Rock in a Weary Land" in Harvest Bells No. 3 in 1887. I assume this is derived from that, although presumably there has been some processing along the way.
Laura Ingalls Wilder quotes a snatch of this in The Long WInter, chapter 13, "We'll Weather the Blast." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.4
File: R657

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