Go in the Wilderness

DESCRIPTION: "If you want to go to heaven/go in the wilderness (3x)/...and wait upon the Lord." "If you want to see Jesus..." "Lord, my feet looked new when I come out the wilderness..." [secular playparty version:] "First little lady go in the wilderness..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1864 (Higginson-ArmyLifeInABlackRegiment); 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison-SlaveSongsUnitedStates)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious playparty Jesus
FOUND IN: US(SE,So) West Indies(Bahamas)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Allen/Ware/Garrison-SlaveSongsUnitedStates, p. 14, "Go in the Wilderness" (1 text, 1 tune)
Higginson-ArmyLifeInABlackRegiment 24, p. 212, "Go In the Wilderness" (1 text)
Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute, pp. 208-209, "Leanin' on de Lord (Ef You Want To See Jesus)" (1 text, 1 tune; pp. 184-185 in the 1874 edition)
Edwards-BahamaSongsAndStories 23, "Come Out the Wilderness" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: John W. Work, American Negro Songs (New York: Crown Publishers, 1940 (republished by Mineola: Dover Publications, 1998)), p. 185, "Ain't I Glad I've Got Out of the Wilderness" (1 text) (1 tune)
Roud #11846
RECORDINGS:
Famous Blue Jay Singers, "I'm Leaning on the Lord" (Paramount 13119/Crown 3329, 1932; Champion 50056, c. 1935; Decca 7446, 1938; on Babylon)
Edwards' Luling Dixie Singers, "How Did You Feel When You Came Out of the Wilderness" (1999, on "Field Recordings Vol. 14 Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky (1934-c.1950)," Document DOCD-5630)
Gullah Kinfolk, "Cum Out De Weederness" (on USSeaIsland04)
James Garfield Smalls, "Pitch It Right/Go in de Wilderness" (on USSeaIsland03)
Providence Missionary Baptist Church, "How Did You Feel When You Come Out of the Wilderness" (on USMississippi01)
Selah Jubilee Singers, "How Did You Feel When You Come Out of the Wilderness" (1996, on Selah Jubilee Singers Vol. 1 (1939-1941) Document DOCD-5499)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Old Gray Mare (I) (The Old Gray Horse; The Little Black Bull)" (tune, structure)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
I Wait Upon the Lord
How Did You Feel When You Came Out of the Wilderness?
Ain't I Glad I Got Out of the Wilderness
NOTES [74 words]: This is the song which is ancestral to "The Old Gray Mare (I) (The Old Gray Horse; The Little Black Bull)" and its kin. - PJS
Or. at least. an early member of the family. The editors suggest that the earliest version known, that of Allen/Ware/Garrison-SlaveSongsUnitedStates, might be descended from "Ain't I Glad I Got Out of the Wilderness," which they call a Methodist hymn (though it seems to have long since gone out of their hymnals). - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: RcGITW

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