Love Come Twinkling Down (Seek And You Shall Find)

DESCRIPTION: "Oh, brother, you oughtta been there (x3), When the love come (twinking/trickling) down." "Seek, seek, seek and you shall find, Knock... and the door shall be opened, Ask, and it shall be given, When the love...." Repeat with father, mother, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1915 (Work-FolkSongOfTheAmericanNegro)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Rosenbaum-FolkVisionsAndVoices, pp. 46-47, "Brother, You Oughtta Been There" (1 text, 1 tune)
Work-FolkSongOfTheAmericanNegro, p. 65, "Love Come Twinkling Down" (1 text)
Sanders-SingHighSingLow, p. 48, When the Love Come Trick-a-lin' Down" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12090
NOTES [176 words]: The "seek and you shall find" refrain of Rosenbaum-FolkVisionsAndVoices's version of this song derives from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:7: Ask, and it will be given you; seek [so the King James translation; modern editions often read "search"] and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. There is a close parallel in Luke 11:9. It is not in the Work-FolkSongOfTheAmericanNegro, which simly says "All around me The love come twinkling down, From heaven... Help me Jesus... Pity Lord...."
The mention of love "twinkling" down is not Biblical; the word "twinkle" is used only once in the King James Bible, in 1 Corinthians 15:52, where it refers to the blink or sudden movement of an eye. The alternative verb "trickle" occurs in the KJV only in Lamentations 3:49, of tears trickling down. My original feeling (and it's only that) was that "trickle" was the original verb, and the reference was to the blood of Jesus that came out when his side was pierced in John 19:34. But I have never seen a version that makes that explicit. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: Rose046

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