I Know Moonlight

DESCRIPTION: "I know moonlight, I know starlight, I lay this body down." "I walk in the moonlight, I walk in the starlight, I lay...." "I walk in the graveyard, I lay in my grave, I lay...." "I go to the judgment, In the evening of the day, When I lay this body down."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1864 (Higginson-ArmyLifeInABlackRegiment); 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison-SlaveSongsUnitedStates)
KEYWORDS: religious death burial nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Allen/Ware/Garrison-SlaveSongsUnitedStates, pp. 19-20, "Lay This Body Down" (1 text, 1 tune, both with variants)
Higginson-ArmyLifeInABlackRegiment 18, pp. 55,209-209, "I Know Moon-Rise" (1 text)
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, p. 451, "I Know Moonlight" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 611, "Mary Bowed" (1 short text, with a verse "I wonder where Sister Maryy's gone... She's gone to some new buryin' ground For to lay her feeble body down" and a second verse from "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks")
Joyner-FolkSongInSouthCarolina, p. 89, "Lay Dis Body Down" (1 text, 1 tune)
Parrish-SlaveSongsOfTheGeorgiaSeaIslands 12, pp. 76-79, "Moonlight - Starlight" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scott-TheBalladOfAmerica, pp. 209-210, "Lay This Body Down" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-AmericanBalladsAndFolkSongs, pp. 577-578, "Lay Dis Body Down" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, p. 322, "Lay This Body Down" (1 text)
DT, KNOWMOON*
Roud #11839
NOTES [9 words]: Parrish includes this among her "ring shout" songs. - BS
Last updated in version 6.7
File: San451

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