Welcome Table (Streets of Glory, God's Going to Set This World on Fire)

DESCRIPTION: "God's going to set this world on fire... One o' these days." "I'm going to walk and talk with Jesus... "I'm going to climb up Jacob's ladder." "All you sinners gonna turn up missing." "God don't want no coward soldiers... Some of these days."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (recording, Florida Normal Quartet)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad floatingverses rejection death resurrection gods Jesus
FOUND IN: US(SE,So) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (13 citations):
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 517, "Some of These Days" (2 texts); 536, "Jacob's Ladder" (3 texts, of which the third is apparently this)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 517, "Some of These Days" (1 tune plus a text excerpt)
Burton/Manning-EastTennesseeStateCollectionVol2, p. 26, "River Jordan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnold-FolkSongsofAlabama, p. 172, "One of These Days" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior-TraditionalSongsOfNovaScotia, pp. 280, "Welcome Table" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-MaritimeFolkSongs, p. 173, "The Welcome Table" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pottie/Ellis-FolksongsOfTheMaritimes, pp. 140-141, "Welcome Table" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, pp. 478-479, "God's Goin' to Set This World on Fire" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Hutson/Pinckney/Rutledge-SomeSongsTheNegroSang, pp. 298-299, "Welcome Table" (1 text, 1 tune)
Coleman/Bregman-SongsOfAmericanFolks, pp. 78-79, "God, H's Gwine to Set Dis Word on Fire" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 354, "Streets of Glory" (1 text)
Rodeheaver-SociabilitySongs, p. 64, "Some o' These Days" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, STGLORY
Roud #11812
RECORDINGS:
Emmett Brand, "I'm Going to Cross the Rivers of Jordan, Some of These Days" (on MuSouth06)
Carter Family, "River of Jordan" (Victor 21434, 1928; Montgomery Ward M-4430, 1934; on Babylon)
Jaybird Coleman, "I'm Gonna Cross the River of Jordan - Some o' These Days" (Silvertone 5172, 1927; on Babylon)
Florida Normal Quartet, "The Welcome Table" (OKeh 40079, 1924; rec. 1922)
Florida-Alabama Progressive Seven-Shape-Note Singing Convention, "God's Gonna Set the World on Fire" (on USFlorida01)
West Virginia Night Owls, "I'm Goin' to Walk on the Streets of Glory" (Victor 21533, 1928)
Charles Owens w. Isabel Owens, "The Welcome Table" (on NovaScotia1)
West Virginia Snake Hunters [John & Emery McClung], "Walk the Streets of Glory" (Brunswick 119, 1928, rec. 1927)
Alice Wine, "I'm Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table" (on BeenStorm1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "When I'm Gone (I)" (floating verses)
cf. "My Little Soul's Going to Shine" (floating verses)
cf. "I'm Going to Ride in Pharaoh's Chariot" (form)
SAME TUNE:
I'm Gonna Sit at the Freedom Table (civil rights movement song)
I'm Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table (RECORDING: Hollis Watkins, on SingFreeCD)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
I'm Gonna Tell God How You Treat Me
NOTES [107 words]: This song carries several titles; I chose the one by which it's most commonly known among revival singers. While the song seems to have originated in African-American tradition, it has spread to Anglo singers as well. - PJS
Reported by Sandburg to be the favorite verse of the IWW, but evidently not of their composition.
I had originally split this song up under several titles, because the versions don't really relate much (Sandburg's and that in the Digital Tradition, for instance, appear to have no words in common whatsoever). But Paul Stamler thinks they're the same, and certainly there is continuous variation, so here they lump. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: San478

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