Sweet Canaan
DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "The land I am bound for, Sweet Canaan's happy land I am bound for (x2), Sweet Canaan's happy land, Pray give me your right hand." Verses: "O my brother (sister) did you come to help me (x3), Pray, give me your right hand")
AUTHOR: Rev. John Moffitt (1829) (source: White and King,_Original Sacred Harp_)
EARLIEST DATE: 1856 (Thompson-APioneerSongster)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,SE)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Thompson-APioneerSongster 72, "Canaan" (1 text)
Dett/Fenner/Rathbun/Cleveland-ReligiousFolkSongsOfTheNegro-HamptonInstitute, p. 188, "Sweet Canaan" (1 text, 1 tune; p. 234 in the 1874 edition)
Abernethy-SinginTexas, pp. 116-117, "Sweet Canaan" (1 text, 1 tune, a copy of a shape note version)
Richardson/Spaeth-AmericanMountainSongs, p. 70, "Canaan" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: George Pullen Jackson, _Spiritual Folk-Songs of Early America_ (New York, 1964 (Dover reprint of 1937 edition)), #190 p. 198, "I'm Bound for the Land of Canaan" or "Sweet Canaan" ("O who will come and go with me? I am bound for the land of Canaan") (1 text, 1 tune)
Benjamin Franklin White, E.J.King, et al, _Original Sacred Harp_ (Atlanta, 1911 ("Digitized by Google") (correction and enlargement of 1869 edition copyright J.S. James)), p. 87, "Sweet Canaan" ("O who will come and go with me? I am bound for the land of Canaan") (1 text, 1 tune)
J. B. T. Marsh, The Story of the Jubilee Singers (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1903 ("Digitized by Internet Archive")), #112 p. 277, "Sweet Canaan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2839
NOTES [158 words]: Jackson: "Text is based on a poem by [Isaac] Watts. The stanzas which are associated with the above are numerous, as are also the refrains and choruses."
White and King note the copyright by James: "The original name of this song was 'O Canaan, Bright Canaan.' ... One of the old verses [in Thompson-APioneerSongster] was, 'If you get there before I do, I am bound for the land of Canaan; look out for me, I am coming, too, I am bound for the land of Canaan.' The original chorus was 'O Canaan, bright Canaan.' It is a fact that in the early days of this song many souls were born into the kingdom of God by the sound of crude woodland songs. About 1844 E.J. King made a few alterations to the tune and words, changing 'Bright Canaan' to 'Sweet Canaan.'" - BS
And on the basis of those changes is credited with the whole thing in some shape note hymnals, including the one reprinted by Abernethy-SinginTexas (the source of which is not indicated). - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: TPS072
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