Blow Your Trumpet, Gabriel (Paul and Silas)

DESCRIPTION: "Paul and Silas, bound in jail." "Blow your trumpet, Gabriel, Blow louder, louder,And I hope the trump might blow me home." "There is a tree in paradise."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison-SlaveSongsUnitedStates) [see notes]
KEYWORDS: religious music floatingverses
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Allen/Ware/Garrison-SlaveSongsUnitedStates, p. 3, "Blow Your Trumpet, Gabriel" (2 short texts, 2 tunes, both with the floating "Paul and Silas" verse; the first text also contains the floating "Tree in Paradise" verse)
Higginson-ArmyLifeInABlackRegiment 25, p. 212, "Blow Your Trumpet, Gabriel" (1 text)
Joyner-FolkSongInSouthCarolina, p. 86, "Blow Your Trumpet, Gabriel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11860
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "All My Trials" (lyrics)
NOTES [171 words]: The notes to Allen/Ware/Garrison-SlaveSongsUnitedStates's second text is "as heard ... in Charleston, some twenty-five years ago." - BS
This seems to be one of those pieces where everything floats; it may well be that it is a fragment of somen other song, but it's hard to guess which.
It should probably be noted that, while the Apocalypse associates trumpets with the end of the world (e.g. Rev. 8:2, 6, 13), the name of Gabriel is not mentioned at all in that book (some claim that, since he is one who stands in the presence of God, he must be one of the seven angels of Rev. 8:2, but that's a forced interpretation). Gabriel is mentioned only in Daniel and Luke, and in both cases he is messenger, not destroyer (though in Daniel he is explaining the last days).
The apocryphal books make more of Gabriel; and in Enoch he is charged with destroying the wicked. But that still isn't the same as sounding the Last Trump. The belief that this is Gabriel's responsibility is pure folklore, though early and common folklore. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: AGW003

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