Go Down Moses
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
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Lyrics:
When Israel was in Egypt's land,
Let my people go,
Oppressed so hard they could not stand,
Let my people go.
Refrain:
Go down, Moses,
Way down in Egypt's land,
Tell old Pharaoh: Let my people go.
The Lord told Moses what to do,
Let my people go,
To lead the childr'n of Israel through,
Let my people go.
Refrain
The pillar of cloud shall clear the way,
Let my people go,
A fire by night, a shade by day,
let my people go.
Refrain
As Israel stood by the waterside,
let my people go,
At God's command it did divide,
Let my people go.
Refrain
When they had reached the other shore,
let my people go,
They sang the song of triumph o'er,
Let my people go.
Refrain
O let us all from bondage flee,
Let my people go,
And let us all in Christ be free,
Let my people go.
Refrain
"Go Down Moses" is an American Negro spiritual. It describes events in the Old<br> Testament, specifically Exodus 8:1:<br> "And the Lord spake unto Moses,<br> Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him,<br> Thus saith the Lord,<br> Let my people go, that they may serve me"<br> in which God commands Moses to demand the release of the Israelites from bondage in<br> Egypt.<br> Although usually thought of as a spiritual, the earliest recorded use of the song<br> was as a rallying anthem for the "Contrabands" (In August 1861, the Union Army<br> and the United States Congress determined that the US would no longer return escaped<br> slaves who went to Union lines and classified them as "contraband of war", or captured<br> enemy property) at Fort Monroe in Virginia's Hampton Roads sometime before<br> July 1862. Early authorities presumed it was composed by them. Sheet music was<br> soon after published, titled "Oh! Let My People Go: The Song of the Contrabands"<br> and arranged by Horace Waters. L.C. Lockwood, chaplain of the Contrabands, stated<br> in the sheet music the song was from Virginia, dating from about 1853. <br> Sarah Bradford's authorized biography of Harriet Tubman, Scenes in the Life of<br> Harriet Tubman (1869), quotes Tubman as saying she used "Go Down Moses" as one of<br> two code songs fugitive slaves used to communicate when fleeing Maryland.<br> Tubman began her underground railroad work in 1850 and continued until the beginning<br> of the Civil War, so it's possible Tubman's use of the song predates the origin<br> claimed by Lockwood.<br> It was published by the Jubilee Singers in 1872. <br> William Faulkner titled his novel Go Down, Moses (1942) after the song.<br> In Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind, slaves from the Georgia plantation<br> Tara are in Atlanta, to dig breastworks for the soldiers and they sing "Go Down,<br> Moses" as they march down a street.<br> The song was made famous by the singing of Paul Robeson.<br> It was also recorded by Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Archie Shepp, Hampton Hawes<br> and many others.<br> It is included in some Passover Seders in the United States and is printed<br> in Meyers' An Israel Haggadah for Passover.<br> It has been published in 49 hymnals. The lyrics shown here are from ELCA's With<br> One Voice.<br>
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