"Oh! Let My People Go"
See also: Songs of the Underground Railroad| "Oh! Let My People Go" |
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Cover of sheet music, 1862 |
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| Music by | Traditional |
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| Published | 1862 |
| Form | Negro spiritual |
| Original artist | Contrabands |
Although usually thought of as a spiritual, the earliest recorded use of the song was as a rallying anthem for the Contrabands at Fort Monroe sometime before July 1862. Early authorities presumed it was composed by them. Sheet music was soon after published, titled "Oh! Let My People Go: The Song of the Contrabands" and arranged by Horace Waters. L.C. Lockwood, chaplain of the Contrabands, stated in the sheet music the song was from Virginia, dating from about 1853. The opening verse, as recorded by Lockwood, is:
- The Lord, by Moses, to Pharaoh said: Oh! let my people go.
- If not, I'll smite your first-born dead—Oh! let my people go.
- Oh! go down, Moses,
- Away down to Egypt's land,
- And tell King Pharaoh
- To let my people go.
Read more about this topic: Go Down Moses
Famous quotes containing the word people:
“I have in my head a whole army of people pleading to be let out and awaiting my commands.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)