View source for Go Down Moses

{{Short description|African-American spiritual song}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{About|the song|the book by William Faulkner|Go Down, Moses (book)}}
{{Infobox song
| name          = Go Down, Moses
| cover         = [[Fisk Jubilee Singers]] (earliest attested)
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| genre         = [[Spiritual (music)|Negro spiritual]]
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| writer        = Traditional
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{{Listen
 |filename     = 01 - Go down Moses (Negro Spiritual).ogg
 |title        = Go Down Moses
}}

"'''Go Down Moses'''" is an African American [[spiritual (music)|spiritual]] that describes the Hebrew [[The Exodus|Exodus]], specifically drawing from the [[Book of Exodus]] 5:1, in which God commands [[Moses]] to demand the release of the [[Israelites]] from bondage in [[Egypt]]. "And the LORD spoke unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me".<ref>''Bible'': {{bibleverse||Exodus|5:1|HE}}</ref>

As is common in spirituals, the song refers to freedom,<ref>Newman, R. S. (1998). Go Down Moses: A Celebration of the African-American Spiritual. Clarkson N. Potter.</ref> both the freedom of the Israelites, and that of runaway enslaved people.<ref>Darden, R. (2004). People Get Ready! A New History of Black Gospel Music. Bloomsbury. </ref> As a result of those messages, it was outlawed by many enslavers.<ref>Newman, R. S. (1998). Go Down Moses: A Celebration of the African-American Spiritual. Clarkson N. Potter. </ref> 

The opening verse, as published by the Jubilee Singers in 1872:
{{poemquote|When Israel was in Egypt's land
Let my people go
Oppress'd 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}}

Lyrically, the song refers to the liberation of the ancient Jewish people from Egyptian slavery. That story held a second meaning for enslaved African Americans, because they related their experiences under slavery to those of Moses and the Israelites who were enslaved by the pharaoh,<ref>Darden, R. (2004). People Get Ready! A New History of Black Gospel Music. Bloomsbury.</ref> and the idea that God would come to the aid of the persecuted resonated with them. "Go Down Moses" also makes reference to the Jordan River, commonly associated in spirituals with reaching freedom, because the act of running away often involved crossing one or more rivers.<ref>Cleveland, J. J. (Ed.). (1981). Songs of Zion. Abingdon Press.</ref><ref>Cornelius, Steven (2004). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=djB6xJ1CNeoC&pg=PA118&dq= Music of the Civil War Era]''. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 118. {{ISBN|0313320810}}</ref>

Since the Old Testament recognizes the Nile Valley as further south, and thus, lower than Jerusalem and the Promised Land, heading to Egypt means going "down"<ref>For example, in [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+42&version=KJV Genesis 42:2] Jacob commands his sons to "go down to Egypt" to buy grain</ref> while going away from Egypt is "up".<ref>In [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+1&version=KJV Exodus 1:10], Pharaoh expresses apprehension that the Hebrews would join Egypt's enemies and "go up [i.e. away] from the land"</ref> In the context of [[American slavery]], that ancient sense of "down" converged with the concept of "down the river" (the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]]), where enslaved people's conditions were notoriously worse. Later verses also draw parallels between the Israelites' freedom from slavery and humanity's freedom won by Christ.<ref>Warren, G. S. (1997). Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit: 101 Best-Loved Psalms, Gospel Hymns, and Spiritual Songs of the African-American Church.” Holt.</ref>

=="Oh! Let My People Go"==
{{see also|Songs of the Underground Railroad}}
{{Infobox song
| name          = Oh! Let My People Go
| cover         = LetMyPeopleGo1862.jpg
| alt           = 
| caption       = Sheet music cover, 1862
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| written       = 
| published     = 1862
| released      = 
| format        = 
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| genre         = [[Spiritual (music)|Negro spiritual]]
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| writer        = Traditional
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Although usually thought of as a spiritual, the earliest written record of the song was as a rallying anthem for the [[Contraband (American Civil War)|Contrabands]] at [[Fort Monroe]] sometime before July 1862. White people who reported on the song presumed it was composed by them.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=July 1862|title=Editor's Table|url=https://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=cont;cc=cont;view=toc;subview=short;idno=cont0002-1|journal=The Continental Monthly|volume=2|pages=112–113|quote=We are indebted to Clark's School-Visitor for the following song of the Contrabands, which originated among the latter, and was first sung by them in the hearing of white people at Fortress Monroe, where it was noted down by their chaplain, Rev. L.C. Lockwood.|via=Cornell University}}</ref> It became the first spiritual known to be recorded in sheet music.

While the Reverend Lewis Lockwood, the chaplain of the Contrabands, was visiting Fortress Monroe in 1861, he heard runaway enslaved people singing the song, transcribed what he heard, and eventually published it in the ''National Anti-Slavery Standard''.<ref>Graham, S. (2018). Spirituals and the Birth of a Black Entertainment Industry. University of Illinois Press.</ref> Soon after, sheet music was published titled "Oh! Let My People Go: The Song of the Contrabands", arranged by [[Horace Waters]]. Lockwood stated in the sheet music that the song was from Virginia, dating from about 1853.<ref>Lockwood, "Oh! Let My People Go", p. 5: "This Song has been sung for about nine years by the Slaves of Virginia."</ref>

However, the song was not included in ''Slave Songs of the United States'', despite its being a very prominent spiritual among enslaved people. Furthermore, the original version of the song sung by enslaved people almost definitely sounded very different from what Lockwood transcribed by ear, especially following an arrangement by a person who had never heard the song as it was originally sung.<ref>Graham, S. (2018). Spirituals and the Birth of a Black Entertainment Industry. University of Illinois Press.</ref> The opening verse, as recorded by Lockwood, is:
{{poemquote|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}}

Sarah Bradford's authorized biography of [[Harriet Tubman]], ''Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman'' (1869), quotes Tubman as saying she used "Go Down Moses" as one of two code songs used with fugitive enslaved people to communicate when fleeing Maryland.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/bradford/bradford.html|title=Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman|last=Bradford|first=Sarah|publisher=Dennis Brothers & Co.|year=1869|pages=26–27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170613211657/http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/bradford/bradford.html|archive-date=June 13, 2017|via=University of North Carolina: Documenting the American South}}</ref> Tubman began her underground railroad work in 1850 and continued until the beginning of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], so it is possible Tubman's use of the song predates the origin claimed by Lockwood.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/bradford/summary.html|title=Summary of Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman|website=docsouth.unc.edu|access-date=January 25, 2017}}</ref> Some people even hypothesize that she herself may have written the spiritual.<ref>Darden, R. (2004). People Get Ready! A New History of Black Gospel Music. Bloomsbury.</ref>  Others claim that [[Nat Turner]], who led one of the most well-known slave revolts in history, either wrote or was the inspiration for the song.<ref>Newman, R. S. (1998). Go Down Moses: A Celebration of the African-American Spiritual. Clarkson N. Potter. </ref>


==Recordings==
*The [[Tuskegee Institute]] Singers [https://www.loc.gov/item/jukebox-11026/ recorded the song] for Victor in 1914.<ref>Gibbs, Craig Martin (2012). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=TBB0Jh4QlOcC&pg=PA43&dq= Black Recording Artists, 1877–1926: An Annotated Discography]''. McFarland. p. 43. {{ISBN|1476600856}}.</ref>
* [[The Kelly Family]] recorded the song twice: live version is included on their album ''[[Live (The Kelly Family album)|Live]]'' (1988) and a studio version on ''[[New World (The Kelly Family album)|New World]]'' (1990). The latter also features on their compilation album ''[[The Very Best - Over 10 Years]]'' (1993).
* The [[Golden Gate Quartet]] (Duration: 3:05; recorded in 1957 for their album ''Spirituals'').<ref>{{cite web|url=https://genius.com/albums/The-golden-gate-quartet/Spirituals|title=The Golden Gate Quartet – Spirituals|website=Genius|access-date=April 6, 2020}}</ref>
* [[Louis Armstrong]] recorded it for the 1958 album ''[[Louis and the Good Book]]''.
* "Go Down Moses" was recorded by the [[Robert Shaw Chorale]] on [[RCA Victor]] 33 record LM/LSC 2580, copyright 1964, first side, second band, lasting 4 minutes and 22 seconds. Liner notes by noted African-American author [[Langston Hughes]].<ref>The album itself!</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Christian child's prayer#Spirituals|Christian child's prayer § Spirituals]]
*[[Let My People Go (disambiguation)]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*''The Continental Monthly''. Vol. II (July–December 1862). New York.
*Lockwood, L.C. "Oh! Let My People Go: The Song of the Contrabands". New York: Horace Waters (1862).

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150915171914/http://spiritualsproject.org/sweetchariot/ Sweet Chariot: The Story of the Spirituals], particularly their [http://www.spiritualsproject.org/sweetchariot/Freedom/source.cfm section on "Freedom"] (Web site maintained by [http://spiritualsproject.org/ The Spirituals Project] at the University of Denver)
* {{ChoralWiki|Go_Down,_Moses_(Traditional)|prep=of}}

{{Underground Railroad}}

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[[Category:Gospel songs]]
[[Category:Paul Robeson songs]]
[[Category:African-American spiritual songs]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Moses]]
[[Category:Year of song unknown]]
[[Category:Songs with unknown songwriters]]
[[Category:Songs about Egypt]]
[[Category:Songs of the American Civil War]]