| Author | Topic: Add: Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel? | |
| dmcg | Posted - 02 Jul 05 - 11:50 am | |
(Chorus) Didn't my Lord deliver Da-nu-el, Da-nu-el, Da-nu-el, Didn't my Lord deliver Da-nu-el, And why not every man? He delivered Daniel from the lion's den, And Jonah from the belly of the whale, And the Hebrew children from the fiery furnace, So why no every man? The wind blows east, the wind blows west, It blows like judgement day, And ev'ry soul that never did pray, Will be glad to pray that day. The moon run down in a purple stream, The sun refuse to shine. And every star will disappear, King Jesus will be mine. Source: Alan Lomax, The Penguin Book of American Folk Songs, Penguin, 1964 Notes: Alan Lomax wrote:
| ||
| Azizi | Posted - 04 Jul 05 - 05:01 pm | |
This song was among the 'standard' spirituals that I remember singing during my childhood & youth in Atlantic City, New Jersy in the 1950s-1960s. The lyrics to the 1st and 2nd verses are quite similar to the words that I learned at home and in my African American Baptist church. However, we sung DAH-yell and not "Da-nu-el" {"DAN' rhyming with "ran"}. In the 2nd verse, we left off the "And' in the 2nd line. The 3rd line of the 2nd verse was given as "He delivered the Hebrew children so {or "and"} why not ev-er-ry man. The 3&4 verses are unknown to me...After the 2nd verse, I recall us just going back to the chorus. **** I have no intention on 'beating up on Alan Lomax', but I have to say that, I find Lomax's conclusions about this song to be erroneous, too simplistic, and patronizing. If "For the Negro slave his spirituals carried a double symbolism -redemption from sin and freedom from servitude.", which comes first the chicken or the egg? I see this song's purpose as not as much comforting as rallying enslaved African Americans to push for their freedom with the conviction that God was on their side {as He was on the side of the Hebrew children}. It may have been more comforting for Whites when Lomax wrote this passage to think nostalgically of the "innocent Negro slaves" who sugmitted to slavery's yoke while singing about and waiting for shortnin bread in the sky redemption. But IMO, Frederick Douglas' description of these songs as sorrow songs notwithstanding, quite a few spirituals {not to mention secular slave songs} contain lyrics that could be said to serve as means of motivating folk to keep on keepin on with the knowledge that God was going to make a way out of no way and 'soon and very soon' a change was going come. Azizi Azizi | ||
| Azizi | Posted - 04 Jul 05 - 05:03 pm | |
Correction: We sang DAN-yell {dan rhyming with ran}. {Sorry. I hate 'preview' but I will try to remember to use it}. Azizi Azizi | ||
| Jon Freeman | Posted - 04 Jul 05 - 05:07 pm | |
Azizi, you can edit your own posts here. Just click on the edit link above the post. | ||