In 1939, Nazi Germany's Reich Music Examination Office added the song to a listing of "undesired and harmful" musical works. The Jubilee Singers popularized the songs during a tour of the United States and Europe. He sent the music to the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. Some sources claim that this song and " Steal Away" (also sung by Willis) had lyrics that referred to the Underground Railroad, the freedom movement that helped black people escape from Southern slavery to the North and Canada.Īlexander Reid, a minister at the Old Spencer Academy, a Choctaw boarding school, heard Willis singing these two songs and transcribed the words and melodies. He may have been inspired by the sight of the Red River, by which he was toiling, which reminded him of the Jordan River and of the Prophet Elijah being taken to heaven by a chariot (2 Kings 2:11). "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" was composed by Wallis Willis, a Choctaw freedman in the old Indian Territory in what is now Choctaw County, near the County seat of Hugo, Oklahoma sometime after 1865. 6.2 First documented singing at an England international match (1988).6.1 First documented singing at Twickenham (1987).It was also included in the list of Songs of the Century, by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2002, the US Library of Congress honored the song as one of 50 recordings chosen that year to be added to the National Recording Registry. Its free-form structure intentionally allows for improvisation and spur-of-the-moment changes made to bring the performers and audience to a state of ecstasy and connection with the Holy Spirit. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" was traditionally performed as a call-and response tune. The song is characterized by its use of repetition as a key poetic element, powerful imagery, personal rhetoric, and potentially coded lyrics. The stylistic elements and thematic content are highly typical to those of other spirituals. ![]() Specifically, the text refers to the Old Testament account of the Prophet Elijah's ascent into Heaven by chariot. The song uses the theme of death to remind the audience of the glory that awaits in Heaven, when Christians believe they will transcend the earthly world of suffering and come to rest in their final home. The earliest known recording of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" was taken in 1909, by the Fisk Jubilee Singers of Fisk University. Marsh includes an early version of text and tune in his 1876 publication The Story of the Jubilee Singers, with their Songs. Performances by the Hampton Singers and the Fisk Jubilee Singers brought the song to the attention of wider audiences in the late 19th century. Originating in early oral and musical African-American traditions, the date it was composed is unknown. " Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" is an African-American spiritual song and one of the best-known Christian hymns. Problems playing this file? See media help.
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