Michael Row the Boat Ashore
Encyclopedia
Michael, Row the Boat Ashore (or Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore or Michael Row That Gospel Boat) is an African-American spiritual
. It was first noted during the American Civil War
at St. Helena Island, one of the Sea Islands
of South Carolina
.
It was sung by former slaves whose owners had abandoned the island before the Union
navy would arrive to enforce a blockade. Charles Pickard Ware
, an abolitionist
and Harvard
graduate who had come to supervise the plantations on St. Helena Island from 1862 to 1865, wrote the song down in music notation as he heard the freedmen
sing it. Ware's cousin, William Francis Allen
reported in 1863 that while he rode in a boat across Station Creek, the former slaves sang the song as they rowed.
The song was first published in Slave Songs of the United States
, by Allen, Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison
, in 1867.
As this song originated in oral tradition, there are many versions of the lyrics. It begins with the refrain, "Michael, row the boat ashore, Hallelujah
." The lyrics describe crossing the River Jordan, as in these lines from Pete Seeger
's version:
The River Jordan can be viewed as a metaphor for death. According to Allen
, the song refers to the Archangel Michael
. In Christian tradition, Michael is often regarded as a psychopomp
, or conductor of the souls of the dead.
in 1954. One of the earliest recordings of the song is by folksinger Bob Gibson
, who included it on his 1957 Carnegie Concert album. After The Weavers
included an arrangement in The Weavers' Song Book, published in 1960, the American
folk quintet The Highwaymen
had a number-one hit on both the pop
and easy listening" charts in the U.S. with it (under the simpler title of "Michael") in 1961; this version also went to #1 in the United Kingdom
. Lonnie Donegan
reached #6 in the UK Singles Chart
with his cover version in 1961. Harry Belafonte
recorded a popular version of it for his 1962 Midnight Special album; Pete Seeger
included it in his Children's Concert at Town Hall in 1963. Trini Lopez
had a hit with it in 1964. The Israeli-French singer Rika Zaraï
also recorded a French version under the title "Michaël" in 1964. German disco group Dschinghis Khan recorded a version of it in 1981.
The Smothers Brothers did a fairly straightforward version of the song on their album It Must Have Been Something I Said!
, before turning it into a comic sing-along on Golden Hits of the Smothers Brothers, Vol. 2
(which is also included on their album Sibling Revelry: The Best of the Smothers Brothers
.
Spiritual (music)
Spirituals are religious songs which were created by enslaved African people in America.-Terminology and origin:...
. It was first noted during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
at St. Helena Island, one of the Sea Islands
Sea Islands
The Sea Islands are a chain of tidal and barrier islands on the Atlantic Ocean coast of the United States. They number over 100, and are located between the mouths of the Santee and St. Johns Rivers along the coast of the U.S...
of South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
.
It was sung by former slaves whose owners had abandoned the island before the Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
navy would arrive to enforce a blockade. Charles Pickard Ware
Charles Pickard Ware
Charles Pickard Ware , was an American educator and music transcriber. An abolitionist, he served as a civilian administrator in the Union Army, where he was a supervisor of freedmen on plantations at Port Royal, South Carolina during the Civil War...
, an abolitionist
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
and Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
graduate who had come to supervise the plantations on St. Helena Island from 1862 to 1865, wrote the song down in music notation as he heard the freedmen
Freedman
A freedman is a former slave who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves became freedmen either by manumission or emancipation ....
sing it. Ware's cousin, William Francis Allen
William Francis Allen
William Francis Allen was an American classical scholar and an editor of the first book of American slave songs....
reported in 1863 that while he rode in a boat across Station Creek, the former slaves sang the song as they rowed.
The song was first published in Slave Songs of the United States
Slave Songs of the United States
Slave Songs of the United States was a collection of African American music published in 1867. It was the first, and most influential, collection of spirituals to be published; the collectors were Northern abolitionists, William Francis Allen, Lucy McKim Garrison and Charles Pickard Ware. It is a...
, by Allen, Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison
Lucy McKim Garrison
Lucy McKim Garrison was an American song collector, contributor to Slave Songs of the United States. Her work in Port Royal, South Carolina constitutes the first attempt systematically describe the characteristics of African American spirituals.-Notes:...
, in 1867.
Lyrics
The oldest published version of the song runs in a series of unrhymed couplets:- Michael row de boat ashore, Hallelujah!
- Michael boat a gospel boat, Hallelujah!
- I wonder where my mudder deh (there).
- See my mudder on de rock gwine home.
- On de rock gwine home in Jesus' name.
- Michael boat a music boat.
- Gabriel blow de trumpet horn.
- O you mind your boastin' talk.
- Boastin' talk will sink your soul.
- Brudder, lend a helpin' hand.
- Sister, help for trim dat boat.
- Jordan stream is wide and deep.
- Jesus stand on t' oder side.
- I wonder if my maussa deh.
- My fader gone to unknown land.
- O de Lord he plant his garden deh.
- He raise de fruit for you to eat.
- He dat eat shall neber die.
- When de riber overflow.
- O poor sinner, how you land?
- Riber run and darkness comin'.
- Sinner row to save your soul.
-
- or
-
- Michel, row the boat a-shore
- Hallelujah!
- Then you'll hear the trumpet blow
- Hallelujah!
- Then you'll hear the trumpet sound,
- Hallelujah!
- Trumpet sound the world around
- Hallelujah!
- Trumpet sound the jubilee
- Hallelujah!
- Trumpet sound for you and me
- Hallelujah!
As this song originated in oral tradition, there are many versions of the lyrics. It begins with the refrain, "Michael, row the boat ashore, Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Halleluyah, and the Latin form Alleluia are transliterations of the Hebrew word meaning "Praise Yah". The last syllable is from the first two letters of the name of God, YHWH, written JHVH in Latin). Hallelujah is found primarily in the book of Psalms...
." The lyrics describe crossing the River Jordan, as in these lines from Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
's version:
- Jordan's river is deep and wide, hallelujah.
- Meet my mother on the other side, hallelujah.
- Jordan's river is chilly and cold, hallelujah.
- Chills the body, but not the soul, hallelujah.
The River Jordan can be viewed as a metaphor for death. According to Allen
William Francis Allen
William Francis Allen was an American classical scholar and an editor of the first book of American slave songs....
, the song refers to the Archangel Michael
Michael (archangel)
Michael , Micha'el or Mîkhā'ēl; , Mikhaḗl; or Míchaël; , Mīkhā'īl) is an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teachings. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans refer to him as Saint Michael the Archangel and also simply as Saint Michael...
. In Christian tradition, Michael is often regarded as a psychopomp
Psychopomp
Psychopomps are creatures, spirits, angels, or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls to the afterlife. Their role is not to judge the deceased, but simply provide safe passage...
, or conductor of the souls of the dead.
Recordings
The version of "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" that is widely known today was adapted (and copyrighted) by Boston folksinger and teacher Tony Saletan, who taught it to Pete SeegerPete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
in 1954. One of the earliest recordings of the song is by folksinger Bob Gibson
Bob Gibson (musician)
Samuel Robert Gibson was a folk singer who led a folk music revival in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was known for playing both the banjo and the 12-string guitar. He introduced a then largely unknown Joan Baez at the Newport Folk Festival of 1959. He produced a number of LPs in the decade...
, who included it on his 1957 Carnegie Concert album. After The Weavers
The Weavers
The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. They sang traditional folk songs from around the world, as well as blues, gospel music, children's songs, labor songs, and American ballads, and selling millions of records at the height of their...
included an arrangement in The Weavers' Song Book, published in 1960, the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
folk quintet The Highwaymen
The Highwaymen (folk band)
The Highwaymen were a circa 1960 "collegiate folk" group, which originated at Wesleyan University and had a Billboard number-one hit in 1961 with "Michael" and another Top 20 hit in 1962 with "Cottonfields"...
had a number-one hit on both the pop
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
and easy listening" charts in the U.S. with it (under the simpler title of "Michael") in 1961; this version also went to #1 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Lonnie Donegan
Lonnie Donegan
Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan MBE was a skiffle musician, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. He is known as the "King of Skiffle" and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of British musicians who became famous in the 1960s...
reached #6 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
with his cover version in 1961. Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte
Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...
recorded a popular version of it for his 1962 Midnight Special album; Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
included it in his Children's Concert at Town Hall in 1963. Trini Lopez
Trini Lopez
Trini Lopez is an American singer, guitarist and actor.-Career:Lopez was born in Dallas, Texas, on Ashland Street in the Little Mexico neighborhood. He began his entertainment career in Dallas playing at the Vegas Club, a nightclub owned by Jack Ruby...
had a hit with it in 1964. The Israeli-French singer Rika Zaraï
Rika Zaraï
Rika Zaraï , is an Israeli singer and writer, who performed in Hebrew, English, then in French, Italian, Spanish and German. She celebrated her 50 years of her career in 2008. She has a daughter named Yael, born in 1959.She became famous in 1969 with Casatchok and Alors je chante...
also recorded a French version under the title "Michaël" in 1964. German disco group Dschinghis Khan recorded a version of it in 1981.
The Smothers Brothers did a fairly straightforward version of the song on their album It Must Have Been Something I Said!
It Must Have Been Something I Said!
"It Must Have Been Something I Said!" was the fifth comedy album from the Smothers Brothers . It reached number 23 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart. The single "Jenny Brown" peaked at #84 on the 1963 Pop Singles chart. The album was recorded at The Ice House in Pasadena, California...
, before turning it into a comic sing-along on Golden Hits of the Smothers Brothers, Vol. 2
Golden Hits of the Smothers Brothers, Vol. 2
Golden Hits of the Smothers Brothers, Vol. 2 was the Smothers Brothers' first greatest hits album. There is no Volume 1, but all of the routines had been performed on earlier comedy albums by the duo. These are not the same performances contained on other albums, making it a "new" album...
(which is also included on their album Sibling Revelry: The Best of the Smothers Brothers
Sibling Revelry: The Best of the Smothers Brothers
Sibling Revelry: The Best of the Smothers Brothers was released by Rhino Records in 1988. A 1998 CD re-issue added "Cabbage", "Michael Row Your Boat Ashore" and "You Didn't Come In"/"Tommy's Song" as bonus tracks.-Track listing:...
.
External links
- Audio sample of the song performed by the German choir Outta Limits