Along with
Go down Moses, this song is among the better known of the
spirituals sung by slaves in
the pre-Civil War American South to signal that an escape attempt was at hand. It's a nice song on its own, but I like it even better for the part it played in history. Like many songs, the words could be changed to pass messages. In the line "My Lord calls me, he calls me by the thunder," for example, change out the word 'thunder' for whatever the signal or meetingplace for the escape is to be. After a few rounds of "the lord calls me by thunder" and "the lord calls me by lightning" no one will notice if the lord then calls you at midnight behind the old woodshed (though messages likely weren't
that obvious). Or you can make up whole new verses, that works too.
CHORUS:
Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus!
Steal away, steal away home, I hain't got long
to stay here.
My Lord calls me, he calls me by the thunder;
The trumpet sounds it in my soul,
I hain't got long to stay here.
CHORUS
Green trees are bending, poor sinners stand
trembling;
The trumpet sounds it in my soul,
I hain't got long to stay here.
CHORUS
My Lord calls me, he calls me by the
lightning;
The trumpet sounds it in my soul,
I hain't got long to stay here.
CHORUS
Tombstones are bursting, poor sinners stand trembling;
The trumpet sounds it in my soul.
I hain't got long to stay here.