The Gospel Train
The Gospel Train is part of the John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip collection at the Library of Congress. John Lomax was a folklorist and musicologist who traveled throughout the U.S. making field recordings of American folk music. In 1939, he and his wife, Ruby Lomax, made such a trip through the southern states and recorded more than 300 performers, representing a diverse array of traditional musical styles, including ballads, blues, children’s songs, cowboy songs, fiddle tunes, field hollers, lullabies, play-party songs, religious dramas, spirituals, and work songs. The Gospel Train is a folk spiritual, part of an African American song tradition that arose during slavery. Spirituals were created by slaves using elements of African music such as clapping, drumming, repetition of lyrics, and call-and-response to express their religion and their experiences as slaves.
Audio Transcript
Oh, the gospel train is comin’
Don’t you wanna go?
Gospel train is comin’,
Don’t you wanna go?
Oh, the gospel train is comin’,
Don’t you wanna go?
Oh, yes, I wanna go
It’s comin’ round the mountain,
Don’t you wanna go?
It’s comin’ round the mountain,
Don’t you wanna go?
She’s comin’ round the mountain,
Don’t you wanna go?
Oh, yes, I wanna go
She’s comin’ heavy loaded,
Don’t you wanna go?
Comin’ heavy loaded,
Don’t you wanna go?
Comin’ heavy loaded,
Don’t you wanna go?
Oh, yes, I wanna go
She’s loaded with bright angels,
Don’t you wanna go?
Loaded with bright angels,
Don’t you wanna go?
She’s loaded with bright angels,
Don’t you wanna go?
Oh, yes, I wanna go
Oh, tell me who is the captain,
Don’t you wanna go?
Tell me who’s the captain,
Don’t you wanna go?
Oh, tell me who’s the captain,
Don’t you wanna go?
Oh, yes, I wanna go
King Jesus is the captain,
Don’t you wanna go?
King Jesus is the captain,
Don’t you wanna go?
Oh, Jesus is the captain,
Don’t you wanna go?
Oh, yes, I wanna go
He fought out many a battle,
Don’t you wanna go?
He fought out many a battle,
Don’t you wanna go?
Oh, he fought out many a battle,
Don’t you wanna go?
Oh, yes, I wanna go
Public Domain
Public Domain is a copyright term that is often used when talking about copyright for creative works. Under U.S. copyright law, individual items that are in the public domain are items that are no longer protected by copyright law. This means that you do not need to request permission to re-use, re-publish or even change a copy of the item. Items enter the public domain under U.S. copyright law for a number of reasons: the original copyright may have expired; the item was created by the U.S. Federal Government or other governmental entity that views the things it creates as in the public domain; the work was never protected by copyright for some other reason related to how it was produced (for example, it was a speech that wasn't written down or recorded); or the work doesn't have enough originality to make it eligible for copyright protection.