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Bound for Canaan Land/ Bound for Canaan's Land/Canaan's Land
Spiritual and Gospel Hymn;
ARTIST: Spiritual recorded by Famous Blue Jay Singers in 1947.
Willie Mae Ford Smith http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhSGkFwL77k&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F11UehlGt6A
FAMOUS BLUE JAY SINGERS Bound For Canaan's Land: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd5Bzd-kb5o&feature=related
CATEGORY: Traditional Shape-Note Gospel;
DATE: 1800s; 1947
RECORDING INFO: Bound for the Land of Canaan
OTHER NAMES: "Bound for Canaan's Land"
RELATED TO: "Bound for Canaan's Land" "Bound for The Promised Land"
SOURCES: Mudcat;
NOTES: "Bound For Canaan Land" or "Bound For Canaan's Land" is an African-American spiritual from the 1800s and I've found several reference in the mid-1800's to the song (without lyrics) and to "Boun' for de Promise Lan' " or "Bound For The Promised Land" which was sung by Tubman circa 1840. Both titles- Canaan's Land/Promised Land have become interchangeable.
Thre are a number of songs found in revival hymnals in the mid-1800s titled "I'm Bound for the Land of Canaan" or "Bound for the Land of Canaan."
Bound For Canaan Land- Spiritual
Where're you bound?
Bound for Canaan land
O, you must not lie
You must not steal
You must not take God’s name in vain
I’m bound for Canaan land
Your horse is white, your garment is bright
You look like a man of war
Raise up your head with courage bold
For your race is almost run
How you know?
Jesus told me
Although you see me going so
I’m bound for Canaan land
I have trials here below
I’m bound for Canaan land
The Famous Blue Jay Singers: Charlie Bridges, lead; Silas Steele, second lead; Jimmy
Veal, tenor; James Hollingsworth, baritone; Dave Parnell, bass. Recorded 1947, probably in New York. Originally issued on Harlem 1027-B.
The Blue Jay Singers were the Kings of Harmony's seniors and neighbors in Alabama. The original four members—Steele, Veal, Hollingsworth, Parnell—first recorded in 1932, earning their pioneer status by including the first recording of a Dorsey composition.
In later years they acquired an additional lead, Charlie Bridges, a veteran
of an even older Alabama quartet, the Birmingham Jubilee Singers.
The Blue Jays excelled in Dr.Watts hymns; their rock-solid harmonies soared from the basement, unlike those of contemporary falsetto quartets who chirp from the attic.
In more ways than one, they surpass their descendants in depth.
"Canaan Land," based on a Scottish folk tune, contains conventional lyrics redeemed by Silas Steele's energy. Carey Bradley calls Steele the first of the hard-singing
quartet leads. Though a small man, Steele could summon up awesome vocal power. This song begins in slow waltz tempo with Bridges leading in somewhat lugubrious
style over three-part harmony; in the second stanza Steele joins the background; with the shift in tempo he assumes the lead, trading off hollers with Bridges. Steele's vocal contains some of the earliest recorded examples of verbal repetition ("unworthy, unworthy, unworthy, boys, unworthy"), and in his subtle shifts of accent ("over there,
over there, over there, way over there") one bears the paradigm of gospel shouting.
BOUND FOR CANAAN'S LAND- Famous Blue Jay Singers 1947
Arranged A. H. Windom
I am bound for Canaan land,
To that happy golden strand.
There I shall receive a blessing
For the work I've done below.
There I'll meet my loved ones gone on,
And the others gone on before.
I'll be in that great reunion
When we gather around the throne.
Though unworthy I may be,
God has prepared a place for me.
He is the king of glory,
He's the man of Galilee.
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