De Blood Done Sign My Name- Odum and Johnson

De Blood Done Sign My Name
Spiritual- Collected Odum- 1914

De Blood Done Sign My Name/Oh The Blood Done Sign My Name/Blood Done Sign My Name/

SEE: Blood Done Sign My Name

SEE: Ain't You Glad?

Tradtional Old-Time, Spiritual;

ARTIST: from Howard W. Odum's 1909 "Religious Folk-Songs of the Southern Negroes" (American Journal of Psychology and Education, vol. iii, p. 356).

CATEGORY: Traditional and Public Domain Bluegrass Gospel;

DATE: 1800s; 1909 Howard W. Odum, "Religious Folk-Songs of the Southern Negroes" (American Journal of Psychology and Education, vol. iii, p. 356).

RECORDING INFO:  Blood Done Sign My Name

Beal's Creek Baptist Church. 1960

OTHER NAMES: "Blood Done Sign My Name" "De Blood Done Sign My Name"

RELATED TO: Ain't You Glad?

SOURCES: from Journal of American folklore, Volume 27 By American Folklore Society 1914.

NOTES: “De Blood Done Sign My Name,” or "Blood Done Sign My Name" is a well known African-American spiritual. This version was first published by Odum in 1909 and again by Odum and Johnson in the 1925 book, The Negro and His Songs. Another version from the Journal of American Folklore, Volume 27 By American Folklore Society 1914 is included below.

The book, "Blood Done Sign My Name" by Timothy Tyson was published May 18, 2004.  
It is an autobiographical work of history while he was a professor of Afro-American studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The book based in part on an M.A. thesis Tyson wrote in 1990 while attending Duke University, deals with the 1970 murder of Henry Marrow, a black man. Since 2004, the book has sold 140,000 copies and earned awards including the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Religion. UNC-CH selected the book for its 2005 summer reading program.

A movie adaptation of the book titled "Blood Done Sign My Name," by Tyson and writer Jeb Stuart, which was filmed in the cities of Shelby, Monroe and Gastonia, NC was released in the United States on February 19th, 2010.

Odum, Howard W. The Negro and His Songs. Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina, 1925.

The negro singers have exhibited a characteristic specimen of their word combinations, concrete pictures, Qjidi theological principles in their song,

"De blood Done Sign my Name"

De blood, O de blood,
O de blood done sign my name;
O Jesus said so, Jesus said so,
O de blood done sign my name.

I believe it for God he tole me,
That the blood done sign my name,
I believe it for God he tole me,
That the blood done sign my name.
Yes, the blood done sign my name.

How do you know so, God he said so
That the blood done sign my name.

Well it's written in de Kingdom,
That the blood done sign my name.

Well in de Lamb's book it is written,
That the blood done sign my name.

Well the wheels a turnin', wheels a turnin',
Blood done sign my name.

I 'm boun' for glory, boun' for glory,
The blood done sign my name.

On de mountain, on de mountain,
The blood done sign my name.

In the valley, in the valley.
Blood done sign my name.

SOME NEGRO FOLK-SONGS FROM TENNESSEE-COLLECTED AND EDITED BY ANNA KRANZ ODUM Journal of American folklore, Volume 27 By American Folklore Society

The following negro folk-songs were heard in Sumner County, Tennessee, and were all sung by the children of one family, sometimes two or three of the children singing "parts," but oftener by one girl of fifteen, who sang as she worked. These children could not read, and they sang only the songs they had heard from their elders at home, in the fields, or at church; and they represent a link in the perpetuation of the negro folk-songs. They live in a rural community of negroes whose inhabitants are somewhat stationary, but not isolated. A few of the songs which they sang have been published before; but the versions are different, and they are given here for the purpose of comparison with the same songs from other localities. The majority of the songs are religious, or "spirituals;" and it was with difficulty that the few secular songs were collected, for the singers were reticent about singing any but "church songs," because, they said, they "belonged to de church." Other singers from the same community were later heard singing some of these songs.

4. OH THE BLOOD DONE SIGN MY NAME

This favorite song has been published in another form,  but is given here to show the differences that may be found when the song is heard in different communities, and to show its widespread popularity. Each stanza is repeated three times.

Oh the blood
Oh the blood
Oh the blood done sign my name.

How you know?
How you know? 
The blood done sign my name.

|: Jesus tole' me so :|  
The blood done sign my name.

|: In de heaven :|  
Oh the blood done sign my name.

|: Ain't you glad? :|  
The blood done sign my name.

|: Glory an' honor :|  
The blood done sign my name.

|: Fare you well :|  
The blood done sign my name.

De Blood Done Sign my Name- Odum and Johnson (Same lyrics as the 1909 article)

De blood, O de blood,
O de blood done sign my name;
O Jesus said so, Jesus said so,
O de blood done sign my name.

I believe it for God he tole me,
That the blood done sign my name,
I believe it for God he tole me,
That the blood done sign my name.
Yes, the blood done sign my name.

How do you know so, God he said so
That the blood done sign my name.

Well it's written in de Kingdom,
That the blood done sign my name.

Well in de Lamb's book it is written,
That the blood done sign my name.

Well the wheels a turnin', wheels a turnin',
Blood done sign my name.

I 'm boun' for glory, boun' for glory,
The blood done sign my name.

On de mountain, on de mountain,
The blood done sign my name.

In the valley, in the valley.
Blood done sign my name.