Religious Folk-Songs of the Southern Negroes

by Howard Washington Odum

The chorus song, “Wheel in middle of Wheel” is most likely a variation of the old song “Wheel in a wheel” which was “run by love, by faith,” and was sometimes conceived as a chariot wheel upon which “gwine take a ride, On de chariot wheel”, for “de chariot’s comin’, O my Lord”. Sometimes the wheel was conceived as being a “Little wheel a-turnin’ in my heart”, in which case it signified some sort of feeling. The phrase means nothing more than a chorus in the present-day song.

O sinner man, how can it be?
Wheel in de middle of wheel,
If you don’t serve God, you can’t serve me,
Wheel in de middle of wheel.
In the wheel, in the wheel,
Wheel in de middle of wheel,
In the wheel, in the wheel,
Wheel in the middle of wheel.
Well don’t you know it’s prayin’ time?
Wheel in middle of wheel;
Lay down yo’ way an’ go to God,
Wheel in middle of wheel.
Well don’t you know it’s mournin’ time?
Wheel in middle of wheel;
He’ll hear yo’ prayers an’ sanctify,
Wheel in middle of wheel.

Jesus and God are represented as “Listenin’ all the day long”, and the sinner is directed to pray. The plantation songs called to him: “Where you goin’ sinner? O come back, don’t go dat way.” And one of the singers affirmed that “about the break o’ day” his sins were forgiven and “his soul set free.” The song “Jesus is a listenin’” seems at some time to have been considerably corrupted. The negroes have sung it: “I’ve been a listenin’ all day long, and all night long, to hear some sinner pray.” However, the correct version now seems to be:

Jesus is a listenin’ all the day long,
He keep listenin’ all the day long,
He keep listenin’ all the day long,
For to hear some sinner pray.
If I was a sinner I would please him,
I would pray an’ pray a day,
An’ when I got to heaven,
So he could say he heard me pray.

But in “Bear yo’ Burden, sinner”, another version is given of the same idea. This song is a popular one, while the figures used give a definite conviction.

The Lord is a listenin’ all the day long,
Bear yo’ burden sinner,
If you will only pray, he will bear you on,
Bear yo’ burden in the heat o’ the day.
Bear yo’ burden, sinner,
Bear yo’ burden, sinner,
Bear yo’ burden in the heat o’ the day.
I’m goin’ home fer to see my Lord,
Bear yo’ burden, sinner,
An’ don’t you wish you could go ’long,
Bear yo’ burden, let in the heat.
The way to bear yo’ burden is to get down on yo’ knees,
Bear yo’ burden, sinner, let in the heat,
Ask God to forgive you if you please,
Bear yo’ burden in the heat of the day.

This last stanza is an improvisation made by a young negro of some twenty-five years, although he claimed that it belonged to the song that was regularly sung, maintaining that they only forgot to sing it in the church on that special occasion. “True Religion” gives one view of the requisites of him who will be saved. The song is based in form on a current secular song, and belongs to the class of colloquies.

Well you must have that true religion,
You must have true religion an’ yo’ soul converted,
You must have that true religion.
Or you can’t cross there.
Where are you goin’, sinner,
Where are you goin’, I say?
I goin’ down to de river of Jorden,
An’ you can’t cross dere.

He continues, “Where are you goin’ gambler, backslider, drunkard, liar, hypocrite?” and answers each with, “An’ you can’t cross there,” while the entire chorus, “You must have that true religion,” is often repeated after each. The sinner is asked still other questions, one of which is given in the song “Waitin’”.

Why does you tarry, sinner,
Why does you wait so long?
For my Lord is a waitin’,
Why don’t you come to His call?
He is waitin’, Lord,
He is waitin’, Lord,
He is a-waitin’ fer the good Lord,
To come, My Lord.
But when my Lord get here,
You want have time to pray at all,
For he is goin’ to judge you,
An’ hell you be bound.