Wade in the Water

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"Wade in the Water" "New Jubilee Songs" (1901)
Written by	Traditional
Language	English
Form	Negro spiritual

"Wade in the Water" (Roud 5439) is the name of a Negro spiritual first published in New Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers (1901) by John Wesley Work II and his brother, Frederick J. Work.

The main chorus is:

Wade in the water.

Wade in the water, children.

Wade in the water.

God's gonna trouble the water.

The song relates to both the Old and New Testaments. The verses reflect the Israelites escape out of Egypt as found in Exodus:14.^[1] The chorus refers to healing: see John 5:4, "For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had."

It was made popular in 1962 by the Ramsey Lewis Trio, Big Mama Thornton in 1968, and in 1997 by Eva Cassidy. It was also recorded by Graham Bond in 1965 and Billy Preston in 1967.

Contents 1 Related links 2 Recordings 3 References 4 Bibliography

[edit] Related links

• Lyrics at Negrospirituals.org
• MIDI at Gospelsonglyrics.org

[edit] Recordings

• Sunset Four Jubilee Singers (Paramount 12273, 1925)
• The Golden Gate Quartet (1946)
• Odetta The Tin Angel 1954
• The Folksmiths with Joe Hickerson 1958 Folkways F-2407

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• Waltz, Robert B; David G. Engle. "Wade In The Water". The Traditional Ballad Index: An Annotated Bibliography of the Folk Songs of the English-Speaking World. Hosted by California State University, Fresno, Folklore, 2007.