Bye and Bye I'm Goin' to See the King
| "" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Blind Willie Johnson | ||||
| A-side | Bye and Bye I'm Goin' to See the King | |||
| Format | 10" 78rpm single | |||
| Recorded | December 10, 1929 (New Orleans, LA) | |||
| Length | 2:53 | |||
| Label | Columbia 14504-D | |||
| Blind Willie Johnson singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Bye and Bye I'm Goin' to See the King" is a traditional gospel blues song recorded by Blind Willie Johnson in 1929.[1][2] Variant spellings of words in the title include "By and By", and "Going".
Lyrics
The chorus runs:
"Bye and bye I'm goin' to see the King. (x3)
Wouldn't mind dyin' if dyin' was all."
The line "Ezekiel saw a wheel, wheel in the middle of the wheel" alludes to the vision of the chariot in the Book of Ezekiel, in chapter 1.
The line "He said he saw him comin' with his dyed garments on" alludes to "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?" in the Book of Isaiah, at 63:1.
Related songs
The song "A Mother's Last Word to Her Daughter", recorded by Washington Phillips in 1928, has very different verses – but the same tune, and a similar chorus:
"Bye and bye I'm goin' to see the King. (x3)
But I don't mind dyin' 'cause I'm a child of God."
Johnson and Phillips were born less than 120 miles apart, and may have drawn their songs from a common tradition.
Recordings
Recordings by people with Wikipedia articles include:
- 1929 – Blind Willie Johnson [3]
- 1994 – Ben Harper, hidden track on the album Welcome to the Cruel World
- 2008 – Catfish Keith, on the album Live at the Half Moon [4]
References
- ↑ "Bye and Bye I'm Going to See the King". Smithsonian Folkways. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
- ↑ Wirz, Stefan. "Blind Willie Johnson discography". Retrieved April 2, 2015.
- ↑ Blind Willie Johnson: "Bye and Bye I'm Goin' to See the King" at AllMusic. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
- ↑ Live at the Half Moon at AllMusic. Retrieved January 29, 2015.