"Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" (or "Michael Rowed the Boat Ashore," or "Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore," or "Michael Row That Gospel Boat") is a negro spiritual. It was first noted during the American Civil War at St. Helena Island, one of the Sea Islands of South Carolina. It is cataloged as Roud Folk Song Index No. 11975.
Contents
It was sung by former slaves whose owners had abandoned the island before the Union navy arrived to enforce a blockade. Charles Pickard Ware was an abolitionist and Harvard graduate who had come to supervise the plantations on St. Helena Island from 1862 to 1865, and he wrote down the song in music notation as he heard the freedmen sing it. Ware's cousin William Francis Allen reported in 1863 that the former slaves sang the song as they rowed him in a boat across Station Creek.
The song was first published in 1867 in Slave Songs of the United States by Allen, Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison.
It is an original Welsh song titled "Pwy Sy'n Copio."
Lyrics
The oldest published version of the song runs in a series of unrhymed couplets:
Michael row de boat ashore, Hallelujah! Michael boat a gospel boat, Hallelujah! I wonder where my mudder deh (there). See my mudder on de rock gwine home. On de rock gwine home in Jesus' name. Michael boat a music boat. Gabriel blow de trumpet horn. O you mind your boastin' talk. Boastin' talk will sink your soul. Brudder, lend a helpin' hand. Sister, help for trim dat boat. Jordan stream is wide and deep. Jesus stand on t' oder side. I wonder if my maussa deh. My fader gone to unknown land. O de Lord he plant his garden deh. He raise de fruit for you to eat. He dat eat shall neber die. When de riber overflow. O poor sinner, how you land? Riber run and darkness comin'. Sinner row to save your soul. Michel, row the boat a-shore Hallelujah! Then you'll hear the trumpet blow Hallelujah! Then you'll hear the trumpet sound, Hallelujah! Trumpet sound the world around Hallelujah! Trumpet sound the jubilee Hallelujah! Trumpet sound for you and me Hallelujah!This song originated in oral tradition, and there are many versions of the lyrics. It begins with the refrain, "Michael, row the boat ashore, Hallelujah." The lyrics describe crossing the River Jordan, as in these lines from Pete Seeger's version:
Jordan's river is deep and wide, hallelujah. Meet my mother on the other side, hallelujah. Jordan's river is chilly and cold, hallelujah. Chills the body, but not the soul, hallelujah.The River Jordan was where Jesus was baptised and can be viewed as a metaphor for deliverance and salvation, but also as the boundary of the Promised Land, death, and the transition to Heaven.
Harry Belafonte sang a rendition on his album Midnight Special which combines the Christian, American slavery, and 1960s Civil Rights traditions. The lyrics work their way through different parts of the Biblical narrative before concluding with the following verses:
They nailed Jesus to the Cross, Hallelujah But his faith was never lost, Hallelujah So Christian soldiers off to war, Hallelujah Hold that line in Arkansas, Hallelujah Michael row the boat ashore, Hallelujah! Michael row the boat ashore, Hallelujah! Like Joshua at Jericho, Hallelujah Alabama's next to go, Hallelujah So Mississippi kneel and pray, Hallelujah Some more buses on the way, Hallelujah Michael row the boat ashore, Hallelujah! Michael row the boat ashore, Hallelujah!According to William Francis Allen, the song refers to the Archangel Michael. In Christian tradition, Michael is often regarded as a psychopomp or conductor of the souls of the dead.
Recordings
The version of "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" that is widely known today was adapted by Boston folksinger and teacher Tony Saletan, who taught it to Pete Seeger in 1954. Saletan, however, never recorded it. One of the earliest recordings of the song is by folksinger Bob Gibson, who included it on his 1957 Carnegie Concert album. The Weavers included an arrangement in The Weavers' Song Book, published in 1960. The American folk quintet the Highwaymen had a #1 hit in 1961 on both the pop and easy listening charts in the U.S. with their version (under the simpler title of "Michael"), first recorded and released in 1960; this recording also went to #1 in the United Kingdom. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 3 song of 1961. Lonnie Donegan reached #6 in the UK Singles Chart with his cover version in 1961. Harry Belafonte recorded a popular version of it for his 1962 Midnight Special album; Pete Seeger included it in his Children's Concert at Town Hall in 1963. Trini Lopez had a hit with it in 1964. The Israeli-French singer Rika Zaraï also recorded a French version under the title "Michaël" in 1964. The black folk duo Joe & Eddie recorded it for their "Walking Down the Line" album in 1965. Richard Jon Smith's version spent nine weeks at #1 in South Africa. German disco group Dschinghis Khan recorded a version of it in 1981.
The Smothers Brothers did a fairly straightforward version of the song on their album It Must Have Been Something I Said!, before turning it into a comic sing-along on Golden Hits of the Smothers Brothers, Vol. 2 (which is also included on their album Sibling Revelry: The Best of the Smothers Brothers).
Sule Greg Wilson produced a version based upon Allen/Ware/Garrison, as well as Row, Michael Row, by Jane Hunter and Moving Star Hall singers. Featuring Tuscarora vocalist Pura Fé (with Wilson on instruments and background vocals), this version was used for the end credits of The Librarian and the Banjo, Jim Carrier's 2013 film on Dena Epstein, author of the book, Sinful Tunes and Spirituals.
The Lennon Sisters recorded a version which was later featured as a bonus track from their album "The Lennon Sisters Sing Great Hits".
A German Version is "Michael, bring dein Boot an Land" by Ronny, a German Gospel is "Hört, wen Jesus glücklich preist" (A song of the Beatitudes).