Five Additional "Ride On King Jesus" Spirituals

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post provides several lyric, audio, and video audio examples of African American Spirituals with the words "Ride On King Jesus" in addition to the examples that are found in these two previous pancocojams posts:

http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/06/african-american-choir-directing-styles.html for examples of "Ride On King Jesus" (second line: "No man can hinder me" or "No man can hinder Thee").

http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/06/two-examples-of-ride-on-king-jesus-ride.html for two examples of "Ride On King Jesus" (with the second line "Ride On King Emmanuel").

The content of this post is provided for religious, cultural, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks also to all of the vocalist and musicians who are featured in this post and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. In addition, thanks to the publishers of these YouTube videos and other audio files.

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FEATURED EXAMPLES
I've attempted to present these examples in chronological order with the oldest examples presented first.

Example #1:
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=39229
Subject: Lyr Add: RIDE IN, KIND SAVIOUR
From: Dicho
Date: 21 Sep 01 - 05:54 PM
Higginson (1867) has a Civil War time version.

RIDE IN, KIND SAVIOUR

Ride in, kind Saviour !
No man can hinder me (we).
O, Jesus is a mighty man !
No man can hinder me (we).

2 We're marching through Virginny fields,
No man etc.
And he has his sword and shield,
No man etc.
O, old Secesh done come and gone !
No man can hinder me (we).

Higginson states the use of "done" suggests Virginia. "Been" would suggest South Carolina (farther south). He suggests that "we" is more in keeping with "the usual head-over-heels arrangement of their pronouns."
-snip-
Although this Spiritual is titled "Ride In, Kind Savior", its lyrics are close enough to versions of "Ride On, King Jesus" that this may be an early version of that song.

"Secesh" means rebel soldiers.
From http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/secesh
"a U.S. secessionist; Origin of SECESH by shortening & alteration from secession & secessionist"

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Example #2:
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=39229
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: RIDE ON KING JESUS/NO MAN CAN HINDER
From: masato sakurai
Date: 22 Sep 01 - 03:08 AM

"There's a recording of "Ride On, King Jesus" by William Brown, Terrel Conley, Eugene Blacker, and Alvin Brown (rec. State Penitentiary, Huntsville, Walker Couty, Texas, 5/13/1939) in The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip. This seems to be a different song. Their performance is much more different from concert spiritual singers' style.
-snip-
Here are information about and a link to an audio file of that song:
From http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.afc.afcss39.2603b1/default.html

Title: Ride On, King Jesus [Field recordings]
Performance Note: "Ride On, King Jesus" performed by Eugene Blacker, Alvin Brown, Terrell Conley and William Brown (vocals) at State Penitentiary ("The Walls"), Huntsville, Texas, on May 13, 1939…
Exhibitions: Also included in The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip.
-snip-
LYRICS*

Chorus [2x]
Oh won’t you ride on, ride on, King Jesus [3x)
Cause I want to go to heaven in the morning

If you see my mother
Oh yes
Please tell her for me
Just to ride her horse
on the battlefield
Cause I want to go to heaven in the morning

Chorus (2x)
If you see my father [etc]

Chorus [2x]
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell, from the recording. Additions and corrections are welcome.
This song was sung in a slow tempo. The way that the song is sung sounded to me like an old time locomotive chugging up the tracks with the last line at the end evoking how a train whistle sounds.

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Example #3:
Here are the lyrics that I posted in 2005 in that same Mudcat thread whose link is given above.
This is the version of "Ride On King Jesus" that I learned in the 1950s or early 1960s at Union Baptist Church, Atlantic City New Jersey: (given with minor spelling corrections)

Ride on, King Jesus
Ride on King Emmanuel
Ride on King Jesus
No man can-a* hinder Thee.

Ride on, King Jesus
Ride on King Emanuel
Ride on King Jesus
No man can –a* hinder thee.

King Jesus rides a milk wide horse
No man cannot hinder Thee
The Jordan river He did cross
No man can-a* hinder Thee

chorus

I went to the valley but I didn't go to stay
No man can-a*t hinder Thee
My soul got happy and I stayed all day
No man can-a* hinder Thee

If you don't believe I been redeemed
No man can-a*t hinder Thee

Just follow me down to Jordan stream
No man can-a*t hinder Thee

Chorus

(Add other floating verses that fit this pattern. This is an uptempo song.)
*The line that I remember singing is “No man cannot hinder Thee”. However, that meaning doesn’t fit the implied unconquerable power of Jesus. Therefore that was probably an example of folk etymology- me changing the unfamiliar word “can-a” [that is found in many online transcriptions of this song] to the familiar word "cannot".

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Example #4:
From http://www.people.carleton.edu/~lburnett/2011_MISSOTA_MUSIC_FESTIVAL_SELECT_CHOIR_REHEARSAL_NOTES.htm

Composer
Moses George Hogan [March 13, 1957 – February 11, 2003], best known for his arrangements of concert spirituals, was an internationally renowned pianist, conductor and arranger. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, he studied at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, the Oberlin Conservatory, the Juilliard School of Music, and Louisiana State University. In 1993, he was appointed Artist-in-Residence at Dilliard University in New Orleans.

...He began his exploration of the choral music idiom in 1980 when he formed the Moses Hogan Chorale to perform for a Black History Month concert with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra. Later downsized to the Moses Hogan Singers, his choral groups preformed extensively throughout the United States and recorded most of his settings of African American spirituals....

Composition and Historical Perspective:
Ride On, King Jesus is an African-American spiritual (formerly called Negro Spiritual) that can be traced to enslaved blacks prior to the Civil War. It is in the category called jubilee because it contains a text whose purpose is to be uplifting with the words [Jesus] "died for the rich and He died for the poor" and “no man can a-hinder me.”

Commissioned and premiered by the Spelman College Glee Club, the original setting was for women’s voices. The arrangement for mixed voices soon followed and has become a standard for high school, college and university, church, community and professional choirs around the world. Hogan’s arrangement takes on gospel music characteristics with the inclusion of a piano accompaniment.

Text and Translation:
Ride on King Jesus,
Ride on, the conquering king.
Ride on King Jesus,
No man can hinder thee.

I was but young when I begun.
No man can hinder thee.
But now my race is almost done.
No man can hinder thee.

King Jesus rides a milk white horse.
No man can hinder thee.
The river Jordan he did cross.
No man can hinder thee.

He’s the king and the Lord.
No man can hinder thee.
He’s the first and the last.
He’s the Lord of Lords.

Jesus is the Prince of peace.
No man can hinder thee.
Oh, ride on, King Jesus.
No man can hinder thee.

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Example #5: Kathleen Battle 1982 "Ride on King Jesus"



Opera Buff Published on Jun 13, 2013

Kathleen Battle - Soprano
James Levine - Piano

Lyrics*
Ride on King Jesus
No man can-a hinder me
Ride on King Jesus
Ride On
No man can-a hinder me

For He is King of Kings
He is Lord of Lords
Jesus Christ, the First & Last
No man works like Him

[repeat chorus]

King Jesus rides a milk white horse
No man works like Him
The River Of Jordan He did cross
No man works like Him

For He is King of Kings
He is Lord of Lords
Oh Jesus Christ, the first & last
No man works like Him

Oh King Jesus in the middle of the air
No man works like Him
Oh he saw the people coming from everywhere
No man works like Him

Ride on King Jesus
No man can-a hinder me
Ride on King Jesus
Ride On
No man can-a hinder me

Ride on, King Jesus, ride on

Oh He is King Jesus
He is the Lord
Oh Jesus Christ the first and last
No man works like Him

Ride on, oh-
Ride on, oh
Ride on Jesus
-snip-
*Transcription by Azizi Powell from this video. Additions & corrections welcome.
This arrangement combines the Spiritual Ride On King Jesus with the Spiritual "He Is King Of Kings

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