Go Down, Moses (néger spirituálé)

Recorded on February 7, 1958 in New York City by Louis Armstrong with Sy Oliver's Orchestra.

Chorus: Go down Moses, way down in Egypt's land; Tell ol' Pharaoh to Let My People Go!

Armstrong: Now, when Israel was in Egypt land...

Chorus: Let My People Go

Armstrong: Mmmm, oppressed so hard they could not stand.

Chorus: Let My People Go

Armstrong and Chorus: So the Lord said, "Go down, Moses, Way down in Egypt land; Tell all Pharaohs [sic] to Let My People Go!"

Armstrong: So Moses went to Egypt land...

Chorus: Let My People Go

Armstrong: Mmmm, he made ol' Pharaoh understand.

Chorus: Let My People Go!

Armstrong and Chorus: Yes, the Lord said, "Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt land; Tell all Pharaohs [sic] to Let My People Go!"

Armstrong: "Thus spoke the Lord," bold Moses said...

Chorus: Let My People Go

Armstrong: Mmmm, "If not I'll smite your firstborns dead."

Chorus: Let My People Go

Armstrong and Chorus: 'Cause the Lord said, "Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt land; Tell ol' Pharaoh to Let My People Go!"

Chorus: Way down in Egypt land; tell ol' Pharaoh to Let My People Go!

"Go Down Moses" is an American Negro spiritual.

When Israel was in Egypt's land,

Let my people go!

Oppressed so hard they could not stand,

Let my people go!

Chorus:

Go down, Moses,

Way down in Egypt's land.

Tell old Pharaoh

To let my people go!

2. Thus spoke the Lord," bold Moses said

"Let my people go!

If not, I'll smite your firstborn dead.

Let my people go!"

Chorus:

3. No more shall they in bondage toil

Let my people go!

Let them come out with Egypt's spoil

Let my people go!

Chorus:

4. The Lord told Moses what to do

Let my people go!

To lead the Hebrew children through

Let my people go!

Chorus:

5. O come along Moses, you'll not get lost

Let my people go!

Stretch out your rod and come across.

Let my people go!

Chorus:

6. As Israel stood by the water side

Let my people go!

At God's command it did divide

Let my people go!

Chorus:

7. When they reached the other shore

Let my people go!

They sang a song of triumph o'er

Let my people go!

Chorus:

8. Pharaoh said he'd go across

Let my people go!

But Pharaoh and his host were lost

Let my people go!

Chorus:

9. O let us all from bondage flee

Let my people go!

And let us all in Christ be free

Let my people go!

Chorus:

10. You need not always weep and mourn

Let my people go!

And wear these slav'ry chains forlorn

Let my people go!

Chorus:

11. Your foes shall not before you stand

Let my people go!

And you'll possess fair Canaan's land.

Let my people go!

Chorus:

The opening verse as published by the Jubilee Singers in 1872:

When Israel was in Egypt's land

Let my people go

Oppress'd so hard they could not stand

Let my people go

Refrain:

Go down, Moses

Way down in Egypt's land

Tell old Pharaoh

Let my people go

In the song "Israel" represents the African-American slaves while "Egypt" and "Pharaoh" represent the slavemaster. Going "down" to Egypt is derived from the Bible; the Old Testament recognizes the Nile Valley as lower than Jerusalem and the Promised Land; thus, going to Egypt means going "down" while going away from Egypt is "up". In the context of American slavery, this ancient sense of "down" converged with the concept of "down the river" (the Mississippi), where slaves' conditions were notoriously worse, a situation which left the idiom "sell [someone] down the river" in present-day English.

Although usually thought of as a spiritual, the earliest recorded use of the song was as a rallying anthem for the Contrabands at Fort Monroe sometime before July 1862. Early authorities presumed it was composed by them. Sheet music was soon after published, titled "Oh! Let My People Go: The Song of the Contrabands", and arranged by Horace Waters. L.C. Lockwood, chaplain of the Contrabands, stated in the sheet music the song was from Virginia, dating from about 1853. The opening verse, as recorded by Lockwood, is:

The Lord, by Moses, to Pharaoh said: Oh! let my people go

If not, I'll smite your first-born dead—Oh! let my people go

Oh! go down, Moses

Away down to Egypt's land

And tell King Pharaoh

To let my people go