Michael Row the Boat Ashore

"Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" (or "Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore") is an African-American spiritual. It was first noted during the Civil War at St. Helena Island, one of the Sea Islands of South Carolina. ^[1] It was sung by former slaves whose owners had abandoned the island before the Union navy would arrive to enforce a blockade. Charles Pickard Ware, an abolitionist and Harvard graduate who had come to supervise the plantations on St. Helena Island from 1862 to 1865, wrote the song down in music notation as he heard the freedmen sing it. Ware's cousin, William Francis Allen reported in 1863 that while he rode in a boat across Station Creek, the former slaves sang the song as they rowed.^[2] The song was first published in Slave Songs of the United States, by Allen, Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison, in 1867.^[3]

Lyrics

As this song originated in oral tradition, 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:

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.^[4]

The River Jordan can be viewed as a metaphor for death.^[5] According to Allen, the song refers to the Archangel Michael.^[6] In Christian tradition, Michael is often regarded as a psychopomp, or conductor of the souls of the dead.^[7]

Recordings

One of the earliest recordings of the song is by folksinger Bob Gibson, who included it on his 1957 Carnegie Concert album.^[8] After The Weavers included an arrangement in The Weavers' Song Book, published in 1960, The Highwaymen had a number-one hit with it (under the simpler title of "Michael") in 1961.^[9] 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.

In popular culture

• 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.
• In an episode of Wings, cab driver Antonio Scarpacci (Tony Shalhoub) decides to supplement his income by gathering donations for singing the song (the only song he knows), while strumming his guitar, to the audience at the airport. The average passenger only hears it once or twice, but café manager Helen Chappel (Crystal Bernard) puts up with "Michael... rowin' that boat ashore for two freakin' days!" before finally snapping and attacking Antonio with his own guitar.
• In "Faith Off", a Season 11 episode of The Simpsons, Reverend Lovejoy plays the song on an electric guitar to win back his flock.
• In "Brain Age 2", its one of the songs you must play on the piano.

Notes

1. ^ William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison, Slave Songs of the United States, p. xl.
2. ^ Epstein, Dena (2003). Sinful Tunes and Spirituals: Black Folk Music the the Civil War. University of Illinois Press, 290. ISBN 0252071506. 
3. ^ William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison, Slave Songs of the United States, p. 23.
4. ^ "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore", Pete Seeger Appreciation Page.
5. ^ Walter E. Gast, "River", Symbols in Christian Art and Architecture.
6. ^ William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison, Slave Songs of the United States, p. xvi.
7. ^ "St. Michael the Archangel", The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913.
8. ^ "Merr to Mif", Folk Music Index.
9. ^ "The Highwaymen: Biography", All Music.

External links

audio sample of the song performed by a german choir