All Night Long-
"Paul and Silas" Stanley Brothers 

All Night Long/Paul and Silas/Richmond Blues

See: Paul and Silas also see: All Night Long (Fiddle Tunes)

Old-time spiritual, bluegrass, jazz song.

ARTIST: Stanley Brothers

CATEGORY: Traditional and Public Domain Gospel Songs

DATE: 1800s; Recorded Paul and Silas in Jail- Washington Phillips 1927
as Paul and Silas- Snowball and Sunshine 1932- ARC

Recorded as All Night Long-June 22, 1928 Issued-February 1929 Earliest printed date song by Shelton Brooks 1912. Earliest recording by Roba & Bob Stanley 1924.

RECORDING INFO Paul and Silas 

Rt - Hold On

Lomax, Alan / Folksongs of North America, Doubleday Dolphin, Sof (1975/1960), p486/#257 (All Night Long)
Sandburg, Helga (ed.) / Sweet Music, Dial, Bk (1963), p 32
Shelton, Robert (ed.) / Josh White Song Book, Quadrangle, Sof (1963), p 68 (Who Shall Deliver Poor Me)
Allen, Red (Harley). Early Days of Bluegrass, Vol. 2, Rounder 1014, LP (1974), trk# 5 [1953]
Allen, Red (Harley). Classic Recordings 1954/69, Collectors Classics No. 21, LP (197?), trk# A.03 [1954]
Campbell, Alex; & Olabelle and the New River Boys. Travel On, Starday SLP 342, LP (1965), trk# B.05
Darling, Erik. Erik Darling, Elektra EKL 154, LP (1958), trk# 7
Richardson, Larry; & Red Barker & the Blue Ridge Boys. Blue Ridge Bluegrass, County 702, LP (196?), trk# 5
Richardson, Larry; & Red Barker & the Blue Ridge Boys. Larry Richardson and the Blue Ridge Boys - with Buddy Pendleton, Old Blue OB 702, CD (2007), trk# 10 [1965]
Sandburg, Carl. Cowboy Songs and Negro Spirituals, Decca DL 9105, LP (196?/1940s), trk# B.05b (All Night Long)
Spiritual Kings.   Score  Paul and Silas    1953  
Scruggs, Earl; Revue. Live at Kansas State, Columbia KC 31758, LP (1972), trk# A.02 (Bound in Jail All Night Long)
Stanley Brothers. Good Old Camp Meeting Songs, King K-805, LP (1976), trk# A.03
Stecher, Jody; and Kate Brislin. Song That Will Linger, Rounder 0274-C, Cas (1989), trk# 3
Story, Carl. Mountain Folk Song Concert Bluegrass Style, Phonodisc CML 1010, LP (196?), trk# 7
Taylor, Rebecca. Sandburg, Carl (ed.) / American Songbag, Harcourt, Sof (1955/1928), p448 (All Night Long)
Upper Hamilton Gravediggers. Undertaking Bluegrass, Concord HRL-1657, LP (1964), trk# 7
Wakefield, Frank. Blues Stay Away From Me, Takoma TAK 7082, LP (1980), trk# 9
Weavers. The Weavers at Home, Vanguard VRS 9024, LP (195?), trk# B.01 (All Night Long)
Weavers. Weavers Together Again, Loom Records 1681, LP (1981), trk# B.03 (All Night Long)
White, Josh. Josh White, Vol 2, Earl Archives BD-619, LP (1989), trk# B.04 [1935/03/18]

RECORDING INFO  Hold On [Sh 209]

Rt - Keep Your Eyes on the Prize; Paul and Silas; Mary Wore Three Links of Chain

Lomax, John A. & Alan Lomax / Folk Song USA, Signet, Sof (1966/1947), #111 (Keep Your Hand on the Plow)
Blood, Peter; and Annie Patterson (eds.) / Rise Up Singing, Sing Out, Sof (1992/1989), p 60
Mursell, James, et.al.(eds.) / Music Now and Long Ago, Silver Burdette, Bk (1956), p104
Carawan, Guy. Tree of Life, Flying Fish FF 525, LP (1990), trk# A.01
Folksmiths. We've Got Some Singing to Do, Folkways FA 2407, LP (1958), trk# B.03 (Keep Your Hand on the Plow)
Folk Singers. Run Come Hear, Elektra EKL 157, LP (1958), trk# B.08 (Keep Your Hand on the Plow)
Foster, Alex; and Michel Larue. American Negro Slave Songs, Tradition 2108, LP (1973), trk# B.04
Gateway Singers. At the hungry i, Decca DL 8671, LP (1958), trk# A.04
McSpadden, Lynn. McSpadden, Lynn / Four and Twenty Songs for the Mountain Dulcimer, Dulcimer Shoppe, sof (1970), p36
Odetta. Odetta at Carnegie Hall, Vanguard VRS-9076, LP (1961), trk# B.06
Oneida School Girls. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians II, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p292/# 209 [1917/08/18]
Seeger, Pete. Hootenanny at Carnegie Hall, Folkways FN 2512, LP (1960/1958-9), trk# B.06 (United Nations Make a Chain)
Trusty, Elihu. Lomax, John A. & Alan Lomax / Our Singing Country, MacMillan, Sof (2000/1941), p 44 [1937] (Keep Your Hand on the Plow)

RECORDING INFO All Night Long: [Clarence] Ashley & [Gwen] Foster, "Baby, All Night Long" (Vocalion 02780, 1934) Burnett & Rutherford, "All Night Long Blues" (Columbia 15314-D, 1928; rec. 1927; on BurnRuth01) Oscar Craver [pseud. for Byrd Moore], "All Night Long" (Conqueror 7259, 1929) Clint Howard & Fred Price, "The Richmond Blues" (on Ashley02, WatsonAshley01) Frank Hutchison, "All Night Long" (OKeh 45144, 1927) Earl Johnson & his Dixie Entertainers, "All Night Long" (OKeh 45383, 1929; rec. 1927) Miles & Bob Pratcher, "If It's All Night Long" (on LomaxCD1703) Roba & Bob Stanley, "All Night Long" (OKeh 40295, 1925; rec. 1924) Blizard, Ralph; & John Lilly. Blue Highway, Blizard BH4591, Cas (1991), trk# 8 (Richmond Blues) Burnett and Rutherford. Mountain Songs, County 504, LP (196?), trk# A.05 [1927/11/03] Bursen, Howard (Howie). Building Boom, Flying Fish FF 441, LP (1988), trk# A.01 (Richmond Blues) Fly By Night String Band. Fly By Night String Band, Fretless 146, LP (1980), trk# B.02 (Richmond Blues) Foghorn Stringband. Old-Time Portland Potluck, Bubbaguitar, CD (2005), trk# 1b Folksmiths. We've Got Some Singing to Do, Folkways FA 2407, LP (1958), trk# B.09 Howard, Clint; and Fred Price. Old-Time Music at Clarence Ashley's. Part 1, Folkways FA 2355, LP (1961), trk# 5 [1962ca] (Richmond Blues) Johnson, Earl; and his Clodhoppers. Southern Dance Music, Vol. 2, Old-Timey LP 101, LP (1965), trk# 2 [1927/10/07] New Lost City Ramblers. Cohen, John, Mike Seeger & Hally Wood / Old Time String Band Songbook, Oak, Sof (1976/1964), p172 (Baby, All Night Long) Perry County Music Makers. Going Back to Tennessee, Davis Unlimited DU 33024, LP (1974), trk# A.04 Pratcher, Miles and Bob. Southern Journey. Vol. 3: 61 Highway Mississippi, Rounder 1703, CD (1997), trk# 22 [1959/09/21] (If It's All Night Long) Pratcher, Miles and Bob. Sounds of the South, Atlantic 7-82496-2, CD( (1993), trk# 2.04 [1959/07ca] Rossbach, John. From the Mountains to the Mills, Chestnut CRCD 103, CD (2002), trk# 6 (Richmond Blues) Rutherford and Foster. Fiddle Band Music from Kentucky, Vol.1, Wink the Other Eye, MorningStar 45003, LP (1980), trk# A.04 [1929/04/11] (Richmond Blues) Stanley, Roba. Banjo Pickin' Girl, Rounder 1029, LP (1978), trk# A.03 [1924/12ca] Tobacco Tags. Songs of the Tobacco Tags, Vol. 1, Old Homestead OHCS 156, LP (1984), trk# 7 (Good Gal Remember Me)

NOTES: The “All Night Long” songs are a group of songs ending with “all night long/ baby all night long” etc. “Paul and Silas” is an example of traditional spiritual “All Night Long” song. The earliest published version is the verse found in “All Night Long” written by the African-American composer Shelton Brooks. The extent that Brooks song is based on traditional material is unknown but in my opinion it certainly seems to be a rewrite of a traditional spiritual that used the "all night long" tag. The verse of Brooks song, which can be viewed on-line, is probably the basis for later versions by the 1927 versions by Burnett & Rutherford and also Earl Johnson. Other titles called “Richmond Blues,” (Doc Watson)  or "Paul and Silas" (Ralph Stanley) were recorded much later.

A version of the "Paul and Silas bound in jail" lyric appeared in Charlotte Forten's, "Life on the Sea Islands" The Atlantic Monthly, May and June, in 1864:

Maurice’s especial favorite is one of the grandest hymns that we have yet heard: —

De tallest tree in Paradise
De Christian calls de Tree oh Life,
An’ I hope dat trumpet blow me home
To my New Jerusalem.

CHORUS: “Blow, Gabriel! trumpet, blow louder, louder!
An’ I hope dat trumpet blow me home
To my New Jerusalem!

“Paul and Silas jail-bound
Sing God’s praise both night and day,
An’ I hope dat trumpet blow me home
To my New Jerusalem.

This is close to:

“Paul and Silas bound in jail-
Sing God’s praise all night long"

The gospel song was recorded as "Paul and Silas in Jail" by Washington Phillips in 1927 and as "Paul and Silas" by Snowball and Sunshine in 1932- ARC. “Paul and Silas” also became a popular bluegrass gospel song (Red Allen- 1953/The Country Gentlemen/Stanley Brothers and others).

Similar lines appear in the old spiritual "Keep Your Hand on the Plow" also known as "Hold On":

Took Paul and Silas, put 'em in the jail,
Had no one to go their bail.
Keep your hands on the plow, hold on.

The tag, "hold on" is similar to "All night Long" and was one of a number of floating response lines that were sung after a line of a spiritual.

Perhaps the earliest printed version under the title All Night Long was collected from
Rebecca Taylor and appears in Carl Sandburg's American Songbag in 1927 [Version 1].

PAUL AND SILAS- Stanley Brothers

Paul and Silas bound in jail
all night long (3X)
Saying who shall deliver poor me

Paul and Silas prayed to God
all night long (3X)
Saying who shall deliver poor me

That old jailor locked the jail
all night long (3X)
Saying who shall deliver poor me

That old jail it reeled and rocked
all night long (3X)
Saying who shall deliver poor me

Hebrew children in the burning fire
all night long (3X)
Saying who shall deliver poor me