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Big Fish Swallow Jonah
Traditional Old-Time, Gospel and Spiritual;
ARTIST: Howard W. Odum, Religious Folk-Songs Of The Southern Negroes 1909
CATEGORY: Traditional Gospel Spiritual;
DATE: 1909 Odum;
RECORDING INFO: Big Fish Swallow Jonah
OTHER NAMES: "I Ain't Gonna Grieve My Lord No More;" "Ain't Gonna Worry My Lord No More;"
SOURCES: Mudcat; Folk Index; Meade
NOTES: "Big Fish Swallow Jonah" is a spiritual that collected by Howard W. Odum and appears in his "Religious Folk-Songs Of The Southern Negroes" in 1909:
The negro visualizes with a good deal of satisfaction. He imagines that he can see the things about which he sings. So they have imagined seeing the people dressed in white, black, red and blue ; so be imagined that he could see " two tall angels comin' after me", or "big tall", "long tall," "band of angels" or whatever form the song has
taken. So the negroes have told wonderful stories about the whale and the gourd vine; about the "cutter worm" as well as Jonah. The old song, modified and adapted with characteristic phraseology and expression still appeals to the negro. The "Big fish" and " Sherk" represents the terror of the sea to the negro. One old negro explained this fact by saying that it was because the negroes were terrified as they were brought over from Africa, and that they saw the whales and "fishes" in "de sea" and that "de race hain't nebber got ober it yet".
Another ascribes the fear and imagination much to the biblical story of the whale and Jonah. Perhaps neither determines to any marked degree this feeling. However, the song "Big fish swallow Jonah", which has made such a hit in its paraphrases and in the
glee clubs, and variously, is still current in this form:
Lord, the big fish, big fish, big fish, swallow ole Jonah whole,
The big fish, the big fish, the big fish swallow ole Jonah;
The big fish, big fish, big fish, swallow ole Jonah whole.
Ole Jonah cried, "Lord save my soul,"
Ole Jonah, ole Jonah, ole Jonah cried, "save my-save-m-y-y,
Ole Jonah cried, "Lord save my soul".
In the same manner are sung other lines :
Lord, the gourd vine, gourd vine, gourd vine growed over Jonah.
Well, the cutter worm, cutter worm, cutter worm cut that vine down.
In addition to Jonah — and the last two stanzas are not common in the old songs — "Peter on the sea", "Gabriel, blow your trump" "Daniel in the lion's den", are sung. Those who have heard the latest form of this song rendered would scarcely imagine that it was a very appropriate church song.
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