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Camp A Little While in the Wilderness/We'll Camp a Little While in the Wilderness
Traditional Old-Time, spiritual and revival hymn;
ARTIST: Sung by Cas Wallin at his home in Sodom Laurel, Madison County, NC in 1980
SHEET MUSIC: http://books.google.com/books?id=xOq2AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA2&dq=Camp+A+Little+While+in+the+
Wilderness&cd=4#v=onepage&q=Camp%20A%20Little%20While%20in%20the%20Wilderness&f=false
CATEGORY: Traditional Bluegrass Gospel;
DATE: Mid-1800s; We'll Camp a Little While in the Wilderness- 1887 songbook, "Our College Boys' Songs: A Collection of the latest and most popular songs" by George W. Furniss
RECORDING INFO: Camp a Little While in the Wilderness
Adams, Sheila Kay. CD Old-Time Music on the Air, V. 2
Bear Creek Wildrness. self titled CD
Smith, Betty. Songs Traditionally Sung in North Carolina, Folk Legacy FSA 053, LP (1975), trk# 14 (We'll Camp a Little While in the Wilderness)
Wallin, Cas. Appalachia, The Old Traditions, Vol. 2, Home Made Music LP-002, LP (1983), trk# B.10 [1980/08/27]
RECORDING INFO: There's a Meeting Here Tonight
Rt - Play on the Hill
Allen, William Francis, et.al (eds.) / Slave Songs of the United States, Dover, Sof (1995/1867), # 11 [1860s]
Work, John W. / American Negro Songs and Spirituals, Dover, Bk (1998/1940), p219
Fisk Jubilee Singers. Marsh, J. B. T. / Story of the Jubilee Singers, Houghton Mifflin, Bk (1880), p184/# 65
Gibson, Bob. "There's a Meeting Here Tonight"
Helms, Jim. 5-String Banjo Greats, Liberty LST 7357, LP (196?), trk# 1
Joe & Eddie. There's a Meetin' Here Tonite, GNP Crescendo T 90034, LP (1963), trk# A.01
Limeliters. Tonight: In Person, RCA (Victor) LSP 2272, LP (1961), trk# A.01
Village Five and Then Some. Co-op Hootenanny, CCB, LP (1965), trk# A.01
OTHER NAMES: "We'll Camp a Little While in the Wilderness,"
RELATED TO: "There's A Meeting Here Tonight," "Ain’t I Glad I Got Out De Wilderness"
SOURCES: Folk Index; Far in the Mountain liner notes
NOTES: "Camp A Little While in the Wilderness" is an old revival song sung by Cas Wallin at his home in Sodom Laurel, Madison County, NC. on August 27, 1980. Wallin said, "I'm gonna sing this old religious song the old folks used to sing when they'd meet at the church-house." It appears on the "Far in The Mountain" CD: "According to Cas, this is a Missionary Baptist song. When these recordings were made large parts of western North Carolina were still deeply wooded and it is easy to understand why hymns like this gave spiritual sustenance to the early settlers."
The song was sung at the Lusk Chapel Baptist Church in Madison County, NC during the tenure of preacher B.B. (Doc) Plemmons from 1919-1921 and 1923-1925:
"Doc Plemmons taught singing schools at Lusk Chapel, where a person would learn the old "Shape Note" type of singing. In the early years Lusk Chapel had no piano or organ and they would not allow string instruments of any kind in the church. They would give the pitch with a tuning fork, and would sing songs such as "Camp A Little While In The Wilderness", "Careless Soul", "Look Away Beyond The Blue", "In The Sweet Bye And Bye", "Wayfaring Stranger", "I Will Arise And Go To Jesus", "Beautiful Home Sweet Home", "Away Over In The Promised Land", and "I Am A Pilgram Of Sorrow". Songs were sung without accompaniment. Lusk Chapel like a lot of the other little country churches would have "All Day Singings" and dinner on the grounds."
Sheila Kay Adams learned her version of this song from her Granny Dell, but, like most of the ballads Sheila sings, its roots go back a long way. "Camp A Little While" had been passed down in her family from her mother's great-uncle Pap Willis who was a Civil War veteran. This version scans directly to the old spiritual "Ain’t I Glad I Got Out De Wilderness."
We'll camp a little while in the wilderness,
In the wilderness, in the wilderness.
We'll camp a little while in the wilderness,
And then I'm a-goin' home.
A similar version is the 1887 songbook, "Our College Boys' Songs: A Collection of the latest and most popular songs" by George W. Furniss (sheet music link above):
CHORUS: We'll camp a little while in the wilderness, few days, few days,
We'll camp a little while in the wilderness, An' then we'll all go home.
1. You'd better b'lieve de Bible,
You'd better b'lieve de Bible,
You'd better b'lieve de Bible,
And then we'll all go home.
2. You'd better be a-praying,
You'd belter be a-praying,
You'd better be a praying,
And then we'll all go home.
3. You'd better be a- marching,
You'd better be a- marching,
You'd better be a- marching,
And then we'll all go home.
"Camp A Little While in the Wilderness" is closely related to "There's A Meeting Here Tonight"
There's A Meeting Here Tonight
Get you ready
There’s a meeting here tonight
Come along
There’s a meeting here tonight
I know you by your daily walk
There’s a meeting here tonight
Camp meeting down in the wilderness
There’s a meeting here tonight
I know it’s among the Methodists
There’s a meeting here tonight
Get you ready
There’s a meeting here tonight
Come along
There’s a meeting here tonight
I know you by your daily walk
There’s a meeting here tonight
You say you’re aiming for the skies
There’s a meeting here tonight
Why don’t you stop your telling lies?
There’s a meeting here tonight
Get you ready
There’s a meeting here tonight
Come along
There’s a meeting here tonight
I know you by your daily walk
There’s a meeting here tonight
THERE'S A MEETING HERE TONIGHT
CHORUS: Get you ready, there's a meeting here tonight
Come along, there's a meeting here tonight
I know you by your daily walk,
There's a meeting here tonight
1. Camp meeting in the wilderness
There's a meeting here tonight
I know it's among the Methodist
There's a meeting here tonight
2. My father says it is the best
There's a meeting here tonight
To live and die a Methodist
There's a meeting here tonight
3. There's fire in the East, there's fire in the West
There's a meeting here tonight
I know it's among the Methodist
There's a meeting here tonight
"Dar's a meeting here tonight" by Pete Devonear (Boston: John F. Perry & Co., 1875): Levy collection and also at Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, 1870-1885 (Library of Congress).
First Line: If I had a wife and a little baby, Dar's a meeting here tonight
First Line of Chorus: Git yer ready, Dar's a meeting here tonight
THERE'S A MEETING HERE TO-NIGHT (Fisk Jubilee)
With music, No. 65, p. 84, Marsh, J. B. T., 1880's, "The Story of the Jubilee Singers; with Their Songs." Revised, seventy-fifth thousand. Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston.
Refrain: Get you ready, there's a meeting here tonight,
Come along, there's a meeting here tonight;
I know you by your daily walk,
There's a meeting here tonight.
1. Camp-meeting down in the wilderness,
There's a meeting here tonight;
I know it's among the Methodists,
There's a meeting here tonight.
2. Those angels wings are tipped with gold,
There's a meeting here tonight;
That brought glad tidings to my soul,
There's a meeting here tonight.
3. My father says it is the best, etc.
To live and die a Methodist, etc.
4. I'm a Methodist bred and a Methodist born, etc.
And when I'm dead there's a Methodist gone, etc.
Camp A Little While in the Wilderness (Roud 7699)
(Sung by Cas Wallin at his home in Sodom Laurel, Madison County, NC. 27.8.80)
Spoken: I'm gonna sing this old religious song the old folks used to sing when they'd meet at the church-house.
Oh fathers are you ready? Ready? Oh ready?
Oh fathers are you ready? For I am going home.
And then I'm a-going home,
And then I'm a-going home.
We're all a-making ready,
And then I'm going home.
Chorus: We'll camp a little while in the wilderness,
In the wilderness, in the wilderness.
We'll camp a little while in the wilderness,
And then I'm going home.
Oh mothers etc
Oh children etc
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