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Cryin' Holy Unto My Lord
See Also: On the Rock Where Moses Stood
Traditional Spiritual
ARTIST: Spiritual from Bill Monroe 1940 on Bluebird
SHEET MUSIC:
YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZNVRruoiS4
Flatt and Scruggs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBbOqrJxVLQ
CATEGORY: Traditional and Public Domain Gospel
DATE: 1800s; June 1867
RECORDING INFO: Cryin' Holy [Unto the/My Lord] [Me III-C 39]
Rt - Run, Sinner, Run
Sing Out Reprints, Sing Out, Sof (1959), 5, p31
Alden, Ray. Old Time Friends, Marimac 9009, Cas (1987), trk# 6
Brislin, Richard W.. Banjo Newsletter, BNL, Ser (1973-), 1978/08,p?
Brislin, Richard W.. Banjo Newsletter, BNL, Ser (1973-), 1978/08,p?
Carter Family. Last Recordings, Vol. 1, Old Homestead OHCS 330, Cas (1991), trk# A.03 (On the Rock Where Moses Stood)
Carter Family. Country & Western Classics, Time-Life Records TLCW-06, LP (1982), trk# 3.02 [1935/05/10] (On the Rock Where Moses Stood)
Cooper, Wilma Lee and Stoney. Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper Sing the Carter Family, Starday SD 980, LP (1977), trk# 4 (On the Rock Where Moses Stood)
Country Gentlemen. Joe's Last Train, Rebel SLP 1559, LP (1976), trk# B.01
Crowe, J. D.; and the New South. J. D. Crowe and the New South, Rounder 0044, LP (1975), trk# 11
DeBusk-Weaver Family. Meeting in the Air, Folkways FTS 32431, LP (1979), trk# 7 (On the Rock Where Moses Stood)
Diller, Dwight. Harvest. W. VA. Mountain Music, Yew Pine Mtn YP IX3, CD (1997), trk# 9 [1992]
Flatt & Scruggs & the Foggy Mountain Boys. Songs of the Famous Carter Family, Columbia CS 8464, LP (1961), trk# 6 (On the Rock Where Moses Stood)
Floyd County Boys. Hard Times in the County, Sonyatone ST-1003, LP (1977), trk# A.08
Hall, Kenny. Gray, Vykki M,; and Kenny Hall / Kenny Hall's Music Book, Mel Bay, Sof (1999), p233
Hall, Kenny; and the Sweets Mill String Band. Kenny Hall and the Sweets Mill String Band, Bay TPH-727, LP (1973), trk# A.07
Moody, Clyde. White House Blues, Rebel REB-1672, LP (1989/1962), trk# 3
Round Peak Band. Round Peak Band, Marimac 9044, Cas (1992), trk# B.03
Runnin' Wild Bluegrass Band. Runnin' Wild Spirit, Running Wild, Cas (1979), trk# A.02
Scruggs, Earl. Banjo Newsletter, BNL, Ser (1973-), 1983/05,p11
Scruggs, Earl. Banjo Newsletter, BNL, Ser (1973-), 1980/03,p18
Shanty Boys. Shanty Boys, Elektra EKL 142, LP (1958), trk# 8
Spence, Gary. Banjo Newsletter, BNL, Ser (1973-), 1980/03,p18
Stanley, Peter; and Jim Kweskin. Fire at Club 47, Talkeetna 25001, CD (1999), trk# 22
Traum, Happy. Traum, Happy (ed.) / Bluegrass Guitar, Oak, Sof (1974), p 70
White, Buck; and the Down Homers. Buck White & the Down Home Folks, County 735, LP (1972), trk# B.06a
OTHER NAMES: "On the Rock Where Moses Stood," "Crying To The Lord," "Cryin' Holy to The Lord"
RELATED TO: "John Done Saw That Number;" "Cryin' Holy to The Lord" "Pharaoh's Army"
SOURCES: Negro Spirituals by Thomas Wentworth Higginson 1867
NOTES: "Cryin' Holy Unto My Lord" is a traditional spiritual from Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys in 1940. This spiritual was popularized in early country music by the Carter Family who recorded the song twice (1930 and 1935) under the title, "On the Rock Where Moses Stood." The Carters collected and learned spirituals from several African-American sources including Pauline Gary and Leslie Riddle.
The first closely related versions were recorded by African-American groups like the Norfolk Jubilee Quartet in 1924- "Crying To The Lord." The Birmingham Jubilee Singers' first record in 1926 was He Took My Sins Away and Crying To The Lord and it sold almost 5000 copies.
Origins: "Cry Holy," a traditional spiritual, was collected by Thomas Wentworth Higginson and published in 1867 in his Negro Spirituals This established "cry holy" in the African-American lexicon and a number of other spirituals using similar expressions from both black and white sources would be collected.
Higginson remarks about "Cry Holy": The next gives the same dramatic conflict, while its detached and impersonal refrain gives it strikingly the character of the Scotch and Scandinavian ballads.
XIII. CRY HOLY
Cry holy, holy!
Look at de people dat is born of God.
And I run down de valley, and I run down to pray,
Says, look at de people dat is born of God.
When I get dar, Cappen Satan was dar,
Says, look at de people dat is born of God.
Says, young man, young man, dere 's no use for pray,
Says, look at de people dat is born of God.
For Jesus is dead, and God gone away,
Says, look at de people dat is born of God.
And I made him out a liar and I went my way,
Says, look at de people dat is born of God.
Sing holy, holy!
JOHN (DONE) SAW THAT NUMBER- Vera Hall Dock (Zebediah) Reed, and Jesse Allison, Livingston, AL
Sung: (1st verse also used as part of chorus)
1. John done saw that number,
Way in the middle of the air,
John done saw that number,
Way in the middle of the air.
CHORUS: Cryin' "Holy,"
Cryin' "Holy,"
Cryin' "Holy, my God," (also, "Holy, my Lord")
Cryin' "Holy."
PHARAOH'S ARMY- EC Perrow (1905- 1909): "Pharaoh's Army" was popular all over the South some fifteen or twenty years ago. It certainly must have circulated in printed form. But, even if its origin be in a machine-made ballad, it is now in the possession of the folk, and has had added to it some assuredly popular stanzas. I have heard a large number of more or less obscene verses sung to this music, such as those that follow the lead of—
"I've got a girl in Baltimore;
Street-car runs right by her door."
"I've got a gal in Jellico;
She don't write to me no more."
O Mary! don't yuh weep, don't yuh mone;
Pharaoh'll come en' take yuh home.
Pharaoh's army got drownded,
O Mary! don't you weep.
If I could, I really would,
Stan' on de rock where Moses stood.
Pharaoh's army got drownded,
O Mary! don't you weep.
Some uh dese nights, 'bout twelve uh clock,
Dis ole wo'l 's gwine tuh reel an' rock.
Pharaoh's army got drownded,
O Mary! don't you weep.
Cryin' Holy Unto My Lord- Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys- 1940
Chorus: Crying holy unto my Lord
Crying holy unto my Lord
Oh, if I could I surely would
Stand on the rock where Moses stood
Sinners run and hide your face
Sinners run and hide your face
Go and run into the rocks and hide your face
'Cause I ain't no stranger now
(Repeat Chorus)
Lord, I ain't no stranger now
Lord, I ain't no stranger now
I've been introduced to the Father and the Son
And, I ain't no stranger now
(Repeat Chorus 2x)
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