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Death Come Creepin'/Soon One Mornin' Death Come Creepin'/I'm So Glad I Got My Religion On Time
Tradtional spiritual;
ARTIST: collected from Vera Hall & Dock Reed, AL, 1937 and published in Our Singing Country by Alan Lomax.
SHEET MUSIC: Soon One Morning Death Come Creepin'- Lomax
http://books.google.com/books?id=i_J4Ii9oArsC&pg=PA30&dq=%22Death
+Come+Creepin%22&hl=en&ei=j9YaTNaeBIP68AbroZjMCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=r
esult&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Death%20Come%20Creepin%22&f=false
SHEET MUSIC: Death Come Creepin'- Grissom http://books.google.com/books?id=AxXE65flKPwC&pg=PA389&dq=%22Death+
Come+Creepin%22&hl=en&ei=FtkaTMmUBIL58AaX9qy9CQ&sa=X&oi=book_result
&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CD4Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=%22Death%20Come%2
0Creepin%22&f=false
SHEET MUSIC: guitar tab http://books.google.com/books?id=k2TmVpACajIC&pg=PA9&dq=%22De
ath+Come+Creeping%22&hl=en&ei=69EaTOHOK4H48Ab6raWRCQ&sa=X&o
i=book_result&ct=
result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Death%20Come
%20Creeping%22&f=false
YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAQ0pyKW4S4
YouTube - Bob Brozman - "Death Come Creepin'"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQdDLj6znvA cover of Mississippi Fred McDowell
CATEGORY: Traditional and Shape-Note Gospel;
DATE: 1800s; Version B 1915-1916; Version A 1925- N.I. White
RECORDING INFO: Death Come Creeping
Rt - Oh, Death
Brozman, Bob. /Blues Reflex Death Come Creepin'
Power, Steve. /The Journey Death Come Creepin'
Grissom, Mary Allen. "The Negro Sings a New Heaven" Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1930. (Soon One Mawnin' Death Come Creepin' In Yo' Room)
Grossman, Stefan. Grossman, Stefan (ed.) / Book of Guitar Tunings, Amsco, Sof (1972), p21
Grossman, Stefan. Grossman, Stefan / Tab Book for Fingerpicking Guitar Technique, Kicking Mule, Fol (1974), p 8
Grossman, Stefan. Grossman, Stefan / Complete Fingerstyle Guitar Book, Mel Bay, Sof (1995), p 16
Hall, Vera Ward; and Dock Reed. Lomax, John A. & Alan Lomax / Our Singing Country, MacMillan, Sof (2000/1941), p 30 [1937] (Soon One Morning, Death Come Creeping)
Winslow, Tom. It's the Clear Water, Biograph BLP 12018, LP (1969), trk# B.05
Mississippi Fred McDowell. /Ken Burns's Jazz: The Story of American Music (disc 1). Mississippi Fred McDowell – Soon One Mornin' (Death Come A-Creepin' in My Room)
OTHER NAMES: "Soon One Mornin' Death Come Creepin' " "Death Come A-Creepin' in My Room" "Soon One Mawnin' Death Come Creepin' In Yo' Room"
RELATED TO: "Death Come To My House," "Oh What You Goin' To Do?"; "Oh Death" songs; "I'm So Glad (Trouble Don't Last Always)" "I'm So Glad I Got My Religion On Time"
SOURCES: Grissom, Mary Allen. "The Negro sings a new Heaven" Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1930.
Lomax, Alan. Our Singing Country
NOTES: "Death Come Creepin'" or "Soon One Mornin' Death Come Creepin'" is an African-American spiritual. It was collected by N.I. White in 1925 (no title; Version B a frament is from 1915-1916) as "Soon One Mornin' Death Come Creepin' In de Room" in his American Negro Folk Songs and by Mary Allen Grissom as "Soon One Mawnin' Death Come Creepin' In Yo' Room" and was published in her 1930 book, "The Negro Sings A New Heaven" Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Versions were collected by Lomax (Vera Hall & Dock Reed) and Ruby Pickens Tartt (under the alternate title, "I'm So Glad I Got My Religion On Time").
Other versions are titled after the chorus: "O My Lord, What Shall I Do?" See: "Oh What You Goin' To Do?" from Americus Georgia, in Maud Cuney-Hare's "Negro Musicians And Their Music" (Washington, D.C., The Associated Publishers Inc., 1936; pps 73-74).
The song was in the repertoire of bluesman Mance Lipscomb and Mississippi Fred McDowell. It also was arranged by Sam Cook (before he became Sam Cooke) with the Soul Stirrers under the title "I'm So glad (Trouble Don't Last Always)."
Soon One Mornin' Death Come Creepin'- collected from Vera Hall & Dock Reed, AL, 1937 and published in Our Singing Country by Alan Lomax.
Soon one mornin' death come creepin' in my room.
Soon one mornin' death come creepin' in my room.
Soon one mornin' death come creepin' in my room.
O my Lord, O my Lord, what shall I do to be saved?
Death done been here, tuck my mother an' gone.
Death done been here, tuck my mother an' gone.
Death done been here, tuck my mother an' gone.
O my Lord, O my Lord, what shall I do to be saved?
Death done been here, left me a motherless child.
Death done been here, left me a motherless child.
Death done been here, left me a motherless child.
O my Lord, O my Lord, what shall l do to be saved?
Don't move my pillow until my Jesus comes.
Don't move my pillow until my Jesus comes.
Don't move my pillow until my Jesus comes.
O my Lord, O my Lord, what shall l do to be saved?
When Jesus comes, you can turn my bed around.
When Jesus comes, you can turn my bed around.
When Jesus comes, you can turn my bed around.
O my Lord, O my Lord, what shall l do to be saved?
I'm so glad I got my religion in time.
I'm so glad I got my religion in time.
I'm so glad I got my religion in time.
O my Lord, O my Lord, what shall l do to be saved?
I'M SO GLAD I GOT MY RELIGION ON TIME- Tartt Collection of Religious Folk Songs
1. Soon one mornin' death come creepin' in de room (3x)
Oh my Lord, oh my Lord, whut shall I do to be saved.
2. Death done been here, took my mother en gone, etc.
3. Death done been here, lef' me er motherless chile, etc.
4. I heard a voice I never heard before, etc.
5. Called lac Jesus, never heard de voice before, etc.
6. Gwine lay my head, my head on Jesus' breast, etc.
7. Gwine breathe my life, my life out sweetly dere, etc.
8. Ain't gonna die, jes' gonna sleep away, etc.
9. Angel, angel, cleanin' up de chariot wheel, etc.
10. I'm so glad I got my religion on time, etc.
SOURCE: Olivia and Jack Solomon, Honey in the Rock: The Ruby Pickens Tartt Collection of Religious Folk Songs from Sumter County, Alabama (Mercer UP, 1991, p. 97-98; with no tune), with notes:
"'I'm so glad ...' is exquisitely molded from two other spirituals into a new unity, with an astonishing purity of text, diction, rhythm, and stanzaic structure. Stanzas 1, 2, and 3 have their origins in 'Death come to my house,' especially the personification of death as a thief and murderer who invades the sanctity of home and family and carries away the mother, the source of earthly joy and comfort. Stanzas 4 and 5 descend from the famous 'Somebody knocking at your door'; the shift in imagery from the thief to the voice of Jesus is dramatic and coherent. In stanzas 6, 7, and 8 the traditional metaphor of death as sleep 'on Jesus' breast' has become a beautiful folk Pietà. Stanzas 9 and 10 have migrated from certain 'religion' songs, and though they do not possess the musical and poetic qualities of the other stanzas, they conclude the interior drama with joy. In the choral tag the allusion to the story of the rich young ruler (Matthew 19, Mark 10, Luke 18) locates physical death within the theological context of salvation: the eternal life the rich ruler seeks is lost when he refuses Christ's injunction to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor."(p. 97)
DEATH COME CREEPING- Standard Lyrics (Grossman)
1. Now tell me what you're going to do when death comes creeping in your room.
Now tell me what you're going to do when death comes creeping in your room.
Now tell me what you're going to do when death comes creeping in your room.
Oh my lord, oh my lord, what shall I do, what shall I do.
2. You're going to run, you're going to run, you're going to seek your hiding place.
You're going to run, you're going to run, you're going to seek your hiding place
You're going to run, you're going to run, you're going to seek your hiding place
Oh my lord, oh my lord, what shall I do, what shall I do.
3. Soon one morning, death came creeping in my room
Soon one morning, death came creeping in my room
Soon one morning, death came creeping in my room
Oh my lord, oh my lord, what shall I do, what shall I do.
4. Death's done come and took my Mother away
Death's done come and took my Mother away
Death's done come and took my Mother away
Oh my lord, oh my lord, what shall I do, what shall I do.
5. Death's done come and took my Father away
Death's done come and took my Father away
Death's done come and took my Father away
Oh my lord, oh my lord, what shall I do, what shall I do.
6. Ride on, Death, 'cause you can't do me no harm
Ride on, Death, 'cause you can't do me no harm
Ride on, Death, 'cause you can't do me no harm
Oh my lord, oh my lord, what shall I do, what shall I do.
Death Come Creeping- Traditional (4/4, Dropped D Tuning)
1. Tell me what, you gonna’ do, when death comes creeping in your room? (3x)
Oh my Lord, Oh my Lord, what shall I do!
2. You gonna’ run, you gonna’ run, you gonna’ seek your hiding place. (3x)
Oh my Lord, Oh my Lord, what shall I do!
3. Well, if I was a gambler, I’d through them cards away. (3x)
Oh my Lord, Oh my Lord, what shall I do!
4. You better run, you better run, fall on your knees and pray. (3x)
Oh my Lord, Oh my Lord, what shall I do!
5. Well, God told Nicodemus, that you must be born again. (3x)
Oh my Lord, Oh my Lord, what shall I do!
Death Come A Creepin' In My Room- (Fred McDowell) Roots of the Blues New World 252 B:3
It was soon one mornin' Death come a-creepin in my (room)
Soon one (morning), Death come a-creepin' in my room, Godalmighty knows
(Soon one morning) Death come a-creepin' in my (room)
Oh my Lord, oh my Lord, what shall I do to be (saved)
Well hush children (hush) heard my (Lord call my name)
Hush (children hush), heard my Lord call Godalmighty knows
(Hush children, hush), heard my Lord call (my name)
Oh my Lord, oh my Lord (what) shall I do to be (saved)?
I'm gonna stand right here, I'm gonna wait till Je(sus come)
I'm gonna stand right (here), gonna wait until Jesus come, Godalmighty
(I'm gonna stand right here), gonna wait till Jesus (come)
Oh my (Lord), oh my Lord (what) shall I do to be (saved)?
Well soon one morning, Death come a creepin' in my (room)
Soon one morning Death come a-creepin' in my room, Godalmighty
(Soon one morning Death come a-creepin' in my room
Oh my Lord, O my Lord, what shall I do to be saved?)
DEATH COME CREEPIN' - Bob Brozman. Here Bob pays tribute to Tommy Johnson's legendary 1928 recordings, playing in straight ahead traditional Jackson Mississippi style on two guitars, a 1997 National Baritone tricone and a 1929 national tricone. The new lyrics have a traditional sound, yet are relevant to Bob's current feeling.
[lyrics currently unavailable- listen above]
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