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Come, Let Us All Go Down/As I Went Down in the Valley to Pray/Down in the Valley to Pray/Down to the River to Pray/The Good Old Way/Come Let us All Go Down
SEE ALSO: As I Went Down in the Valley to Pray
SEE ALSO: Come Let Us All Go Down
SEE ALSO: Good Old Way
Tradtional Old-Time, Bluegrass Gospel and Spiritual;
ARTIST: Sarah Ogan Gunning recorded this for her Rounder album 'The Silver Dagger' Rounder LP 0051
CATEGORY: Traditional and Public Domain Gospel
DATE: 1800s- 1867 Allen;
First Recorded in 1927 by the Price Family Sacred Singers, "I Went Down Into the Valley to Pray" (OKeh 40796, 1927)
Delta Big Four, "Moaner Let's Go Down in the Valley" (Paramount 13009, 1930; on VocalQ2)
RECORDING INFO: As I Went Down in the Valley to Pray
Mf - Down on the Picket Line
Allen, William Francis, et.al (eds.) / Slave Songs of the United States, Dover, Sof (1995/1867), #104 [1860s] (Good Old Way)
Work, John W. / American Negro Songs and Spirituals, Dover, Bk (1998/1940), p 69 (I Went Down in the Valley)
Cleland, Becky;, Ben and Wayne Seymour. Down in the Valley to Pray, Kudzu KPP 008, CD (2002), trk# 1
Cleland, Becky;, Ben and Wayne Seymour. Down in the Valley to Pray, Kudzu KPP 008, CD (2002), trk# 23
Davidson, Donald. Jackson, George P.(ed.) / Spiritual Folk Songs of Early America, Dover, Sof (1964/1937), p209/#207 [1932/01/20] (I Went Down to the Valley)
Fisk Jubilee Singers. Marsh, J. B. T. / Story of the Jubilee Singers, Houghton Mifflin, Bk (1880), p156/# 33 (Come Let Us All Go Down)
Leadbelly. Leadbelly; The Library of Congress Recordings, Elektra EKL 301/2, LP (1965), trk# C.05d [1933-42]
Montgomery, Chris. Faded Memories, Star SLP12690, Cas (1990), trk# 11 (Valley to Pray)
O'Brien, Tim & Mollie. Take Me Back, Sugar Hill SH 3766, LP (1988), trk# 5 (Down To The Valley To Pray)
Watson, Doc. Home Again, Vanguard VSD 79239, LP (1967), trk# 1
Watson, Doc. Essential Doc Watson, Vanguard VCD 45/46, CD (1986), trk# 7 [1963ca]
Watson, Doc. Watson, Doc / Songs of Doc Watson, Oak, Sof (1971), p102
Watson, Doc. Cooney, Michael (ed.) / How Can We Keep From Singing, Sing Out, Sof (1974), p38
Price Family Sacred Singers, "I Went Down Into the Valley to Pray" (OKeh 40796, 1927)
Delta Big Four, "Moaner Let's Go Down in the Valley" (Paramount 13009, 1930; on VocalQ2)
OTHER NAMES: "The Good Old Way," "Down to the River to Pray" "Down in the Valley to Pray"
SOURCES: Folk Index; Meade
NOTES: "Down in the Valley to Pray" by Sarah Ogan Gunning also known as, "Come Let Us All Go Down" or "The Good Old Way" was popularized in the 2000 movie, "O Brother Where Art Thou" as "Down to the River To Pray." Here's the entry from Brown:
553 As I Went Down in the Valley to Pray- Brown Collection
Songs corresponding to parts of the following are to be found in White ANFS 71, 132: Jackson WNS 166-7: L. L. McDowell, Songs of the Old Camp Ground (Ann Arbor, 1937), p. 44; and Perkins JAFL xxv 233-4. Cf. The Good Old Way,' in Allen SS, p. 84.
'Down in the Valley to Pray.' With music. From Mrs. Maude Minish Sutton; undated, but the following note indicates 1917-18. From the note it is also to be observed that Airs. Sutton's version is not an *African-American song.
"We went to a foot-washing. It isn't a bit funny; it's like the ceremony the King of Spain performs on Christmas Day. The service was held at the Elk Valley church, and we were sure we'd laugh, but we were sobered, and even reverent, when we came away. Nobody could fail to be impressed by the earnestness, the dignity, and the deep sincerity of those old men. The minister read, in the tone he always uses, the story of the Last Supper, and then girding his waist with a towel he went around and washed the feet of five old men. As he did so, the congregation sang the song that follows. There was much emotion. The air was full of it. I felt it and responded to it as I would if I had been at a play.
"The old lady who sat next to me might have posed for the peasant woman in Millet's The Angcliis, and yet I should have chosen her for a typical North Carolina woman. She looked understandingly at the service star I wore. 'Your feller?' she inquired. 'My brother, with the 30th,' I answered. 'My boy's in the 30th,' she said. I talked with
licr after tlie service.
"The old preacher did a pretty thorough job. He washed one pair of feet to a verse. I believe if more elders or deacons, or whatever the honorees were, had l)een present more verses would have been forthcoming.
"The old lady can't write, and neither can her boy. I must tell Ralph to look him up and tell me something about him to tell her. She 'ain't shore' who his captain is — poor old woman!"
A 1. O sisters, le's go down, le's go down, le's go down,
O sisters, le's go down, down in the valley to pray.
As I went down in the valley to pray,
Studyin' about that good old way,
And who should wear the starry crown;
Good Lord, show me the way.
2. O brothers, etc.
3. O mothers, etc.
4. O fathers, etc.
5. O children, etc.
B. No title. From Jennie Belvin, Durham; c. 1920-21. Phonograph recording July 1922.
As I went down in the valley to pray,
Studying about that good old way.
Who shall wear the starry crown?
Good Lord, show me the way.
Chorus: Oh, sinners let's go down,
Let's go down, let's go down.
Oh. sinners let's go down,
Down in the valley to pray.
Oh, mourners, let's go down.
Let's go down, let's go down,
Oh, mourners, let's go down,
Down in the valley to pray.
C. No title. From Miss Aura Hohon, Durham; c. 1924. "I know the air—may he able to get words."
As I went down in the valley to pray,
Studyin' 'bout de good ol' way.
As I went down in de valley to pray.
Oh, Lawd, show me de way.
Chorus: Oh, sinner, yo' better go down.
Yo' better go down, you better go down,
Oh, sinner, you better go down.
Down in de valley to pray.
No. 33. Come, Let Us All Go Down 1880s, J. B. T. Marsh, The Story of the Jubilee Singers with Their Songs. 1880s, Houghton Mifflin. Songs appear in several editions, USA and UK, 1870s-1880s.
1. I went down in the valley to pray,
Studying about that good old way;
You shall wear the starry crown,
Good Lord, show me the way.
2. I think I hear the sinner say,
Come, let's go down in the valley to pray;
You shall wear the starry crown,
Good Lord, show me the way.
3. I think I heard the mourner say,
Come, let's go down in the valley to pray;
You shall wear the starry crown,
Good Lord, show me the way.
By and by we'll all go down, all go down, all go down,
By and by we'll all go down,
Down in the valley to pray.
The great traditional singer from Knox County, Kentucky, Sarah Ogan Gunning recorded this for her Rounder album 'The Silver Dagger' Rounder LP 0051. In his notes, Mark Wilson merely noted that the song was traditional and 'well-known', but that Sarah's text was more elaborate than most:
DOWN IN THE VALLEY TO PRAY- Sarah Ogan Gunning
Come on, fathers, and let's go down
Let's go down, let's go down
Come on, fathers, and let's go down
Down in the valley to pray
As I went down in the valley to pray
Studying about that good old way
And who should wear the starry crown?
Dear Lord, show me the way
The more I prayed the worse I felt
At last I thought my heart would melt
And I asked my Jesus what to do
Thought my heart would break in two
Jesus says, 'You go, and I'll go with you
'Preach the gospel and I'll preach with you'
Lord, if I go, tell me what to say
For they won't believe on me
…. Brothers ….
…. Sisters …..
Source: transcription in booklet accompanying Sarah Ogan Gunning 'The Silver Dagger' Rounder LP 0051 (1974). Sarah used this song as the basis for her 'Down on the Picket Line' which may be found on Folk-Legacy FSA-6.
Traditional singer from Madison County, North Carolina, Dillard Chandler, recorded a song with a very similar tune. It uses a text similar to Sarah's final stanza for 'Down in the Valley to Pray' as its chorus. In his notes to Dillard Chandler 'The End of an Old Song' Folkways LP FA 2418, Robert Balsam noted that 'the song was absent from books and recordings and that Mary Sands, whom Cecil Sharp collected from, said she wrote it. Dillard said she would always walk through the valleys and mountains singing. Although Mary Sands was mostly known as a ballad singer (because of Sharp), she was also a contributor to the religious song tradition'.
JESUS SAYS SO
When I was a sinner, the people would say
If you want to be converted, you'd better pray
So trust in them that's found the lord
Free as promised a sure reward
Chorus:
Jesus says go – I'll go with you
Pray to the gospel, and I'll pray with you
Lord, if I go, tell me what to say
For they won't believe on me
When I started out on my way to pray
I'll tell you what the spirit did say
Come undo me for I am a way
And I intend in trying to pray
The more I prayed, the worse I felt
But at last I thought my heart would melt
Chorus
Well, my hands was tied, my feet was bound
The elements opened and the Lord came down
The voice I heard sounds so sweet
The love run out of the soul (sic) of my feet
Chorus
Well, it's doubts may ride and troubles may roll
But God said he'd save your sin sick soul
Chorus
Source: transcription in booklet accompanying Dillard Chandler 'The End of an Old Song' Folkways LP FA 2418 (1975).
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