Go down Moses

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Go Down Moses , also known as When Israel Was in Egypt's Land or Let My People Go , is an American spiritual who describes events in the Old Testament of the Bible , especially the passage in which God commands Moses to go to Pharaoh and be released to demand of the Israelites from the Egyptian slave captivity (" Exodus 3,10: [...] go now, I will send you to Pharaoh, that you bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.") . The recurring line "Let my people go" corresponds to the repeated request of God through Moses to the Pharaoh to release the people (see Ex 5.1; 7.16; 7.26 / English: 8.1; 8.16 / English: 8.20; 9.1; 9.13; 10.3 - seven times). In the lyrics of the song, Israel represents the Afro-American slaves and Egypt and the Pharaoh the slave masters.

The song appeared in its version below in 1872 as a song by the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University in Nashville . An 1861 songbook notes that it was sung by slaves in Virginia .

Go down Moses from Les Petits Chanteurs de Montigny

melody

M: 4/4 L: 1/8 K: G Q: 1/4 = 120 B, 2 | G2 G2 F2 F2 | G2 G2 E4 | B, 2 B, 2 ^ D D3 | E4 z2 w: When Israel was in Egypt, Let my peo - ple go, B, 2 | G2 G2 F2 F2 | G2 G2 E4 | B, 2 B, 2 ^ D D3 | E8 | w: Op - pressed so hard they could not stand, Let my peo - ple go. EE-E6 | AA-A6 | (B3 A) B3 A | B2 B2 (A / G / E3) | w: Go down, Mo-ses, Way down in E - gypt land, (G E3) (E G3) | (ED) B, 2-B, 3 B, | B, B, 3 ^ D D3 | E4 | w: Tell old Pha - raoh To let my peo - ple go.

song lyrics

The original version reads:

  1. When Israel was in Egypt's land: Let my people go,
    Oppress'd so hard they could not stand, Let my People go.
    Go down, Moses
    Way down in Egypt land,
    Tell old Pharaoh,
    Let my people go.

  2. Thus saith the Lord bold Moses said: Let my people go,
    If not I'll smite your firstborn dead. Let my people go.
    Go down, Moses, ...

  3. No more shall they in bondage toil. Let my people go,
    Let them come out with Egypt's spoil! Let my people go.
    Go down, Moses, ...

  4. O let us all from bondage flee. Let my people go,
    And let us all in Christ be free. Let my people go.
    Go down, Moses, ...

Literature and media

Wikibooks: Songbook / Go down Moses  - learning and teaching materials
  • The Continental Monthly. Vol. II (July-December, 1862), New York
  • Lockwood, LC “Oh! Let My People Go: The Song of the Contrabands ”. New York: Horace Waters (1862)
  • "Let my people go" from the audio album "Modern gospel & Negro spirituals", Various Artists, published October 4th, 2008

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