The Meaning Behind The Lyrics To "Wade In The Water"

Ms.Fluzo, July 19, 2010

****
Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents some information about the African American Spiritual "Wade In The Water" and presents various theories about what that song means and how it was used by enslaved African Americans.

This post showcases the version of Wade In The Water that was recorded by Ella Jenkins and the the Goodwill Spiritual Choir of Chicago in 1960s. The lyrics to that version of "Wade In The Water" are found at https://genius.com/Ella-jenkins-wade-in-the-water-lyrics .

The content of this post is presented for historical, religious, and cultural purposes/

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the unknown composers of "Wade In The Water". Thanks also to Ella Jenkins and the Goodwill Spiritual Choir of Chicago for their musical legacies. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube.

-snip-
This post is part of an ongoing pancocojams series on the African American Spiritual "Wade  In Water" and songs that are based on that Spiritual. Google "Wade In The Water Pancocojams  or click the "Wade In The Water" tag below for other pancocojams posts in that series.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT THE AFRICAN AMERICAN SPIRITUAL "WADE IN THE WATER" 
Excerpt #1
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wade_in_the_Water

"Wade in the Water" (Roud 5439) is an African American jubilee song, a spiritual—in reference to a genre of music "created and first sung by African Americans in slavery.

[...]

In his 1925 book, Crisis, W. E. B. Du Bois mentioned "Wade in the Water" as performed by the Norfolk Jubilee Quartet. DuBois wrote that "You'll never tire of the melodious rich blended voices of the Norfolk Jubilee Quartet, Sunset Four, and Harrod's Jubilee Singers."[18]: 155, 259 "...
-snip-
Read my comment in this post's discussion section about this meaning of the word "jubilee". 

**

Excerpt #2
From https://yonamariemusic.com/yona/blog/249/the-meanings-behind-wade-in-the-water The Meanings Behind Wade In The Water, by Yona Marie, March 16 2022
..."Wade In The Water's Official Publishing

This popular song likely has origins that date at least back to the 1870s. John Wesley Work Jr. spent three decades at the HBCU Fisk University, collecting a series of songs from the original Fisk Jubilee Singers.

The original Fisk Jubilee Singers were active in the 1870s, and John decided to revive their works with a new smaller group called The Sunset Four Jubilee Singers.

The lyrics to this song were first published in 1901 in New Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers by John Wesley Work Jr. and his brother Frederick J. Work.

The first recording of it was performed by the Sunset Four Jubilee Singers and released by Paramount Records in 1925. "....

****
ONLINE EXCERPTS ABOUT THE MEANINGS OF THE SPIRITUAL "WADE IN THE WATER"
These excerpts are given in no particular order. and are numbered for referencing purposes only.

More than one of these viewpoints about the meaning of the Spiritual "Wade In The Water" can be true at the same time.    

I. THE "WADE IN THE WATER" SPIRITUAL REFER TO THE ISREALITES FLEEING EGYPT 
Excerpt 1
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wade_in_the_Water

Interpretations of the lyrics

Many of the songs in the original Fisk Jubilee Singers songbooks dealt with themes from both the Old and New Testament. According to a 2002 article written by Dave Watermulder, J. Amber Hudlin, and Ellie Kaufman at George Washington University, the song reflects the Israelites' escape out of Egypt as found in Exodus.[29]"...

**
Excerpt #2
From https://artandtheology.org/2020/09/07/wade-in-the-water-artful-devotion/
..."Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And in the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians.”....
—Exodus 14:19–31

****
II. THE "WADE IN THE WATER" LYRICS ARE CODED INSTRUCTIONS TO PEOPLE TRYING TO ESCAPE SLAVERY (THIS THEORY IS ASSOCIATED WITH HARRIET TUBMAN & THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD) 

Excerpt #1
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wade_in_the_Water
...."Songs of the Underground Railroad

According the PBS Newshour—while it "has not been proven, it is believed"—that "Wade in the Water" was one of the songs associated with the Underground Railroad—a network of secret routes and safe houses used by slaves in the United States to find freedom.[5]

It is believed that Harriet Tubman, who made thirteen trips to the South and helped free more than 70 people, used this song to warn slaves to get off the trail and into the water to prevent dogs—used by the slavers—from finding them.[5][7][6][30]: 18 

In 1993, Arthur C. Jones—a University of Denver Professor in the Musicology, Ethnomusicology and Theory Department, published the first edition of this book, Wade in the water: the wisdom of the spirituals.[7] Jones established "The Spirituals Project" in 1998 at the university's Lamont School of Music, to preserve and revitalize the "music and teachings of the sacred folk songs called spirituals"—"created and first sung by African Americans in slavery."[1] Jones referenced "Wade in the water" in describing how Harriet Tubman and others improvised on "already existing spirituals", employing them "clandestinely in the multilayered struggle for freedom."[7]: 51, 55 

In 2002, Maryland Public Television in collaboration with the Maryland Historical Society and Maryland State Archives, produced "Pathways to Freedom: Maryland and the Underground Railroad" as a teaching guide, which included a section on how songs that many slaves knew had "secret meanings" that they could be "used to signal many things." They cited the example of Harriet Tubman using "Wade in the Water" to "tell escaping slaves to get off the trail and into the water to make sure the dogs slavecatchers used couldn’t sniff out their trail. People walking through water did not leave a scent trail that dogs could follow."[31] Certain songs were believed to have contained explicit instructions to fugitive slaves on how to avoid capture and the route to take to successfully make their way to freedom.[32]"

**
Excerpt #2
From https://www.proz.com/kudoz/english/religion/739524-%22god%E2%80%99s-a-gonna-trouble-the-water%22.html WADE IN THE WATER ON THE UGRR by Calvin Earl |  posted in: African American History, Blog, Spirituals, Underground Railroad |  1, June 1, 2017
" “Wade In The Water is one of the spirituals that has many secret codes embedded within the song that was used to give guidance to the slave as he embarked on his journey to freedom on the Underground Railroad. The lyrics in this spiritual talk not only about the religious ceremony as it pertains to the Christian Church where the religious rite of sprinkling water onto a person’s forehead or of immersion in water, or as John the Baptist baptized people in the river symbolizing purification or regeneration and admission into life as a Christian. ‘Wade in the water, ‘God’s gonna trouble the water’ for the slaves trying to escape from slavery on the Underground Railroad, meant the first thing the slave master would do would be to send out the bloodhounds to track the slaves down. The bloodhounds could track the slaves easily on land, but the lyrics “God’s gonna trouble the water” tell the slave to actually find a body of water and then walk or wade in the water in that way the bloodhounds would lose the scent of the escaping slave and the slave would be safe from the dogs tracking them down.

Also in the lyrics ‘See that band all dressed in red, looks like the band that Moses led’ -It is thought that the lyrics reference Harriet Tubman whose nickname was ‘Moses of her people’. Many of the spirituals lyrics have dual meanings in the songs and in this song Moses and Harriet Tubman’s names are interchangeable because Harriet like the story in the Bible where Moses led the slaves to freedom, Harriet did the same for the slaves in the 1800’s in America.”…

****
Excerpt #3
From https://yonamariemusic.com/yona/blog/249/the-meanings-behind-wade-in-the-water The Meanings Behind Wade In The Water, by Yona Marie, March 16 2022
…”Wade In The Water And The Underground Railroad

Although it is not confirmed, it is widely taught that Harriet Tubman, who made several trips to the South and helped free more than 70 people in the mid-19th century, used this song as a part of the journey.

 While the lyrics generally have a more religious interpretation, this song was used as a code for the slaves to get off the trail and into the water. Slavers used dogs to find escaped slaves, and the water helped hide their scent.

It is important to note that spirituals like these were already popular in the black community even before Harriet Tubman took this journey.

She is said to have taken several spirituals that were well-known and could be used to signal many different messages. Since blacks were often known to sing, white people wouldn't be alarmed by hearing it."...

**
Excerpt #4
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg_8L96E3eU Wade In The Water- Ella Jenkins

[This is the link for the YouTube sound file of "Wade In The Water" that is embedded in this pancocojams post.]  

P La, 2017 [comment]
"This beautiful song help slaves escape to freedom by telling them to run to the river because the dogs can not pick up your scent once your in the water 😊 not only this song but many other songs slaves sung to help give them instructions to freedom so the master would not know what they were talking about bout think they were just singing a song 😊this is a very powerful message"

**
Excerpt #5
From https://artandtheology.org/2020/09/07/wade-in-the-water-artful-devotion/ "Wade in the Water (Artful Devotion)", Posted on September 7, 2020 by Victoria Emily Jones
..."According to oral lore, Harriet Tubman used the song “Wade in the Water” to communicate strategy to slaves traveling the Underground Railroad: its coded language alerted freedom seekers that bounty hunters were on their trail with bloodhounds and that they should jump into the river so that the dogs couldn’t track their scent. This popular myth about the song has not been confirmed, and the National Park Service, which preserves historical sites associated with the Underground Railroad and promotes research on the topic, suggests that it’s probably not true."...
-snip-
The hyperlinked words "probably not true" leads to the website https://www.nps.gov/hatu/planyourvisit/upload/MD_TubmanFactSheet_MythsFacts_2.pdf Myths & Facts About Harriet Tubman

****
III. THE "GOD'S GONNA TROUBLE THE WATER" LYRICS OF WADE IN THE WATER REFER THE BIBLE CHAPTER /VERSE JOHN 5: Verses 2-9 
Excerpt #1
From https://yonamariemusic.com/yona/blog/249/the-meanings-behind-wade-in-the-water The Meanings Behind Wade In The Water, by Yona Marie, March 16 2022

..."This song ["Wade In TheWater"] references the Israelites’ crossing of the Jordan River into the promised land. Deuteronomy 30 verses 11-16 is a message from Moses directly to those who were following him to freedom

[…]

The new testament also gives us more insight into what it means when God is going to trouble the water when you look at the King James version. John 5:4 explains these waters below:

"For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had."

**
Excerpt #2
From https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-wade-in-the-water History of Hymns: "Wade in the Water" by C. Michael Hawn, Oct. 14, 2015
..."The refrain of “Wade in the Water” is based upon the narrative of John 5:2-9. It is the story of the pool by the Sheep Gate—Bethzatha in Hebrew. A portion of this passage follows: “Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had ”(John 5:2-4, KJV) Perhaps, among other possibilities, this is a reference of healing in body and soul."...

****
IV. THE "WADE IN THE WATER" SPIRITUAL HAS RELIGIOUS MEANINGS FOR PEOPLE'S EVERY DAY LIFE
Excerpt #1
From https://yonamariemusic.com/yona/blog/249/the-meanings-behind-wade-in-the-water The Meanings Behind Wade In The Water, by Yona Marie, March 16 2022

...."Deeper Religious Interpretation

The waters of the Jordan represent freedom from oppression, breakthrough, and deliverance that we all can relate to in some way. Howard Thurman, a well-known dean at HBCU Howard University, described the troubled waters in his book "The Negro Spiritual Speaks of Life and Death" as a huge moment of transformation.

Howard wrote, "The ‘troubled waters’ meant the ups and downs, the vicissitudes of life. Within the context of the ‘troubled’ waters of life, there are healing waters, because God is in the midst of the turmoil.” God is going to trouble the water, and you may be uncomfortable, but it's ultimately what will make you a better person on the other side.

[…]

Stirred or troubled waters may shake up your faith, but God calls us to wade in the water and go through the troubling with faith in Him in order to get to the other side, the Promise Land.”…

**
Excerpt #2
From https://blackhistory360.wordpress.com/2011/02/18/decoding-wade-in-the-water/ "DECODING WADE IN THE WATER" published by WALTER RHETT, 8 FEBRUARY 2011
….”People think the song is about Moses and Exodus, but the troubled waters the spiritual refers to are in a New Testament verse. The conventional wisdom of history contends the song sent a signal to runaway slaves: Use the river so the hounds can’t trace you. Tonight is the moment for flight; move swiftly; the reaction will be fierce.

[…]

You can’t imagine the joy of my surprise. When I found out what following that trouble meant.

[...]

The fourth verse of John 5 that describes how the angel stirs the waters of the pool is left out of several excellent bible manuscripts and a debate rages about whether it was actually in the original manuscript written by John. The word, “troubled” or “stirred,” in the original Greek refers to “an uncertain affinity.” In other words, the angel brings forth a power whose source was unknown by observation or direct sensory means.

But its results were consistent and clear. This affinity had the ability to heal afflictions and was transferred to the waters; its blessing received by the first one in. Christ transfers this blessing, by word and deed, to all who believe in faith. But like the healing at the Bethesda pool, often the benefits of god’s grace only come in certain seasons.

The spiritual, “Wade in the Water,” tells how to practice faith; and, like algebra, it re-orders the events. In the bible story, the water is troubled first. In the spiritual, those who will be blessed are urged to step into the waters first, before the angel of god comes. The song stresses meeting hardships with courage and “stiddy” faith; gather now and get ready, the healing is promised. Gather now, so that all will be among the first received and delivered by the gifts of grace that spring forth in dark times.

[…]

So in the legacy of “Wade in the Water,” we know, dramatic change can come to our lives. John, the youngest of the disciples, in just 22 days of his life, records the dramatic witness of Christ. The miracle John describes in Jerusalem at the Bethesda pool waters is not recorded in any of the other three gospels.

So “Wade in the Water” is more than instructions for running away, which only a small number of border state slaves were able to do. It is a song text of a dramatic story of god’s ability to restore and redeem. The African songs known as the spirituals are witness and memory. They are a text for the inner heart. They express its highest calling.”…

**
Excerpt
From  https://artandtheology.org/2020/09/07/wade-in-the-water-artful-devotion/ Wade In The Water ("Artful Devotion)" by Victoria Emily Jones, Sept. 7, 2020
..."In the documentary God’s Greatest Hits, pastor and gospel recording artist Wintley Phipps says, “‘Wade in the Water,’ to me, . . . means people who are afraid of moving forward, progressing, taking a step, and facing uncertainty—go ahead, wade in the water. Take that step. As terrifying as it may seem at that very moment, it’s gonna be alright, and the miracle we seek is gonna happen.”

[...]

“Wade in the Water” affirms that God is going to stir things up; he’s going to do something big. Just like he did when he brought Israel up out of Egypt."...

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.