Mahalia Jackson - Keep Your Hand on the Plow
BrendudeUploaded on Jan 6, 2010
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Edited by Azizi Powell
This post pancocojams post provides videos of and information about the Spiritual* "Hold On" which was adapted, retitled, and sung during the American civil rights movement of the 1960s with the names "Hold On" and "Keep Your Eyes On The Prize"..
The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to everyone in the past who stood up for freedom & justice and thanks to everyone now who are standing up for freedom and justice for all.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these sound files on YouTube.
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*The song "Keep Your Hand On The Plow" may be more correctly categorized as an early African American Gospel song instead of an African American Spiritual. That is because the first documentation of this song is 1917 and the general rule is that African American religious compositions from 1900 on are Gospels and not Spirituals.
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Most of the content of this 2025 post is reprinted from my 2014 post "https://civilrightssongs.blogspot.com/2014/11/hold-on-keep-your-eyes-on-prize-civil.html"
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NFORMATION ABOUT THE CIVIL RIGHTS SONG "KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE"
The African American civil rights song "Hold On" is an adaptation of the African American Spiritual "Keep Your Hand On The Plow", also known as "Hold On". Instead of the Civil Rights song's lyrics "Keep your eye on the prize", the Spiritual's lyrics are "Keep your hand on the plow".
The wordss "Keep your hand on the plow" and "keep your eye on the prize" both mean to remain steadfast in your determination. The words of that Spiritual referred to those who were determined to live a Christian life. When almost the same words were sung in the civil rights protest movement, they referred to being resolved to continue to be involved in protest marches and other forms of civil (societal) protests in spite of the possibility or the probability of very serious consequences.
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Here are some comments about the Spiritual "Keep your eyes on the prize" and its adaptation as a Civil Rights song from this online Mudcat folk music discussion thread: http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?ThreadID=4136
Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.
1. Lyr Add: KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE
From: RickyC
Date: 24 Feb 98 - 06:17 PM
| ..."The song is in the book. The title is "Keep your Eyes on the Prize.” It is from and old religious song that used the words "keep your hand on the plow" and was rewritten by Alice Wine who was one of the first graduates of the voter education schools on Johns Island, South Carolina. These are the words: Paul and Silas, bound in jail, had no money for to go their bail, Chorus: Hold on, Hold on, Paul and Silas begin to shout, Freedom's name is mighty sweet, Got my hand on the Gospel plow, The only chain that a man can stand, The only thing we did wrong, But the one thing we did right, We're gonna board that big Greyhound, We're gonna ride for civil rights, We've met jail and violence too, Haven't been to heaven but I've been told, Song copyright 1965, 1965, by Alice Wine Source: Sing For Freedom: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement through its songs, Edited and compiled by Guy and Candie Carawan, 1963 (as "We Shall Overcome"). combined with "Freedom Is a Constant Struggle" (1968) and republished by Sing Out! with the new title. |
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2.RE: eyes on the prize lyrics?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Feb 99 - 01:05 AM
..."Smithsonian Folkways has a companion CD to the songbook KickyC quoted from, Sing For Freedom: The Story Of The Civil Rights Movement Through Its Songs, and it's available from Amazon click for a sample) and the usual suppliers. The CD has recordings of "Eyes on the Prize" and also the original form of the song, "Keep Your Hand on the Plow." This is what the songbook says about the song:
This is a song that has been through every chapter of the civil rights movement. The words "keep your eyes on the prize" (replacing the more common "keep your hand on the plow") came from Alice Wine, one of the first proud products of voter education schools - on Johns Island, South Carolina in 1956.
The song had meaning for the sit-in students who were the first to be 'bound in jail' for long periods of time. It went with the Freedom Riders to Jackson and into Parchman, and on to Albany and all of the many other areas of struggle.
The original song is also known as "Hold On." Here's a quote about that song from a book called Ev'ry time I Feel the Spirit, by Gwendolyn Sims Warren:
Struggling with the tribulations and hardships of slave existence, believers needed the encouragement of others not to give up but to hold on. As a later gospel song says, "Hold to God's unchanging hand" - trust in His deliverance, keep pressing on. this exhortation is based on Luke 9:62, which says, "anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God." Aother scripture, 1 Corinthians 9:10, says that those who plow should do so in hope.
"Hold On" imaginatively uses its imagery to hearten, exhort, and teach the message of the scriptures...The song's chorus talks to the whole slave community, from brothers and mothers to deacons and preachers. All must watch their step and hold on to the great gospel plow. The plow and track are interesting images because they related not only to the scriptural passages at the heart of "Hold On," but also to ordinary, everyday activities.
St. Paul talks about working toward a prize in Philippians 3:14 and 1 Corinthians 9:24, so the substitution of "prize" for "plow" seems to fit into the scriptural imagery of the song. The verses are flexible, many the same as those found in many other spirituals, plugged in wherever they fit.
It sure is a beautiful song, isn't it?"
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3. Lyr Add: KEEP YO' HAND ON THE GOSPEL PLOW
From: masato sakurai
Date: 14 Apr 02
"Newman I. White recorded "Keep yo' hand on the gospel plow" in his American Negro Folk-Songs ((1928; reprint ed., [1964?], p. 115; no title is given; text only). It was "reported from Durham, N.C., 1925, MS. of N.I. White. From Creedmore, N.C., as sung by Ed Lloyd, who says there are several stanzas."
Keep yo' hand on the gospel plow,
Wouldn't take nothin' for my journey now, Holy Ghost.
Chorus
Keep yo' hand on the gospel plow,
Hold on, hold on,
Keep yo' hand on the gospel plow,
Hold on.
Didn't come here for to stay always,
Just come here to fill my place.
I got a mother in the promised land,
Never shall rest till I shake her hand.
Earlier, Cecil J. Sharp recorded a version, which was "sung by girls at Oneida School, Ky., Aug. 18, 1917." (English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, 1932, vol. 2, p. 292; with music). Notes (by Karpeles?) say "This ... is a 'Holiness' hymn. It is evidently influenced by negro spiritulas." (p. 412)
HOLD ON
1. Some of these days about four o'clock,
This old world's going to reel and rock.
Keep your hand, keep your hand to the plough, hold on,
Hold on, hold on,
Keep your hand to the plough, hold on.
2. Some of these days, but I don't know when,
This old world's going to end.
3. Go away, satan, let me be,
You fooled my brother, but you can't fool me.
4. Satan wears a sinful shoe,
If you don't mind he'll slip it on you.
5. Some of these mornings at the rising sun,
O God's going to stop your lying tongue.
6. Hain't been to heaven, but I've been told
That the streets are pearl and the gates are gold.
7. When I get to heaven I'm going to sit down,
Wear a white robe and a starry crown.
8. I'm going to heaven and I hain't a-going to stop,
There hain't going to be no stumbling-block.
This song has been recorded by the Pilgrim Tavelers, Clara Ward Singers, Pete Seeger, Golden Gate Quartet, Mahalia Jackson, Sounds of Blackness. The title "Hold On" seems to be more common; another title is "The Gospel Plow" (by the Nashville Bluegrass Band).
~Masato"
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The referent "Negro" spelled with a lower case "n" is considered to offensive. Furthermore, Negro has been a socially unacceptable and outdated referent for Black Americans (African Americans) since the 1960s.
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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2- Keep Your Eyes On The Prize
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As is the case with all African American originated civil rights songs, the words to the song "Keep Your Eyes On The Prize" aren't fixed.
Thanks to Mama Kemba for sending in the third verse to this song to my cocojams.com website on February 26, 2008. That website is no longer active.
Thanks, also, to bill allen for sending a message on 4/24/2009 to that website which noted that "Keep Your Eye On The Prize" is an urban version of the rural (farm or plantation) song "Hold On".
bill allen also included these verses in his message:]to the 2014 post about this song on Civil Rights blog: https://civilrightssongs.blogspot.com/2014/11/hold-on-keep-your-eyes-on-prize-civil.html
1. When you plow, don't lose your track, Can't plow straight and keep a-lookin' back.
Keep your hand on that plow, hold on (Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.)
2. Wanna getta heav'n?, I'll tell you how, Keep your hand right on that plow. (Keep your eyes...)
3. When I thought I was lost, Dungeon shook and the chains fell off. (Keep your eyes...)
4. Got my hands on the gospel plow, Wouldn't take nothin' for my journey now. (Keep your eyes...)
5. The only chain we can stand, Is the chain of hand in hand (Keep your eyes...)
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LYRICS #2 - HOLD ON [Civil Rights version]
(no composers identified)
Paul and Silas bound in jail
with no money to forgo their bail
Keep your eye on the prize
and hold on, hold on
Chorus:
Hold on
Hold on
Keep your eye on the prize
And hold on, hold on.
If religion was a thing that money could buy
The rich would live and the poor would die
Keep your eye on the prize
And hold on, hold on.
Chorus
One and one that makes two
Tell you what I'm-ma gonna do
Keep my eye on the prize
And hold on, hold on.
Chorus
Know the one thing we did wrong
Stayed in the wilderness far too long
Know the first thing we did right
Was the day we started to fight
Keep your eye on the prize hold on, hold on
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A COMMENT FROM THE CIVIL RIGHTS BLOG'S POST ON THE SONG "HOLD ON"
Unknown (Mama Edie )August 6, 2016, https://civilrightssongs.blogspot.com/2014/11/hold-on-keep-your-eyes-on-prize-civil.html
"Thank you for your work in bringing forth this information
over the years. Thanks also to Momma Kemba, from my home in Chicago, and to
Bill Allen for their contributions as well. Doing final preparations for songs
and chants that I'll be helping to lead today for the Dr. King Memorial
commemorative march that we'll be doing shortly in Marquette Park, where Dr.
King was struck with a rock, saying that Chicago had been his most hostile
experience at that point, moreso than anything he had experienced in the south.
That march in 1966 had special meaning for me as, at the age of 14, I was in
it. Yesterday others who also had marched that day with Dr. King were invited
to participate in the memorial ceremony unveiling the monument that now stands
in Marquette Park, beautifully structured of stone and rock, a notable
connection to the incident where Dr. King was struck. Today we prepare for the
commemorative march, kicking off at 9am. A shorter distance this time around,
and hopefully, with less hostility. In fact, many in the community of Marquette
Park spearheaded these events, inspired by Brother Rami Nashashibi of IMAN
(Inner-City Muslim Action Nertwork), blending Muslims, Jews, Protestants,
Catholics, and people from across many cultures and nationalities. It was a
wonderful sight to behold that, with blessings, will continue to manifest out
into the world where we continue to encounter injustices on a daily basis. But
we know that we must keep hope alive and "Keep Our Eyes on the
Prize." We'll be in Philly in November of 2016 as the Nat'l Assoc of Black
Storytellers. Hope to see you there. Peace and blessings. Mama Edie, Nat'l Memb
Chair, Nat'l Assoc of Black Storytellers, Inc."
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