Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post presents comments from a Mudcat folk music discussion thread about the song "Dig A Hole Put The Devil In".
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, socio-cultural, and entertainment purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the original composers of the "Dig A Hole Put The Devil In" song. Thanks to all collectors of this song and historians who have written about this song. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this pancocojams post.
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Leadbelly's recording "Gwine Dig A Hole Put The Devil In" is a secular extension of that religious song.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/03/lead-belly-dig-hole-put-devil-in-two.html for the 2026 pancocojams post "Lead Belly - "Dig A Hole Put The Devil In" (two YouTube sound files, comments, & lyrics) Complete Reprint"
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Also, click ___ for the related pancocojams post "Religious Or Non-Religious Examples Of The song "Dig A Hole Put The Devil In".
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Click ___ for the related pancocojams post "Eight Religious Or Non-Religious Examples Of The song "Dig A Hole Put The Devil In".
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WARNING - Some examples of "Dig A Hole Put The Devil In" include curse words.
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GENERAL STATEMENT ABOUT THIS SONG.
"Dig A Hole Put The Devil In" is a song that dates back to at least the 1830s England.
Today that song is usually considered a children's religious song or a children's camp song with movements that mimic some of the song's lyrics.
"Dig A Hole Put The Devil In" is also performed as a religious song for all ages of congregants, or as a non-religious song with some lyrics that are usually considered to be curse words. The most widely documented rendition of a non-religious version of "Dig A Hole Put The Devil In" was by African American folk singer Leadbelly who recorded that song between 1934 and 1943.
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM A MUDCAT FOLK MUSIC DISCUSSION THREAD ABOUT THE SONG "DIG A HOLE PUT THE DEVIL IN"
[Pancocojams Editor's Notes: As of March 1, 2026, this Mudcat discussion thread is still open for comments.
I added these numbers for referencing purposes only.]
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=137600
1. Subject: Origins: Dig a hole to put the devil in
From: GUEST,Richie
Date: 04 May 11 - 02:17 PM
Anyone have versions of "Dig a hole to put the Devil in"?
Know where it came from? When did the expression originate?
Richie"
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2. Subject: RE: Origins: Dig a hole to put the devil in
From: MartinRyan
Date: 04 May 11 - 02:22 PM
"
Regards"
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3. Subject: RE: Origins: Dig a hole to put the devil in
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 10 Aug 12 - 03:23 PM
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'Some years ago I sent to N&Q a much better version of the lines contributed by F.S. (there must have been a previous query I've not copied) I do not, however, remember their insertion, and probably they never came to hand. My copy, which I now append, was transcribed from the fly-sheet of a Bible that belonged to a pitman who resided near Hutton-Henry, Durham. He was a Methodist. I pitched upon the quatrain while leafing through the Bible. The lines I later found were well-known in the pit villages. I believe they belong to the North of England. (Dixon wasn't a very knowledgeable scholar.)
'God made bees, and bees made honey;
God made man, and man made money;
Pride made the Devil, and the Devil made sin;
So God made a coal-pit to put the Devil in.'
I have another copy, which I took from a chalking on an
engine-house door near Houghton-le-Spring.' "
4.
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 10 Aug 12 - 03:37 PM
"
'God made de bee, and de bee made honey;
God made man, an' de man made money;
God made Satan, an' Satan made sin;
God made a hole, an' rolled Satan in.'
An addition is given from Kentucky negroes, 1912.
'Satan got mad, an' said he wouldn't stay;
God tol' Satan that he couldn't get away.' "
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Read my comment in this pancocojams post's discussion thread about the referent "Negro" and its lower case (small "n") spelling.
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5. Subject: RE: Origins: Dig a hole to put the devil in
From: GUEST,Nathan Greb
Date: 11 Jan 17 - 02:20 PM
"
By Nathan Greb"
6. Subject: RE: Origins: Dig a hole to put the devil in
From: Joe_F
Date: 11 Jan 17 - 02:58 PM
"God made Satan, Satan made sin.
God made a hot place to put Satan in.
Satan didn't like it, and he said he wouldn't stay.
He's been acting like the devil ever since that day.
-- The Darky
Sunday School"
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"Darky" is a no longer used derogatory informal referent for Black people.
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7.
From: Jack Horntip
Date: 11 Jun 20 - 09:03 AM
'God made man, an' man made money;
God made bees, an' bees made money;
God made Satan, an' Satan made sin;
An' God made a hole to put Satan in.'
This is quoted as part of a story... so it is earlier than
1830."
8.
From: Jack Horntip
Date: 27 Apr 25 - 07:58 AM
"For God made man
And man made money.
And God made bees
And bees made honey.
And God made a rabbit
And sent it through the grass
And God made a dog
For to like the rabbit's ass.
-- Unidentified New York City correspondent to Alan Steyne,
March 30, 1926, in the Canfield collection.
Variant referenced in the notes of Ed Cray's Erotic Muse III.
It looks like I will have to try to get a copy of the note that prompted this reply. It mentioned Billy Purvis a North Country Music Hall artiste.
It might also be significant, if my memory serves me right, that the Elliots of Birtley in Co. Durham used to sing 'Old Johnny Booker'."
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Here's my comment about the use of the word "Negro" and its lower case (small "n") spelling in comment #4 of that Mudcat discussion thread:
ReplyDeleteSince around 1970 the word "Negro" has no longer been considered an acceptable referent for Black people in the United States, and eventually, was largely replaced by the referent "African American".
However, "African Americans" (and "Negroes") is a sub-set of the larger population of Black people who live in the United States. For instance, some Black people who live in the United States might be from Jamaica, Brazil, or from the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa etc.
When "Negro" was used as a referent for the population who largely now call ourselves (and who are now largely called) "African Americans", there was some back and forth in mainstream American society (that is to say, among White people who were in control of American mass media etc). about whether the word "Negro" should be spelled with an upper case letter as referents for other racial groups and nationalities were routinely spelled or if it should be spelled with a lower case "n".
Compared to other terms that were used in the United Stated as referents for Black people, there were some people who considered the word "Negro" (including its lower case spelling) to be a neutral, acceptable racial referent for that population on par with or close to how they viewed other racial or national referents.
But I remember that there was a lot of pressure that Black people in the United States in the 1960s were putting on the White establishment to cease using the lower case "n" spelling for the word "negro". I particularly remember reading editorials in Black newspapers in my hometown of Atlantic City, New Jersey in the early 1960s demanding that the "n" in "Negro" be capitalized out of respect.
Certainly after the mid 1960s, any publication or person who didn't capitalize that referent when referring to then contemporary Black people in the United States were viewed as purposely belittling or slurring that person or people being addressed.
In 2026, the referent "Negro" is usually still quoted as is (capitalized or not capitalized) in written works from the pre-1970s.
However, the only official example of the word "Negro" that is still used now that I can think of is the once (but not longer) rightfully venerated civil rights organization the National Association For Negro People (NAACP).
And since at least the 1980s if not earlier, when Black folks in the United States call someone a "negro", we mean that person (either male or female) is a "tom" i.e no matter which way it is spelled, the word "negro" or "Negro" is a derogatory term for a Black person who has no self-respect and who does and says whatever gets him or her in the good graces of White people.