Celina Lewis' 1950 Rendition Of The 19th Century African American Song "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)" Part III-Sound File, Lyrics, Auto-Generated Transcript, And My Re-Wording Of That Transcript

Edited by Azizi Powell 

Update -August 9, 2026

This is Part III of a three part pancocojams series about the 19th century African American originated dance song "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)" and the 19th century originated game song "Peep Squirrel".

This post showcases a sound file of a Black American woman Celina Lewis singing "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On") . This post also includes that song's lyrics and the "as is" auto-generated transcript of Celina Lewis' statements about "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On" that she made during a 1950 recording session with White American folklorist Harold Courlander, probably in response to his questions about that song and what Black people thought about its accompanying dance movements. .

In addition, this post presents my rewording of that transcript into standard American English so that what she was saying could be better understood..

Part I & II are complete reprints with minor changes of pancocojams posts that were published in 2013.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/07/blog-post.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. That post compares "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On) with two other songs: the 19th century Southern Black American  song/old time banjo (Bluegrass) song "Whoa Mule Whoa" and the 19th century African American game song "Peep Squirrel". Part I also presents one sound  file and two text (word only) versions of "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)". 

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/03/whoa-mule-cant-get-saddle-on-lyrics_17.html for Part II of this series. Part II is a complete reprint of a 2013 pancocojams post which continues the presentation of information about the history and early examples of the dance song "Whoa Mule" and the singing game song "Peep Squirrel".

****
The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, socio-cultural, and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the unknown composers of this song. Thanks to Celina Lewis, Bessie Jones, and others whose renditions and comments about this song were documented by folklorist. Thanks to  the folklorists who collected & recorded this song, and thanks to all those whose files of these songs are included in this pancocojams post .

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LYRICS FOR "WHOA MULE (CAN'T GET THE SADDLE ON)" AS SUNG BY CELINA LEWIS
[These lyrics and my Pancocojams editor's notes about them are also given in Part I of this pancocojams series.]

From http://www.folkways.si.edu/TrackDetails.aspx?itemid=11578

FW04474_201

Session with Celina Lewis, (a)Catch That Squirrel, (b)Sangaree, (c) Whoa Mule, Can't Get the Saddle On, from Harold Courlander's Negro Folk Music of Alabama, Vol. 6: Ring Game Songs and Others Various Artists FW04474 1955

 From Harold Courlander's notes:

“The singer was an old woman when these songs were recorded. She had a reputation of having been a fine and spirited singer when she was young."

[Text of "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)- Celina Lewis; Alabama, 1950]

 

All you church folks looking right at me, and they calI on me

to praise ... get up there!

Whoa, mule, I can't get the saddle on, (2)

Stop that mule, I can 't get the saddle on, (2)

Whoa mule, I can't get the saddle on, (2)

Run mule, I can't get the saddle on, (2)

Can't you catch that mule, can't get the saddle on,

Catch that mule, can't get the saddle on, (4)

Yon go that mule, can't get the saddle on

-snip-

Pancocojams Editor's Notes
I believe that the word "yon" that is given in these lyrics is a shortened form of the word "yonder" (meaning "seen from a distance"). In more standard American English, that line would be given as "Yonder goes that mule" (I can see the mule in the distance.)

The "Go that mule" version of that line is the one used by Bessie Jones in the 1972 Step It Down (authors Bessie Jones and Bess Lomax Hawes). "Go that mule" is also the line for that song that was given by "an elderly informant" in Harold Courlander's 1963 book Negro Folk Music U.S.A and most websites that I've come across use that wording in their lyrics for that song. However, I believe that "Go that mule" is an example of folk etymology and "Go that mule wasn't the earliest version of those lyrics. The "yon" word may have been dropped from that line because that wasn't the way that Bessie Jones and others learned it. Another possibility is that the word "yon" may have been dropped because that word's meaning was no longer understood. Yet, "go that mule" doesn't make any sense in Standard American English or in the versions of African American Vernacular English that were used when this song was published and afterwards. However, that hasn't stopped people from singing or, at least, from quoting that version of that line.

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THE AUTO-GENERATED TRANSCRIPT OF THE SOUND FILE OF CELINA LEWIS' RENDITION OF "WHOA MULE (CAN'T GET THE SADDLE ON" (given "as is" without time stamps)

[This sound file is embedded at the top of this pancocojams post.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx2Yg29W9zY

"Worm  you can you just at home well you can you to set off get that you can get

a circle get that you can you to send all right em you can you to settle all right at you can use a long run you can

you can run you can you depends on run you can you depend on you can you do

then we're gonna dance to we dance we

skip we kind of walk left to jela just walk up and down the floating on water

oh you know in lockup and we like that love it locked up you're going as long as up and down Toby dance is right

on boiling dirty kill all of us all of them do it together all over camp you

yeah that's a style now dance you don't def not spider filthy dance you got to

hold up you know"

****
MY RE-WORDING OF THAT AUTO-GENERATED TRANSCRIPT INTO STANDARD ENGLISH

Additions and corrections are welcome. 

Well, I mean* you just be at home and get how many people together that you can get. And they form a circle. How large the circle is depends on how many people you can get.

With a large circle, you have to run (move some distance) and it depends on whether you can do that or not.

We’re gonna dance to this song. We skip. We kind of walk left to right like we’re floating on water. We’re standing close together (“locked up”) and we like dancing close together **. As long as it’s a up and down Toby dance ***  It’s boiling hot and it’s dirty and the work is killing us. But we do this dance together all over the camp.

Yeah, that’s the style now to dance close. You definitely don’t do any spider filthy dance moves,**** but you got to hold your own ."
-snip-

Here are my explanations for the meanings of certain words and phrases that Celina Lewis used in her 1950 remarks which are documented in that auto-generated transcript.

*My guess is that the word "worm" in that auto-generated transcript may have been how the transcriber heard the words "Well, I mean".

**In the context of Celina Lewis' comments, the phrase "being locked up" probably means [a couple] standing, or dancing very close together. Dancing itself and especially dancing close together was very much frown upon by members of Christian churches during the lae 19th century and in the 20th century. Some church people still retain those attitudes in the 21st century.. 

*** Celina Lewis' referent to "Toby dance" probably came from minstrelsy and the early 20th century American theater (tent shows) as a referent for uptempo jig dances. Here's some information about the old-time meaning of the phrase "Toby dance":

AI Overview (results July 25, 2026)
..."Theatrical and Minstrel Traditions
Toby Shows: Popular 20th-century tent-repertory variety shows across rural America centered around a homespun, comedic "Toby" character who featured in musical interludes, jigs, and walkarounds."...

**
https://festival.si.edu/past-program/1981/a-celebration-of-the-american-tent-show 1981 Festival of American Folklife [no author or publishing date given]

"A Celebration of the American Tent Show

Tent theater developed in America as a popular form in the late 1870s, during a period of profound social change brought about by the shift from a rural agricultural to an urban industrial economy. Burgeoning metropolitan areas had become the principal stages of expressive culture, and their theaters mirrored the ethos and concerns of the urban populace rather than those of their rural neighbors. Those in the small towns viewed the theater with mixed emotions: though the stage was admittedly a vehicle for respectable cultural expression, its urban form was seen as basically disreputable. A rural theater movement that reflected provincial tastes and borrowed heavily from regional folk culture eventually developed out of this tension.

Borrowing from circus and minstrel traditions, tent rep companies usually opened the show with a band concert and interspersed variety specialties, ranging from juggling to ventriloquism, between the three or four acts of the play. The dramas themselves were often built around the ideological conflict between country and city life, idealizing the common man in a way that appealed to rural audiences. Certainly the most enduring character to rise out of this dramatic genre was that of Toby, a redheaded, freckle-faced country boy whose humorous antics and recurrent, though at times unwitting, triumphs over the forces of evil made him a favorite. With a personality drawn directly from American folklore, Toby captured the hearts of rural theater-goers and became so popular that many tent rep companies regularly included a Toby bill in their weekly fare. (The 1969 Festival featured a Toby show from Iowa.)

Whereas these tent shows were largely made up of white performers, a distinct Afro American entertainment tradition also thrived under canvas. From the 1920s through the 1940s, large troupes of black musicians, dancers, and comedians traveled through the South in variety shows such as the Silas Green or Florida Blossom minstrels. Using a format that merged minstrelsy with vaudeville, these tent spectacles presented fast-paced revues of classic blues singers, jazz bands, tap and eccentric dancers, comedy teams and choruses of dancing girls. Blues singers such as Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith and comics such as Dewey "Pigmeat" Markham and Butterbeans and Susie spent much of their careers on the tent show circuit, performing material firmly rooted in black folk culture to enthusiastic Afro American audiences."...
-snip-
I added italics are added to highlight these sentences.  

**** The words "spider filthy dance" probably refers to "dirty" (sexually suggestive) dancing  

****
This concludes Part III of this pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome

19th Century African American Singing Games "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On" & "Peep Squirrel" (Part II: Reprint of a 2013 Pancocojams Post)

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest update- August 9, 2026

This is Part II of a three part pancocojams series about the 19th century African American originated dance song "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)" and the 19th century originated game song "Peep Squirrel".

Part I & II are complete reprints with minor changes of pancocojams posts that were published in 2013.

Part II is an almost complete reprint of a 2013 pancocojams post which continues the presentation of information about the history and early examples of the dance song "Whoa Mule" and the African American singing game "Peep Squirrel".

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/07/blog-post.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. That post compares "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On) with two other songs: the 19th century Southern Black American  song/old time banjo (Bluegrass) song "Whoa Mule Whoa" and the 19th century African American game song "Peep Squirrel". Part I also presents one sound  file and two text (word only) versions of "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)". 

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/07/sound-file-lyrics-auto-generated.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. Part III is a 2026 pancocojams post that showcases a 1950 sound file of Celina Lewis singing "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On"). That post also includes the lyrics for that rendition and Celina Lewis' comments about that song. In addition, that post includes my re-wording into standard English of Celina Lewis' comments.

****
The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, socio-cultural, and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the unknown composers of this song. Thanks to Celina Lewis, Bessie Jones, and others whose renditions and comments about this song were documented by folklorist. Thanks to  the folklorists who collected & recorded this song, 

****
EXAMPLES OF WHOA MULE (CAN'T GET THE SADDLE ON)
(The numbers assigned to these examples continue from Part I of this series).

Example #3:
From Bessie Jones and Bess Lomax Hawes Step It Down, Games, Plays, Songs & Stories from the Afro-American Heritage University of Georgia Press, 1972; p. 214.

Peep Squirrel
Ya di da di deedy dum

Peep Squirrel
Ya di da di deedy dum

Hop Squirrel
Ya di da di deedy dum

(each line is repeated as above)

Run Squirrel

Come here, mule.

Whoa, mule
I can’t get the saddle on.

Hold that mule,
I can’t get the saddle on.

Go that mule
I can’t get the saddle on.

Go that mule
Ya di da di deedy dum, a
Ya di da di deedy dum, dum!
-snip-
Comment written by Bess Lomax Hawes:
“You can sing “Peep Squirrel” while the children dance, or while you’re bouncing a child on your knees; or at a slower pace, it makes a fine song for a tired baby and a warm lap and a rocking chair. Mrs. Jones said that the “Ya di da di deedy dum” is the sound of the squirrel’s feet scuffling in the leaves"...
-snip-
The Cd Put Your Hand on Your Hip and Let Your Backbone Slip includes a recording of Bessie Jones singing "Peep Squirrel".
http://www.last.fm/music/Bessie+Jones/_/Peep+Squirrel

The length of that song is given as 2:32.

A 30 second mp3 sample is provided on that website. That sample is a recording of Bessie Jones explaining why the mule is including in the "Peep Squirrel" song. My summary of her comments is that a man trying to get a mule to catch a squirrel, but he’s too little to put the saddle on the mule and the saddle was too heavy.

In my opinion, the words to "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)" were combined with "Peep Squirrel" because those two songs are have very similar lyric patterns, if not the same or similar tunes & tempos. My comparison of the lyric pattern of those two songs is found in Part I of this series.

****
Example #4
From Harold Courlander Negro Folk Music U.S.A, Courier Dover Publications, 1963, p. 160 [Google Books]

Whoa Mule Can’t Get The Saddle On
“One song taken from an elderly informant was described as “as real grown up playparty”. Other than that it was “a kind of wild game that could get you thrown out of church”, no no information was given about the activity that accompanied the song.

Whoa mule Can’t Get The Saddle On (2x)
Stop that mule Can’t Get The Saddle On (2x)
Whoa mule Can’t Get The Saddle On(2x)
Run mule Can’t Get The Saddle On (2x)
Catch that mule Can’t Get The Saddle On (4x)
You go that mule Can’t Get The Saddle On
Go that mule Can’t Get The Saddle On
-snip-
Speculation about the risque nature of the performance of "Whoa Mule: Saddle" is given in the Addendum below.

****
Example #5: Margaret McKee Beale Black & Blue: Life and Music on Black America's Main Street, p. 189 [Google Books]

[In this excerpt an African American Bluesman talks about the way that enslaved Black people used songs during slavery to express feelings that the couldn't openly express, and to make coded comments about their treatment by White people & about their oppressive living conditions.]

“I’ll tell you why the blues come about. It’s an expression that a person have –he want to tell you something, and he can’t tell you in his words, he’ll sing it to you. See back in-well, I’ll just bring it right out plain where anybody can see it, in olden days, if a white man do a colored man wrong, he couldn’t tell him he was wrong. He’d go off on a mule or something, and sing back to that man, the blues, like, singing it to him. That’s the way a plenty of them songs come up.

Take my daddy. When he playing his fiddle in the slavery time, he wouldn’t want to play, but he had to play. So he’d go along and make things up and holler it out in the fields where the old boss man could hear him, just singing away. Now that’s what he meant – he’s tired of playing nearly every night and then working in the daytime.
[Asked for an example, he sang]

“Hey Liza, little Liza Jane.
Oh Liza, little Liza Jane,
Can’t get the saddle on the ole gray mule
Can’t get the saddle on the ole gray mule.
Whoa, whoa, mule, can’t get the saddle on the ole gray mule.

He’s saying that the white man done worked him so ‘til he can’t even put a saddle on the ole gray mule.* That’s what he’s talkin about.
Chicken in the bread pan
Pickin at the dough
When he gets through picking
He stratch for more.

That’s what they be singing to the white folks what wasn’t giving ‘em enough to eat. Yeah, in slavery time. All them things come out of slavery time. All that happened in them days."
-snip-
*I think that some words are implied in this sentence. For instance, the above sentence would read “the white man done worked him so hard ‘til he can’t [even] get the saddle on the ole gray mule."

"Get the saddle on" means "to put the saddle on" (the mule).

On another page of this book the man speaking indicates that his father carried his fiddle to the fields. I believe that the implication is that his father was required to play the fiddle during the night for the White master’s entertainment, and then also required to play the fiddle during the day to help pace the work of other field hands.

****
ADDENDUM
Example #2 (in Part I of this series) and Example #4 (above) allude to people labeling the way that "Whoa Mule:Saddle" was performed as being risque (sexually suggestive). Example #4 indicates that if the "wild" behavior that adults did while singing that song were known- it would get them thrown out of their church. It seems likely that that performance activity verged on sexualized horse play. Perhaps the men and women couples did piggyback rides when they sung "Ride the mule". Unless there is more documentation out there, we'll never know what was so risque about the movements that were done while singing that song that before singing her version (Example #2) Celina Hall had to basically tell church people to mind their own business.

I don't think that "Peep Squirel" or "Whoa Mule. Can't Get The Saddle On" are still being sung or played by children or by adults since at least around the mid 1960s. However, I'm intrigued by the possibility that the circle game song "Here We Go Ride That Pony" may be an updated version of one or both of these songs.

The earliest online example of the singing game "Ride That Pony" in the United States that I've come across s of August 9, 2026 is from 2006. Unfortunately, the YouTube video of this game song that was published in 2006 is no longer available. 

i have also come across several YouTube videos and one (word only) post about "Ride That Pony" performed as a children's singing game in Jamaica and in the Virgin islands. [A pancocojams post on these examples will be published ASAP and the link to that post will be added here.]

I'm not sayind that the performance activities of either of those 19th century songs are the same as the performance activity of "Ride That Pony". But all three of those songs include references to players doing specific movements such as running, chasing, trying to catch something or someone, trying to put a saddle on a pony (or on someone who represents a pony), and/or dancing in front of, back to back with someone, or besides someone else.
-snip-
The original Addendum for this 2013 post included information about and an example of the 21st century singing game "Ride That Pony". That portion of that Addendum will be added to a pancocojams post about sexualized And sexualizing children's singing games. The link to that post will be added here when it is published.

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This concludes Part II of this pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.    

19th Century African American Singing Games "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On" & "Peep Squirrel" (Part I: Reprint Of 2013 Pancocojams Post)

Whoa Mule! Can't Get The Saddle On

Mike Seeger - Topic

Sep 5, 2019

Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group

Whoa Mule! Can't Get The Saddle On · Mike Seeger

Animal Folk Songs For Children

℗ 1992 Rounder Records, a division of Concord Music Group, Inc.

****

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Update -August 9, 2026

This is Part I of a three part pancocojams series about the 19th century African American originated dance song "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)" and the 19th century originated game song "Peep Squirrel".

Part I & II are almost complete reprints with minor changes of pancocojams posts that were published in 2013.

Part I compares "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On) with two other songs: the 19th century Southern Black American  song/old time banjo (Bluegrass) song "Whoa Mule Whoa" and the 19th century African American game song "Peep Squirrel". Part I also presents one sound  file and two text (word only) versions of "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)". 

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/03/whoa-mule-cant-get-saddle-on-lyrics_17.html for Part II of this series. Part II is a complete reprint of a 2013 pancocojams post which continues the presentation of information about the history and early examples of the songs "Whoa Mule" and the African American song "Peep Squirrel".

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/07/sound-file-lyrics-auto-generated.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. Part III is a 2026 pancocojams post that showcases a 1950 sound file of Celina Lewis singing "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On"). That post also includes the lyrics for that rendition and Celina Lewis' comments about that song. In addition, that post includes my re-wording into standard English of Celina Lewis' comments.

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The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, socio-cultural, and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the unknown composers of this song. Thanks to Celina Lewis, Bessie Jones, and others whose renditions and comments about this song were documented by folklorist. Thanks to  the folklorists who collected & recorded this song, and thanks to Pete Seeger whose rendition of that song is published in this pancocojams post .

****
INFORMATION ABOUT "WHOA MULE (Can't Get The Saddle On)" 

"Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On" is an up-tempo late (?) 19th century adult dance song that originated among African Americans. 

"Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On" and "Whoa Mule Whoa" are different songs.  "Whoa Mule" is a 19th century African American dance song which is also sung & played as an old time/Bluegrass banjo song.

There are numerous versions of "Whoa Mule Whoa" and each of the text forms of that song are composed in a verse/chorus pattern. The verses are two line rhyming floaters which are found in multiple songs, including the 19th century Black dance song entitled "Simon Slick".

Links to text examples and a video example of Whoa Mule are provided in the related links section of this post.

In contrast, "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)" is a song with a short varying line & a repeated refrain, a format which lends itself to it being sung using a call & response pattern. That said, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that "Whoa Mule" was the primary source of "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On").

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SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THIS SONG AND "PEEP SQUIRREL"
The song "Whoa Mule: Saddle" resembles the 19th century African American children's play-party/chasing game "Peep Squirrel". Here's an excerpt of a version of "Peep Squirrel":

Here Squirrel

Yada dada diddle um

Catch that squirrel

Yada dada diddle um

 

Run Squirrel

Yada dada diddle um

-snip-

[From http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h?ammem/lomaxbib:@field(DOCID+@lit(l2699b2) The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip; Cerlina Lewis;
-snip-
The only difference in the text (words) of "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On"  and the text of "Peep Squirrel" is in the refrains for both songs. The tunes that I heard songs sound very similar, but the tune for "Peep Squirrel" has a much faster tempo.

"Peep Squirrel" is described on the above cited website as a "play-party motion song; a game for chasing". It's possible that "Whoa Mule:Saddle" may have also been performed as a motion/chasing song. However, there are allusions to the performance of "Whoa Mule:Saddle" being risque. One hint of that is found in prefacing comments that the singer Cerlina Lewis made in 1950 before she sang a version of "Whoa Mule:Saddle" that is included in folklorist Harold Courlander's Negro Folk Music of Alabama, Vol. 6: Ring Game Songs and Others Various Artists FW04474. Another hint of the risque nature of "Whoa Mule:Saddle"'s performance is found in another online quote which is found in Part II of this post.

Georgia Sea Isles folk singer Bessie Jones recorded a version of "Peep Squirrel" that includes lines from "Whoa Mule: Saddle". That version is given in Part II of this post.

Update: January 8, 2022. YouTube has several video or sound file examples of "Whoa Mule Whoa" ("also given as "Whoa Mule"). YouTube also has two video examples of "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On".

Thanks also to Dan Foster for a comment [in the pancocojams discussion thread for the 2013 post] that presents information about "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On" and a link to a sound file of  African American fiddler Teodar Jackson (1903-1966) from Austin Texas playing a rendition of that song. That comment is reprinted in the comment section for Part III of this 2026 pancocojams series.

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UPDATE: March 2, 2022
Here's another version of the singing game "Peep Squirrel" from the section entitled "The Play Of Slave Children" in Jearold Winton Holland's 2002 book Black Recreation: A Historical Perspective (Burnham Publishers, 2002)

"For slave children, there was minimal categorization of masculine or feminine play activities. [page 89] As the children began to grow older, ring games were often the opportunities for youngsters to learn how to interact with the opposite sex and to assume gender roles. Two such games were "Peep Squirrel" and "King William Was King George's Son". In "Peep Squirrel" a boy and girl stand some distance apart, facing each other.  A different girl gets behind the boy and a different boy lines up behind the girl.  The rest of the children sing the following lines while performers suit the action to the words:

[page] 99

Peep squirrel, eedle, deedle, deele, dum

Walk around squirrel, eedle, deedle, deeledum,

Hop aaround squirrel, eedle, deedle, deeledum,

Skip along squirrel, eedle, deedle, deeledum,

Run the squirrel, eedle, deedle, deeledum,

Catch that squirrel, eedle, deedle, deeledum, 90

 

If the boy finally caught the girl (squirrel) he was entitled to a kiss."

****

TEXT (WORD ONLY) EXAMPLES OF "WHOA MULE (CAN'T GET THE SADDLE ON)"

Example #1: 1:15 minute sound file

"Whoa Mule! Can't Get the Saddle On"

From the album Animal Folk Songs for Children by Mike, Peggy, Barbara & Penny Seeger

© 1992 Rounder

http://www.amazon.com/Whoa-Mule-Cant-Get-Saddle/dp/B0010XJ700

"Whoa mule

Can't get the saddle on [repeat both lines 2x]

 

[using that same pattern]

 

Catch that mule

 

Ride that mule

 

Run mule

Can't get the saddle on [repeat both lines 4x]"

-snip-

My description: This is an uptempo, call & response song.

****

Example #2

From http://www.folkways.si.edu/TrackDetails.aspx?itemid=11578

FW04474_201

Session with Celina Lewis, (a)Catch That Squirrel, (b)Sangaree, (c) Whoa Mule, Can't Get the Saddle On, from Harold Courlander's Negro Folk Music of Alabama, Vol. 6: Ring Game Songs and Others Various Artists FW04474 1955

 From Harold Courlander's notes:

“The singer was an old woman when these songs were recorded. She had a reputation of having been a fine and spirited singer when she was young."

[Text of "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)- Celina Lewis; Alabama, 1950]

 

All you church folks looking right at me, and they calI on me

to praise ... get up there!

Whoa, mule, I can't get the saddle on, (2)

Stop that mule, I can 't get the saddle on, (2)

Whoa mule, I can't get the saddle on, (2)

Run mule, I can't get the saddle on, (2)

Can't you catch that mule, can't get the saddle on,

Catch that mule, can't get the saddle on, (4)

Yon go that mule, can't get the saddle on

-snip-

Pancocojams Editor's Notes
I believe that the word "yon" that is given in these lyrics is a shortened form of the word "yonder" (meaning "seen from a distance"). In more standard American English, that line would be given as "Yonder goes that mule" (I can see the mule in the distance.)

The "Go that mule" version of that line is the one used by Bessie Jones in the 1972 Step It Down (authors Bessie Jones and Bess Lomax Hawes). "Go that mule" is also the line for that song that was given by "an elderly informant" in Harold Courlander's 1963 book Negro Folk Music U.S.A and most websites that I've come across use that wording in their lyrics for that song. However, I believe that "Go that mule" is an example of folk etymology and "Go that mule wasn't the earliest version of those lyrics. The "yon" word may have been dropped from that line because that wasn't the way that Bessie Jones and others learned it. Another possibility is that the word "yon" may have been dropped because that word's meaning was no longer understood. Yet, "go that mule" doesn't make any sense in Standard American English or in the versions of African American Vernacular English that were used when this song was published and afterwards. However, that hasn't stopped people from singing or, at least, from quoting that version of that line.

**
Bessie Jones' example of "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On" is included in Part II of this pancocojams series.

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This concludes Part i of this pancocojams series.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

 Viewer comments are welcome.

Examples Of Some Cultural Uses Of The Referent "Colored" In The United States (from 1960s to the 2020s)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part III of a three part pancocojams series on the referent "Colored" in the United States. 

This post lists and presents information about some African American cultural examples that include the racial referent "Colored" in the United States in the 1960s to date (2026). 

This post lists and presents information about some cultural uses of the racial referent "Colored" in the United States from the mid 20th century to 2026.  

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/03/the-history-and-uses-of-referent.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. That post presents a complete reprint of the Wikipedia page and an AI Overview about the referent "Colored" in the United States (retrieved March 16, 2026).

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/03/examples-of-official-or-cultural-uses.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post lists and provides information about some official United States examples and some African American cultural examples that include the racial referent "colored" from the 19th century through the 1950s.

The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, and educational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are showcased in this post and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/03/is-coloured-race-or-culture-in-southern.html for a 2026 pancocojams post entitled Is "Coloured" A Race or A Culture In Southern Africa? (YouTube Discussion Thread Comments From A 2025 The Pensuel Show Podcast)

Links to two other pancocojams posts about the history and uses of the referent "Coloured" in the nation of South Africa and in some other southern African nations are found in that post.. 

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EXAMPLES OF SOME CULTURAL USES OF THE REFERENT "COLORED" IN THE UNITED STATES (from the 1960S TO THE 2020s)

These examples are given in chronological order. Additions and corrections are welcome.

1960s

**
1974-for colored girls who have considered suicide /when the rainbow is enuf"
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Colored_Girls_Who_Have_Considered_Suicide_/_When_the_Rainbow_Is_Enuf

"for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf is a 1976 work by Ntozake Shange. It consists of a series of poetic monologues to be accompanied by dance movements and music, a form which Shange coined the word choreopoem to describe.[5] It tells the stories of seven women who have suffered oppression in a racist and sexist society.[6]

As a choreopoem, the piece is a series of 20 separate poems choreographed to music that weaves interconnected stories of love, empowerment, struggle and loss into a complex representation of sisterhood. The cast consists of seven nameless African-American women only identified by the colors they are assigned. They are the lady in red, lady in orange, lady in yellow, lady in green, lady in blue, lady in brown, and lady in purple. Subjects including rape, abandonment, abortion and domestic violence are tackled.[6] Shange originally wrote the monologues as separate poems in 1974. Her writing style is idiosyncratic and she often uses vernacular language, unique structure, and unorthodox punctuation to emphasize syncopation. Shange wanted to write for colored girls... in a way that mimicked how real women speak so she could draw her readers' focus to the experience of reading and listening.[7]

[...]

Title

for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf is inspired by events in Shange's life. Shange admitted publicly to having attempted suicide on four occasions, at different times in her life, as early as her undergraduate years. In a phone interview conducted with CNN, she explained how she came to the title of her choreopoem: "I was driving the No. 1 Highway in northern California and I was overcome by the appearance of two parallel rainbows. I had a feeling of near death or near catastrophe. Then I drove through the rainbow and I went away. Then I put that together to form the title."[10] The colors of the rainbow then became the essence of the women in the choreopoem, named only their color pseudonyms.

Shange also explains that she chose to use the word "colored" in the title of her choreopoem so that her grandmother would be able to understand it.[7]"...

****
1970s-1990s- Racialized examples of  "I Like Coffee I Like Tea" ("Down Down Baby" Children's recreation rhymes

Here are two examples of those hand clap rhymes and my editor's notes:
1. Down, down baby
Down, down the roller coaster
Sweet, sweet baby
I'll never let you go
Chimey chimey cocoa pop
Chimey, chimey pow
Chimey, chimey cocoa pop
Chimey, chimey pop
I like coffee, I like tea
I like a colored boy and he likes me
So lets here the rhythm of the hands, (clap, clap) 2x
Let hear the rhythm of the feet (stomp, stomp) 2x
Let's hear the rhythm of the head (ding dong) 2x
Let's hear the rhythm of the hot dog
Let's hear the rhythm of the hot dog
Put em all together and what do you get
(Clap clap, stomp stomp), ding dong, hot Dog!
-Yasmin Hernadez; 2004; memories of New York City (Latinx/ African American neighborhood in the 1980s; cocojams.com [cocojams was the name of my cultural website that was active from 2001 to 2014).

**
2.  "I learned Version of Down Down Baby in virginia in the 90's

Down down baby, down by the rollercoaster
Sweet sweet baby, mama never let you go
Shimmy shimmy coca pop, shimmy shimmy pow!

I like coffee, I like tea,
I like a color boy and he likes me
So step back white boy, you don't shine
I'll get the color boy to beat yo' behind

Let get the rhythm of the hands (clap, clap)
We've got the rhythm of the hands (clap, clap)

Let's get the rhythm of the feet (stomp,stomp)
We've got the rhythm of the feet (stomp, stomp

Lets get the rhythm of the head DING-DONG

(move head side to side)

We've got the rhythm of the head DING-DONG (move head side to side)

Let's get the rhythm of the HOT-DOG

(move body around)

We've got the of the HOT-DOG

(move body around)

Put all together and and what do you get....
clap, clap, stomp, stomp, ding-dong, hot-dog

Say them all backwards and what do you get....

hot-dog, ding-dong, stomp, stomp, clap, clap!
-GUEST,Down Down baby, 30May 07,  https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=63097 , Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
-snip-
"Color" is a folk processed form of the racial referent "Colored"

Notes About The Racialized "I Like Coffee I Like Tea" Hand Clap Rhymes
by Azizi Powell, 2007
"Racialized rhymes" is my term for children's recreational rhymes that include racial referents when earlier versions of those rhymes didn't include any racial referents.

"Colored" is a referent for Black Americans that was retired at least by the 1970s and replaced by "Black" and/or "African American".The referent "Negro" was also retired for that same population and the referent "Afro-American" was used for a short time before it was replaced with "African American".

It's interesting that the no longer used referent "Colored" lives on in some examples of these  racialized recreational rhymes from the 1980s and 1990s (and later?).

The early 1970s or mid 1970s" are the earliest dates that I've come across for these types of racialized "I Like Coffee I Like Tea" rhymes. That date come from an anonymous Guest who posted on Oct. 9. 2010 to a 2007 Mudcat discussion thread that I started entitled Down Down Baby-Race in Children's Rhymes: https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=100653

That commenter wrote "Thank you so much for posting this!!! I went to an all black elementary school in Norfolk, VA in the early to mid 70's and we used the variation you described (shown below).

[quoting me] "The confrontational action in these verses follows a consistent pattern. First, these rhymes are almost always given from a female perspective {which makes sense since the person or persons reciting these rhymes are usually girls}. Secondly, in the rhyme, a Black {or "Colored"} girl rejects the advances of a White boy. Thirdly, the girl tells the White boy that she "likes a Black boy and he likes me". And fourthly {if there is such a word}, the girl threatens to get a Black {or "Colored"} boy to "beat his {the White boy's} behind"...
-snip-
That Guest also quotes me as saying that I hadn't come across any examples of this rhyme in which White people begin the confrontation (i.e "I like a White boy and he likes me, so step back Black boy etc.). However, since I wrote that comment in 2010 I have come across some examples like that (as given in #2 and #5 immediately below and as featured in this pancocojams post: https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/03/racialized-versions-of-i-like-coffee-i.html

That said, the "I like a black boy and he likes me" examples that I've come across appear to be much more widely chanted than any other "I like a [racial referent] boy and he likes me" version of these rhymes.

....Perhaps the changes in these rhymes [ i.e. the addition of racial referents] came about when schools were just being integrated. As such, the aggression and reference to race in these rhymes reflect the difficulties associated with those particular times. Perhaps times have changed and the interracial relations between students of different races have improved. Maybe the words to these rhymes have become so familiar and so ingrained that no changes have been made, or any changes that were suggested did not 'stick'."...

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1987-1990 - "Art, Untitled: A Close Look at "Untitled (Colored People Grid)" by Carrie Mae Weems 

Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum,   Mar 18, 2021

...In this video Student Educator Lingran Zhang explores how the title of "Untitled (Colored People Grid)" by Carrie Mae Weems relates to the meaning of the artwork.

****
1995- "Colored People: A Memoir"  – by Henry Louis Gates Jr. (Author), published April 11, 1995
https://www.amazon.com/Colored-People-Henry-Louis-Gates/dp/067973919X

"In a coming-of-age story as enchantingly vivid and ribald as anything Mark Twain or Zora Neale Hurston, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., recounts his childhood in the mill town of Piedmont, West Virginia, in the 1950s and 1960s and ushers readers into a gossip, of lye-and-mashed-potato “processes,” and of slyly stubborn resistance to the indignities of segregation.

A winner of the Chicago Tribune’s Heartland Award and the Lillian Smith Prize, Colored People is a pungent and poignant masterpiece of recollection, a work that extends and deepens our sense of African American history even as it entrances us with its bravura storytelling"

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2022 - for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf | 2022 Tony Award Nominee

The Tony Awards, May 28, 2022

Black girl magic is reborn on Broadway in this fearlessly new, fiercely now reinvention of Ntozake Shange's iconic work. In this celebration of the power of Black womanhood, seven women share their stories and find strength in each other's humor and passion through a fusion of poetry, dance, music, and song that explodes off the stage and resonates with all.

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This concludes Part III of this pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Information About The Song "Lift Every Voice And Sing" That Is Called "The Black National Anthem" & Why It Is Performed During Super Bowl Halftime

Entertainment Tonight, Feb 8, 2026

Coco Jones belts a powerful rendition of 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' at Super Bowl LX (airing on NBC, Telemundo and Peacock), rocking an outfit that pays tribute to Whitney Houston. The look, designed by Coco and Karl Kani, is a nod to the tracksuit Whitney wore when she sang the National Anthem in 1991.

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases a performance of the song "Lift Every Voice And Sing" during Super Bowl half time. "Lift Every Voice And Sing" Is Called "The Black National Anthem".

This post presents the lyrics to "Lift Every Voice And Sing" along with some information about why it has become a tradition to perform that song during the Super Bowl halftime.

In addition, this pancocojams post lists the performers of "Lift Ever Voice And Sing" during Super Bowl halftimes and the year that they performed that song. 

The Addendum to this post showcases a YouTube video of Whitney Houston singing "The Star Spangled Banner" during Super Bowl half time in 1991. Coco Jones, who sang "Lift Every Voice And Sing" at the Super Bowl half time in 2026 designed her dress in tribute to Whitney Houston.  

The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to James Weldon Johnson, the composer of "Lift Every Voice And Sing" in 1900 for his musical and cultural legacy. Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
-snip-

Click https://civilrightssongs.blogspot.com/2014/11/lift-every-voice-and-sing-lyrics.html for information, lyrics, and videos of "Lift Every Voice And Sing". "Civil Rights Songs" is another blog that I curate.

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LYRICS -LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING

(James Weldon Johnson)

Lift every voice and sing,
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list’ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast’ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered.
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who hast by Thy might,
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.
-snip-
From http://www.shmoop.com/lift-every-voice-and-sing/meaning.html
...“Lift Every Voice and Sing” was written by a school principal and first performed by 500 children in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1900.Though unveiled as part of a community celebration in honor of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, the song quickly spread outside the community of Jacksonville. Within a decade, black school children across America were singing the song, and in 1919, the recently formed National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) adopted “Lift Every Voice and Sing” as its official song. Today, the song is frequently described as the “African American National Anthem.”

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WHY "LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING" IS PERFORMED DURING THE SUPER BOWL HALF TIME 
From https://www.nbcdfw.com/super-bowl/coco-jones-black-national-anthem-super-bowl/3980493/

Grammy winner Coco Jones sang the tune ahead of the Super Bowl on Sunday.

By NBC Staff • Published February 8, 2026 • Updated on February 8, 2026
" "Lift ev'ry voice and sing," a song often called the Black national anthem, was sung before the Super Bowl for the sixth year in a row Sunday.

This year, Grammy winner and former Disney child star Coco Jones had the honor of singing the song before America's big game.

The inclusion of the Black national anthem, along with "The Star Spangled Banner" and "America The Beautiful," has been met with both praise and criticism.

But the tradition continues nonetheless.

[...]

Why is the Black national anthem sung before the Super Bowl?

The NFL began having a singer perform "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" before the Super Bowl in 2020, in the wake of racial and social justice protests in the United States following the death of George Floyd.

At the time, the NFL committed to singing the Black national anthem before the "Star Spangled Banner" ahead of every NFL game during Week 1 of that season.

What is the Black national anthem and why is it important?

"Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" was originally written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson, but his brother J. Rosamond, turned it into music. The song was performed for the first time in 1900, not long after it was written.

The NAACP dubbed “Lift Every Voice and Sing” as the Black national anthem in 1919, more than a decade before "The Star Spangled Banner" was named the national anthem.

The song quickly became a popular song during the civil rights movement, and was even sung by crowds following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.”…

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AI OVERVIEW - HOW OFTEN HAS "LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING" BEEN PERFORMED DURING SUPER BOWL HALFTIME?

AI Overview

"Lift Every Voice and Sing" has been performed at the Super Bowl for six consecutive years, starting in 2021 and continuing through 2026. The song, often referred to as the Black national anthem, has become a regular pre-game performance to promote social justice and diversity.

Performers by Year:

2026 (Super Bowl LX): Coco Jones

2025 (Super Bowl LIX): Ledisi

2024 (Super Bowl LVIII): Andra Day

2023 (Super LVII): Sheryl Lee Ralph

2022 (Super Bowl LVI): Mary Mary

2021 (Super Bowl LV): Alicia Keys (pre-recorded)

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ADDENDUM - Whitney Houston - Star Spangled Banner (National Anthem) - Super Bowl 1991 - 4K REMASTERED

WhitneyandMariahRemasters, Premiered Jan 7, 2024

[...]

I edited the video and took me more than 4 weeks for that. Also, I edited the color, put more bright, and I upscale the video to a 4k60fps quality. I also, edited the audio to make something a little new that is different from youtube. I don't want money, all the rights belong to Sony Music. I also gonna credit the owners by putting the link to buy the official CD: **** Thanks for visiting pancocojams. Visitor comments are welcome.

"Walk Together, Children. Don't You Get Weary" (African American Spiritual) videos, information, and lyrics)

Fisk Jubilee Singers, Premiered Oct 15, 2020  FISK UNIVERSITY

The Fisk Jubilee Singers® live presentation of "Walk Together Children" from Fisk Jubilee Day 2020

"Walk Together, Children" Arranged by Moses Hogan

Performed by the 2020-2021 Fisk Jubilee Singers® Ensemble

Paul T. Kwami, D.M.A., '85, Musical Director
-snip-
In the context of African American history, "Jubilee Day" refers to January 1, 1863 after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. 

****
Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams  post showcases three YouTube videos of the African American Spiritual "Walk Together Children". Information about that Spiritual and the lyrics to a contemporary arrangement of this Spiritual are also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, religious, historical, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the unknown composer/s of "Walk Together Children". Thanks also to all the arrangers of that Spiritual. Thanks also to those who are quoted in this post & thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
-snip-

Portions of this post were originally published in this October 10, 2013 pancocojams post:  https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/10/walk-together-children-lyrics-examples.html "Walk Together Children" Spiritual Sung By Choir Wearing Kente Cloth Stoles (video, lyrics, information).

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE "WALK TOGETHER CHILDREN" SPIRITUAL 

from http://www.theafricanamericanlectionary.org/PopupCulturalAid.asp?LRID=246

WATCH NIGHT CULTURAL RESOURCES
Saturday, December 31, 2011, Tara Lake, Guest Lectionary Cultural Resource Commentator

Independent Scholar of African American Studies, East Point, GA

..." “Walk Together Children”

One of the most versatile of the African American Spirituals, “Walk Together Children” urges unity of purpose and reminds singers and listeners of the promise of a better day to come. As is the case with a number of spirituals, “Walk Together Children” offers layered meaning and emphasizes the coming reward. During slavery, the song was a joyful reminder of freedom and celebration to come, not only in Heaven, but also in earthly promised lands, including free states and territories. During the first “Freedom’s Eve,” with Abolition just hours away, and even in today’s African American congregations, “Walk Together Children” is a celebration of the victories already won and a promise of triumphs to come. “Camp Meetings” were church meetings, and indeed, the first Freedom’s Eve Watch Night services were a coming to pass of the promise of the Great Camp Meeting in the Promised Land—in this case, the newly freed states. This spiritual’s significance has continually evolved as congregations and freedom activists have altered the words and chorus to suit the moment and the movement, but it has particular meaning for the Watch Night Service.10

Walk Together Children [title]

Walk together, children,

don’t you get weary.

Walk together, children,

don’t you get weary.

Walk together, children,

don’t you get weary.

There’s a great camp meeting in the promised land.

 

Gwinter walk and never tire.

Walk and never tire.

Walk and never tire.

There’s a great camp meeting in the promised land.

 

Walk together, children,

don’t you get weary.

Walk together, children,

don’t you get weary.

Walk together, children,

don’t you get weary.

There’s a great camp meeting in the promised land.

 

Gonna* sing and never tire.

Sing and never tire.

Sing and never tire.

There’s a great camp meeting in the promised land.

 

Walk together, children,

don’t you get weary.

Walk together, children,

don’t you get weary.

Walk together, children,

don’t you get weary.

There’s a great camp meeting in the promised land.

 

Gonna* shout and never tire.

Shout and never tire.

Shout and never tire.

There’s a great camp meeting in the promised land.

 

Walk together, children,

don’t you get weary.

Sing together, children,

don’t you get weary.

Shout together, children,

don’t you get weary.

There’s a great camp meeting in the promised land.

There’s a great camp meeting in the promised land."
-snip-
*I replaced the out dated dialectic word "Gwinter" that is given in these lyrics with the much more acceptable vernacular words "Gonna" meaning "going to"
-snip-
Here's information about "Watch Night" church services:
from https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/historical-legacy-watch-night The Historical Legacy of Watch Night [no author or publishing date given, retrieved on October 22, 2025)
..."On the night of December 31, 1862, enslaved and free African Americans gathered, many in secret, to ring in the new year and await news that the Emancipation Proclamation had taken effect. Just a few months earlier, on September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the executive order that declared enslaved people in the rebelling Confederate States legally free. However, the decree would not take effect until the clock struck midnight at the start of the new year. The occasion, known as Watch Night or “Freedom's Eve,” marks when African Americans across the country watched and waited for the news of freedom. Today, Watch Night is an annual New Year’s Eve tradition that includes the memory of slavery and freedom, reflections on faith, and celebration of community and strength.

[...]

The Watch Night service typically begins around 7pm on December 31 and lasts through midnight, as faith leaders guide congregants in praise and worship. Many congregants across the nation bow in prayer minutes before the midnight hour as they sing out “Watchman, watchman please tell me the hour of the night.” In return the minister replies “it is three minutes to midnight”; “it is one minute before the new year”; and “it is now midnight, freedom has come,” to bless their transition into the new year.

[...]

Initially meant to welcome emancipation, today the Watch Night service encourages reflection on the history of slavery and freedom, as well as reflection on the past year—both its trials and triumphs—while also anticipating what the new year will have in store. It is a continuation of generations of faith that freedom and renewal lie ahead."...

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A COMMONLY USED ARRANGEMENT OF "WALK TOGETHER CHILDREN" FPR CHILDREN AND YOUTH

A commonly used arrangement of "Walk Together Children", particularly for children & youth, is performing it as a "zipper song" in which most of the verse remains the same except for substituting a verb in each verse of that song. 

Walk together children.
Don't you get weary.
Walk together children.
Don't you get weary.

Walk together children.
Don't you get weary.
Walk together children.
Don't you get weary.
There's a great camp meeting in the Promised Land.

Talk together children etc.

Sing together children etc.

Shout together children etc.

Pray together children etc.

Work together children etc.

[Add other action words & end with "Walk together" verse.]

****

SHOWCASE VIDEO #2 - Walk Together Children

MetroSingers, Uploaded on Jun 15, 2009

MetroSingers, Hyattsville, MD
http://www.metrosingers.com

Song arranged by Dr. Raymond Wise) recorded and produced by Hope Channel

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