Go Tell It on the Mountain (song)

"Go Tell It on the Mountain" is an African-American spiritual song, compiled by John Wesley Work, Jr., dating back to at least 1865, that has been sung and recorded by many gospel and secular performers. It is considered a Christmas carol because its original lyric celebrates the Nativity of Jesus: "Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere; go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born."

Traditional lyrics

Refrain
Go, tell it on the mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere
Go, tell it on the mountain,
That Jesus Christ is born.

While shepherds kept their watching
o’er silent flocks by night,
Behold, throughout the heavens
There shone a holy light

Refrain

The shepherds feared and trembled,
When lo! above the earth,
Rang out the angels chorus
That hailed our Savior's birth.

Refrain

Down in a lowly manger
The humble Christ was born
And God sent us salvation
That blessed Christmas morn.

Refrain

Recording artists

In 1963, the musical team Peter, Paul And Mary (Peter Yarrow, Noel "Paul" Stookey, and Mary Travers), along with their musical director, Milt Okun, adapted and rewrote "Go Tell It on the Mountain" as "Tell It on the Mountain", their lyrics referring specifically to Exodus and using the phrase "Let my people go," but referring implicitly to the Civil Rights struggle of the early 1960s. The song was recorded by Yarrow, Stookey and Travers on their Peter, Paul and Mary album In the Wind and was also a moderately successful single for them. (US #33 pop, 1964). A version by Little Big Town reached the Top 40 on the Hot Country Songs charts, reaching #35.

Other artists who have recorded the song (chiefly on either Christmas-themed music albums or collections of spirituals or folk songs) include:

• The Caravans
• The New Christy Minstrels
• Simon & Garfunkel
• The Kingston Trio
• The Wailers
• Mahalia Jackson
• Fred Hammond
• Kirk Franklin
• Candi Staton
• Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby
• James Taylor
• Cece Winans
• Anne Murray
• Vanessa L. Williams
• Jewel
• Dustin Kensrue
• Bruce Cockburn
• Little Big Town
• Sherill Milnes
• John Rutter and the Cambridge Singers
• Sara Evans
• Jim Nabors
• Ray Conniff Singers
• Toby Keith
• Peter Tosh
• The Blind Boys of Alabama
• Oh Susanna - for the holiday compilation album, Maybe This Christmas Too? (2003)
• Dolly Parton
• Kyle Boreing
• Carola Häggkvist
• Bobby Darin
• Art Paul Schlosser (who rewrote the lyrics for kids with the title, "Go Tell it On the Swingset")
• The Gas House Gang
• Needtobreathe
• Sawyer Brown
• Garth Brooks
• The Clark Sisters
• Sheryl Crow
• Duvall