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Michael, Row the Boat Ashore

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"Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" (or "Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore") is an African-American spiritual. It was first noted during the American Civil War at St. Helena Island, one of the Sea Islands of South Carolina. [1]

It was sung by former slaves whose owners had abandoned the island before the Union navy would arrive to enforce a blockade. Charles Pickard Ware, an abolitionist and Harvard graduate who had come to supervise the plantations on St. Helena Island from 1862 to 1865, wrote the song down in music notation as he heard the freedmen sing it. Ware's cousin, William Francis Allen reported in 1863 that while he rode in a boat across Station Creek, the former slaves sang the song as they rowed.[2]

The song was first published in Slave Songs of the United States, by Allen, Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison, in 1867.[3]

Lyrics

The oldest published version of the song runs in a series of unrhymed couplets:[4]

Michael row de boat ashore, Hallelujah!
Michael boat a gospel boat, Hallelujah!
I wonder where my mudder deh (there).
See my mudder on de rock gwine home.
On de rock gwine home in Jesus' name.
Michael boat a music boat.
Gabriel blow de trumpet horn.
O you mind your boastin' talk.
Boastin' talk will sink your soul.
Brudder, lend a helpin' hand.
Sister, help for trim dat boat.
Jordan stream is wide and deep.
Jesus stand on t' oder side.
I wonder if my maussa deh.
My fader gone to unknown land.
O de Lord he plant his garden deh.
He raise de fruit for you to eat.
He dat eat shall neber die.
When de riber overflow.
O poor sinner, how you land?
Riber run and darkness comin'.
Sinner row to save your soul.
or
Michel, row the boat a-shore
Hallelujah!
Then you'll here the trumpet blow
Hallelujah!
Then you'll hear the trumpet sound,
Hallelujah!
Trumpet sound the world around
Hallelujah!
Trumpet sound the jubilee
Hallelujah!
Trumpet sound for you and me
Hallelujah!

As this song originated in oral tradition, there are many versions of the lyrics. It begins with the refrain, "Michael, row the boat ashore, Hallelujah." The lyrics describe crossing the River Jordan, as in these lines from Pete Seeger's version:

Jordan's river is deep and wide, hallelujah.
Meet my mother on the other side, hallelujah.
Jordan's river is chilly and cold, hallelujah.
Chills the body, but not the soul, hallelujah.[5]

The River Jordan can be viewed as a metaphor for death.[6] According to Allen, the song refers to the Archangel Michael.[7] In Christian tradition, Michael is often regarded as a psychopomp, or conductor of the souls of the dead.[8]

Recordings

One of the earliest recordings of the song is by folksinger Bob Gibson, who included it on his 1957 Carnegie Concert album.[9] After The Weavers included an arrangement in The Weavers' Song Book, published in 1960, the American folk quintet The Highwaymen had a number-one hit on both the pop and "easy listening" charts in the U.S. with it (under the simpler title of "Michael") in 1961; this version also went to #1 in the United Kingdom.[10] Lonnie Donegan reached #6 in the UK Singles Chart with his cover version in 1961. Harry Belafonte recorded a popular version of it for his 1962 Midnight Special album; Pete Seeger included it in his Children's Concert at Town Hall in 1963. Trini Lopez had a hit with it in 1964.

  • The Smothers Brothers did a fairly straightforward version of the song on their album It Must Have Been Something I Said!, before turning it into a comic sing-along on Golden Hits of the Smothers Brothers, Vol. 2 (which is also included on their album Sibling Revelry: The Best of the Smothers Brothers.
  • In an episode of Wings, cab driver Antonio Scarpacci (Tony Shalhoub) decides to supplement his income by gathering donations for singing the song (the only song he knows), while strumming his guitar, to the audience at the airport. The average passenger only hears it once or twice, but café manager Helen Chappel (Crystal Bernard) puts up with "Michael... rowin' that boat ashore for two freakin' days!" before finally snapping and attacking Antonio with his own guitar.
  • In "Faith Off", a Season 11 episode of The Simpsons, Reverend Lovejoy plays the song on an electric guitar to win back his flock.
  • In "Brain Age 2", it is one of the songs you must play on the piano.
  • Christian singer Michael Roe once titled an album Michael Roe: The Boat Ashore
  • In the television show Freaks and Geeks, during the episode "Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers", the first portions of the song are sung in the cafeteria by Nick (Jason Segel), Daniel (James Franco) and Ken (Seth Rogen) before they're interrupted by a teacher.
  • In "In the Can", a Season 2 episode of Ballykissangel, the parish priest, Father MacAnally, permits his curate, Father Clifford, to stage a folk mass, but only if "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" is not part of the program. Father Clifford agrees, but when Father MacAnally arrives for the service, the song is sung with gusto by the congregation, and Father Clifford shrugs in guilty amusement.
  • In the television show Boston Legal, during the episode "The Nutcrackers", the first portions of the song are sung in court by two girls from a white supremist family, before they are interrupted by Alan Shore (James Spader), their lawyer, who informs them that Michael was a gay Jew from Mexico.
Preceded by Billboard Hot 100 number one single
(The Highwaymen version)
September 4, 1961 (two weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UK number one single
(The Highwaymen version)
October 12, 1961 		Succeeded by

Notes

  1. ^ William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison, Slave Songs of the United States, p. xl.
  2. ^ Epstein, Dena (2003). Sinful Tunes and Spirituals: Black Folk Music the the Civil War. University of Illinois Press. p. 290. ISBN 0252071506.
  3. ^ William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison, Slave Songs of the United States, p. 23.
  4. ^ William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison, Slave Songs of the United States, p. 23
  5. ^ "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore", Pete Seeger Appreciation Page.
  6. ^ Walter E. Gast, "River", Symbols in Christian Art and Architecture.
  7. ^ William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison, Slave Songs of the United States, p. xvi.
  8. ^ "St. Michael the Archangel", The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913.
  9. ^ "Merr to Mif", Folk Music Index.
  10. ^ "The Highwaymen: Biography", All Music.
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