Michael

About Michael

"Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" (or "Michael Rowed the Boat Ashore", or "Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore", or "Michael Row That Gospel Boat") is an African-American spiritual first noted during the American Civil War at St. Helena Island, one of the Sea Islands of South Carolina. The best known recording was released in 1960 by the U. S. folk band The Highwaymen; that version briefly reached number-one hit status as a single. It was sung by former slaves whose owners had abandoned the island before the Union navy arrived to enforce a blockade. Charles Pickard Ware was an abolitionist and Harvard graduate who had come to supervise the plantations on St. Helena Island from 1862 to 1865, and he wrote down the song in music notation as he heard the freedmen sing it. Ware's cousin William Francis Allen reported in 1863 that the former slaves sang the song as they rowed him in a boat across Station Creek. The song was first published in 1867 in Slave Songs of the United States by Allen, Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison. Folk musician and educator Tony Saletan rediscovered it in 1954 in a library copy of that book. The song is cataloged as Roud Folk Song Index No. 11975. more »

Year:

2013

2:44

6 Views

 Watch: New Singing Lesson Videos Can Make Anyone A Great Singer

Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah
Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah
Sister help to trim the sail, hallelujah
Sister help to trim the sail, hallelujah

Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah
Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah

The river Jordan is chilly and cold, hallelujah
Chills the body but not the soul, hallelujah

Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah
Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah

The river is deep and the river is wide, hallelujah
Milk and honey on the other side, hallelujah

Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah
Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah

 Watch: New Singing Lesson Videos Can Make Anyone A Great Singer

The Highwaymen

The Highwaymen were a Country music supergroup comprising four of the genre's biggest artists well known for their pioneering influence on the outlaw country subgenre: Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson. Active between 1985 and 1995, these four artists recorded three major label albums as The Highwaymen: two on Columbia Records and one for Liberty Records. Their Columbia works produced three chart singles, including the Number One "Highwayman" in 1985. more »

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