Go Down, Moses is an African American spiritual and folk song. The song was created by enslaved African Americans who lived in the South prior to the American Civil War (1861-1865). The song is perhaps the first, or among the first, spirituals whose words and music were published. A minister heard some Black contrabands singing it in 1861. Contrabands was a term used for enslaved people who had escaped to the Union side during the Civil War. He wrote down the words and music, and the song, called “Let My People Go, The Song of the Contrabands,” appeared in an anti-slavery newspaper the same year. It later became known as “Go Down, Moses,” though some modern hymn books call it “When Israel Was in Egypt’s Land.”
The song’s lyrics use Biblical imagery to express the desire for a release from bondage. The song is marked by its strong tone of determination in the struggle for freedom. “Go Down, Moses” is primarily based on the Book of Exodus . In Exodus 8:1, God commands Moses to demand the release of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt .
A popular version of “Go Down, Moses” was published in 1872 by the Fisk Jubilee Singers, a group of students from the historically Black Fisk University in Nashville. This version had 24 verses. Modern versions typically include three to five verses. An example is shown below:
When Israel was in Egypt’s land, Let My people go! Oppressed so hard they could not stand, Let My people go!
Chorus: Go down, Moses, Way down in Egypt’s land; Tell old Pharaoh To let My people go!
No more shall they in bondage toil, Let My people go! Let them come out with Egypt’s spoil, Let My people go!
Chorus: Go down, Moses, Way down in Egypt’s land; Tell old Pharaoh To let My people go!
Oh, let us all from bondage flee, Let My people go! And let us all in Christ be free, Let My people go!
Chorus: Go down, Moses, Way down in Egypt’s land; Tell old Pharaoh To let My people go!
You need not always weep and moan, Let My people go! And wear these slav’ry chains forlorn, Let My people go!
Chorus: Go down, Moses, Way down in Egypt’s land; Tell old Pharaoh To let My people go!
Your foes shall not before you stand, Let My people go! And you’ll possess fair Canaan’s land, Let My people go!
