Swing Low, Sweet Chariot is a famous African American spiritual . Its composition has been attributed to Wallis Willis, once the slave of a Choctaw Indian living in what is now Oklahoma. The chariot mentioned in the lyrics may refer to carriages or wagons that transported some escaping slaves to freedom during the early and mid-1800’s.
The spiritual may have been inspired by the Red River in Oklahoma. The river also evokes the Jordan River in modern Jordan and Israel and the Prophet Elijah’s being carried to heaven after the appearance of a chariot (2 Kings 2:11-12). Rev. Alexander Reid, the superintendent of the southeastern Oklahoma school where Willis worked, heard Willis singing the spiritual and noted the words and melody. He later gave the music to the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University in Nashville. The Jubilee Singers popularized the song during concert tours of the United States and Europe in the 1870’s.
Below are the standard lyrics of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”:
Chorus: Swing low, sweet chariot, Comin’ for to carry me home, Swing low, sweet chariot, Comin’ for to carry me home! I looked over Jordan and what did I see, Comin’ for to carry me home! A band of angels comin’ after me, Comin’ for to carry me home! Chorus: Swing low, sweet chariot, Comin’ for to carry me home, Swing low, sweet chariot, Comin’ for to carry me home! If you get there before I do, Comin’ for to carry me home, Jess tell my friends that I’m acomin’ too, Comin’ for to carry me home! Chorus: Swing low, sweet chariot, Comin’ for to carry me home, Swing low, sweet chariot, Comin’ for to carry me home! I’m sometimes up and sometimes down, Comin’ for to carry me home, But still my soul feels heavenly bound Comin’ for to carry me home!
