"Gospel Plow" (also known as "Hold On" and "Keep Your Hand on the Plow") is a traditional African American spiritual. It is listed in the

Roud Folk Song Index The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud. Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadsid ...

, number 10075. The title is biblical, based on Lukebr>9:62.
The earliest date in which this spiritual appears in written form is in 1917, in the

Cecil Sharp Cecil James Sharp (22 November 1859 – 23 June 1924) was an English collector of folk songs, folk dances and instrumental music, as well as a lecturer, teacher, composer and musician. He was a key figure in the folk-song revival in England dur ...

Collection, while the earliest recording is from 1930 under the title of "Keep Yo' Hand on the Plow, Hold On" by the

Hall Johnson Francis Hall Johnson (March 12, 1888 – April 30, 1970) was an American composer and arranger of African-American spiritual music. He is one of a group—including Harry T. Burleigh, R. Nathaniel Dett, and Eva Jessye—who had great success per ...

Negro Choir. Like most African American spirituals, Gospel Plow can be defined as a "musical poem, not attributable to any specific poet or composer" that describes some aspect of the "early Afro-American's view of life." The allusion to the plow makes clear reference to the enslaved condition of African Americans working in the fields. Presumably, this spiritual must have been a message of encouragement connected to Luke 9:62's teaching that to keep plowing is to be fit for the kingdom of God.

Lyrics

There is no one official version of the lyrics of this song, such as is the case with many traditional spirituals and folk songs in general whose authorship is unknown. Perhaps the most famous rendition of Gospel Plow is Bob Dylan's in 1962: Another famous rendition of the song is under the name of "Keep Your Hand on the Plow" by gospel singer and civil rights activist

Mahalia Jackson Mahalia Jackson ( ; born Mahala Jackson; October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972) was an American gospel music, gospel singer, widely considered one of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century. With a career spanning 40 years, Jackson was ...

. The lyrics are slightly different: The structure of Jackson's rendition is interesting because it does not follow the traditional spiritual composition format of four-line stanzas in the AAAB or AABA

rhyme scheme A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other. An example of the ABAB rh ...

. Instead, it is composed in three-line stanzas that follow the AAB rhyme scheme which might be attributed to being a gospel adaptation of the traditional spiritual form of the song. This song must have been an important one for Jackson, considering that the title of one of the chapters of her autobiography ''Movin' On Up'' is precisely "Keep your hand on the plow." In this chapter, she makes reference to pushing through during times of physical exhaustion after her tour through Europe.

Recordings

* Hall Johnson Negro Choir - ''Keep Yo' Hand on the Plow, Hold On'' - 1930 *

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D ...

at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival * The Folksmiths, including Joe Hickerson - ''We've Got Some Singing To Do'' 1958 *

Odetta Odetta Holmes (December 31, 1930 – December 2, 2008), known as Odetta, was an American singer, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and s ...

on ''Odetta at Carnegie Hall'' 1961 * Clara Ward and Her Singers 1962 *

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

on '' his self-titled debut album'' 1962 *

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, and actress whose career spanned seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local r ...

- '' 2 Shows Nightly'' 1968 * Noel Pointer - ''Hold On'' 1978 * Screaming Trees - ''

Dust Dust is made of particle size, fine particles of solid matter. On Earth, it generally consists of particles in the atmosphere that come from various sources such as soil lifted by wind (an aeolian processes, aeolian process), Types of volcan ...

'' 1996 *

Old Crow Medicine Show Old Crow Medicine Show is an Americana (music), Americana string band based in Nashville, Tennessee, that has been recording since 1998. They were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on September 17, 2013. Their ninth album, ''Remedy (Old Crow Med ...

- ''Greetings from WAWA'' - 2000 *

The Hackensaw Boys The Hackensaw Boys are a string band based in central Virginia that formed in 1999. The band has drawn on many musical influences and are " own best for rowdy, energetic live shows." They have performed at Bonnaroo, Lockn', FloydFest, and the A ...

- ''Look Out'' - 2007 * Charlie Parr - ''Keep Your Hands On The Plow'' - 2011 * Uncle Sinner - ''Ballads and Mental Breakdowns'' - 2008 *

Elizabeth Cook Elizabeth Cook (born July 18, 1972) is an American country music singer and radio host. She has made over 400 appearances on the Grand Ole Opry since her debut on March 17, 2000, despite not being a member. Cook, "the daughter of a hillbilly s ...

- ''Gospel Plow'' - 2012 * Moses Hogan - ''The Moses Hogan Choral Series 2003: This Little Light of Mine'' * Slim Cessna's Auto Club - ''Always Say Please & Thank You'' (2000) * Chance McCoy - ''Chance McCoy and the Appalachian String Band'' (2008) * Vondie Curtis-Hall 2019 Official soundtrack Harriet

Published versions

Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music during the 20th century. He was a musician, folklorist, archivist, writer, scholar, political activ ...

and John A. Lomax ''Our Singing Country'' 1941 (pp 44–45)

References

Bob Dylan songs Year of song unknown African-American spiritual songs Songs with unknown songwriters {{folk-song-stub

Lyrics

Recordings

Published versions

See also

References