"Take Your Stand" is a

gospel blues Gospel blues (or holy blues) is a form of blues-based gospel music that has been around since the inception of blues music. It combines evangelistic lyrics with blues instrumentation, often blues guitar accompaniment. According to musician an ...

song recorded in 1929 by

Blind Willie Johnson Willie Johnson (January 25, 1897 – September 18, 1945), commonly known as Blind Willie Johnson, was an American gospel blues singer and guitarist. His landmark recordings completed between 1927 and 1930, thirty songs in all, display a combinat ...

on vocals and acoustic guitar and an unidentified female singer. Music historian Samuel Charters describes it as "another of the white gospel songs that he ohnsonwas singing during this period, and the accompaniment was the same chorded strum that he used for '

Sweeter as the Years Go By "Sweeter as the Years Go By" is a Christian hymn written by Lelia N. Morris in 1912. It has been included in 87 hymnals. Its subject-matter is expressed in the refrain: It has been recorded in various, mostly gospel, styles. In 1929, it was r ...

' hich was used as the record flip-side" Charters also notes that the record was the last to be released from Johnson's New Orleans sessions (at the end of October 1931) and only 900 copies were pressed. The lyrics contain several verses with slightly varied words. The singer exhorts the listener to "take a stand, pray for me, shake my hand, tell the truth, keep the faith, preach the Word, and run the race". He then promises to meet him or her on the Kingdom's shore. In context, the Word is the Word of God as revealed in the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

, and the Kingdom is the

Kingdom of God The concept of the kingship of God appears in all Abrahamic religions, where in some cases the terms kingdom of God and kingdom of Heaven are also used. The notion of God's kingship goes back to the Hebrew Bible, which refers to "his kingdom" ...

References

Blind Willie Johnson songs 1929 songs Blues songs Gospel songs Songs with unknown songwriters {{gospel-music-stub