When The Saints Go Marching In | Hymnstudiesblog

“WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN”

“…Confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims…” (Heb. 11:13)

INTRO.: A song which may help to remind Christians that we are but strangers and pilgrims on earth is “When the Saints Go Marching In” (#645 in Sacred Selections for the Church). The original text and tune (The Saints) are both anonymous. Most authorities conclude that “When the Saints Go Marching In,” often referred to as “The Saints,” is an American gospel hymn that has taken on certain aspects of folk music. Though it appears to have originated as an African-American spiritual, today people are more likely to hear it played by a jazz band. Researchers believe that it had its origins in the Bahamas, but somehow migrated to the mainland. A traditional use of the song is as a funeral march. In the funeral music tradition of New Orleans, LA, often called the “jazz funeral,” a band would play the tune as a dirge while accompanying the coffin to the cemetery. On the way back from the interment, it would switch to the familiar upbeat “hot” or “Dixieland” style. Around the turn of the nineteenth to twentieth century, the tune began to be played by many New Orleans jazz bands in concert. While the tune is still heard as a slow spiritual number on rare occasions, from the mid-twentieth century it has been more commonly performed as a “hot” number. It remains particularly associated with the city of New Orleans, to the extent that New Orleans’ professional football team was named the New Orleans Saints. The modern arrangement of the spiritual is attributed to New Orleans native and well known African American musician Edward Hammond Boatner (1898-1981). He included it in his 1927 singing book Spirituals Triumphant, Old and New Song, published in Nashville, TN. Two stanzas and a chorus, as given below in the study, appear to be universal. I have added the third stanza from other sources. Other “stanza-chorus” versions have been used.

“And when the sun refuse to shine

And when the sun refuse to shine

Lord, how I want to be in that number

When the sun refuse to shine.”

“And when the moon turns red with blood

And when the moon turns red with blood

Lord, how I want to be in that number

When the moon turns red with blood.”

“Oh, when the trumpet sounds its call

Oh, when the trumpet sounds its call

Lord, how I want to be in that number

When the trumpet sounds its call.“Oh When the new world is revealed

Oh When the new world is revealed

Lord, how I want to be in that number

When the new world is revealed.”

Often the first two words of the common third verse line (“Lord, how”) are sung as either “Oh, Lord” or even “Lord, Lord.” Arrangements vary considerably. The simplest is just an endless repetition of the chorus. Sometimes stanzas may be alternated with choruses. One common verse in “hot” New Orleans versions runs (with considerable variation) like thus:

“I used to have a playmate

Who would walk and talk with me

But since she got religion

She has turned her back on me.”

The song is apocalyptic, taking much of its imagery from the Book of Revelation, but excluding its more horrific depictions of the Last Judgment. The stanza/choruses about the sun and moon refer to Biblical passages in which the heavenly bodies cease to shine at the end of the world; the trumpet (of the Archangel Gabriel) is the way in which the final judgment is announced. The fact that the hymn expresses the wish to go to Heaven, picturing the saints going in (through the Pearly Gates), is probably why it was deemed appropriate for funerals. As with many numbers with long traditional folk use, there is no one “official” version of the song or its lyrics. This extends so far as confusion as to its name, with it often being mistakenly called “When the Saints Come Marching In.” As for the lyrics themselves, their very simplicity makes it easy to generate new verses. Since the first, second, and fourth lines of a verse-chorus are exactly the same, and the third standard throughout, the creation of one suitable line in iambic tetrameter generates an entire verse. Sometimes, the song is attributed to Katharine E. Purvis for lyrics and James Milton Black for music. In 1896 they did produce a similarly titled composition “When the Saints Are Marching In” that was possibly influenced by the traditional spiritual but is markedly different from it.

1. “Thro’ the shining gate, Where the angels wait,

When the saints are marching in,

The redeemed shall come, And be crowned at home,

When the saints are marching in.”

2. “Parted friends shall meet, On the golden street,

When the saints are marching in,

Spotless robes shall wear,

Victor’s palms shall bear, When the saints are marching in.”

3. “Every tongue and race Shall extol God’s grace,

When the saints are marching in,

And the blood-washed throng Shall repeat the song,

When the saints are marching in.”

Chorus: “To the Lamb once slain, But Who lives again,”

When the saints are marching in,

We shall offer praise Thro’ eternal days,

When the saints are marching in.”

Both vocal and instrumental renditions of the folk song abound. Louis Armstrong was one of the first to make the tune into a nationally known pop-tune in the 1930s. Some of the other stanza/choruses used by Louis Armstrong (and perhaps others) are as follows:

“On that hallelujah day

On that hallelujah day

Oh Lord I want to be in that number

When the saints go marching in.”

“When the revelation (revolution) comes

When the revelation (revolution) comes

Oh Lord I want to be in that number

When the saints go marching in.”

“When the rich go out and work

When the rich go out and work

Oh Lord I want to be in that number

When the saints go marching in.”

“When the air is pure and clean

When the air is pure and clean

Oh Lord I want to be in that number

When the saints go marching in.”

“When we all have food to eat

When we all have food to eat

Oh Lord I want to be in that number

When the saints go marching in.”

“When our leaders learn to cry

When our leaders learn to cry

Oh Lord I want to be in that number

When the saints go marching in.”

The tune was brought into the early rock and roll repertory by Fats Domino and (as “The Saint’s Rock and Roll”) by Bill Haley and the Comets. A true jazz standard, it has been recorded by a great many other jazz and pop artists. Nicknamed “The Monster” by some jazz musicians, because it seems to be the only tune some people know to request when seeing a Dixieland band, it is often requested several times a night. The musicians at Preservation Hall in New Orleans got so tired of playing it that the sign announcing the fee schedule ran $1 for standard requests, $2 for unusual requests, and $5 for “The Saints”. (This was in early 1960s dollars. By 2004 the price had gone up to $10.) In the Southern gospel genre the song is often associated with Luther G. Presley and Virgil Oliver Stamps, whose version, with new words written by Presley and music arranged by Stamps, copyrighted by the Stamps-Baxter Music Company in their 1937 book Starlit Crown, popularized it as a gospel song. A similar version was made by Robert E. Winsett. Elvis Presley performed the song during the Million Dollar Quartet jam session and also recorded a version for his film, Frankie and Johnny. It can be found as a gospel hymn by Elvis Presley in his compilation “Peace in the Valley: The Complete Gospel Recordings.” Judy Garland sang it in her own pop style. Other early rock artists to follow Domino’s lead included Jerry Lee Lewis and Tony Sheridan (featuring then-unknown band The Beatles as a backing group). It makes a current resurgence on the Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour, as an encore for some shows. Dolly Parton has also included the song in a gospel medley. Among hymnbooks published by members of the Lord’s church during the twentieth century for use in churches of Christ, the song, using the Stamps-Baxter arrangement of Presley and Stamps, may currently be found in Sacred Selections, but even there editor Ellis Crum altered stanzas 2 and 3 to make them “more scriptural.” The Crum version may also be found in the 2007 Sacred Songs of the Church edited by William D. Jeffcoat.

The song expresses the desire to enter into the eternal city with the saints of all ages.

I. Stanza 1 talks about being reunited with those gone before

“We’re traveling in the footsteps Of the ones who’ve gone before,

And we’ll all be reunited, On a new and sunlit shore.”

A. We are following in the footsteps of the ones who have gone before and have been faithful till death so that they might receive the crown of life: Rev. 2:10

B. Someday, we hope to be reunited with them in the resurrection: 1 Thess. 413-17

C. Then we can dwell together on the short of the river of life: Rev. 22:1-5

II. Stanza 2 talks about waiting for the new heavens and new earth

“Some say this world of trouble Is the only one we need,

But I’m waiting for that morning, When the new world is revealed.”

A. This world of trouble is not the only one because when we leave it we return to God, having a soul that physical death cannot kill: Eccl. 12:7, Matt. 10:28

B. Therefore, those who are in Christ are waiting for the morning: Ps. 30:5

III. Stanza 3 talks about seeing the Savior

“Someday I’ll see the Savior; He will walk and talk with me.

Yes, and when I get to heaven, He will gladly welcome me.”

A. God has promised that someday we shall see the Savior as He is: 1 Jn. 3:1-3

B. The hope of the Christian is to get to heaven, the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior: 2 Pet. 1:11

C. Then He shall gladly welcome His people in: Matt. 25:21, 34

CONCL.: The chorus points forward to that time when the redeemed receive their heavenly home.

“When the saints go marching in,

When the saints go marching in,

Lord, I want to be in that number,

When the saints go marching in.”

One might question whether this song, with its checkered past and current notoriety, would be suitable as a spiritual song, especially for a worship service.  When I worked with churches using Sacred Selections, I rarely heard the song sung, although the syncopation and special parts of the Stamps-Baxter arrangement call for musical abilities that are beyond the capacities of many congregations, especially the smaller kind with which I labored, but I did hear it sung in a few that I visited.  Each one will have to make up his own mind, but certainly we should hope and strive to be in that number “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

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