"The Gospel Train" is a traditional African-American spiritual first published in 1872 as one of the songs of the Fisk Jubilee Singers

Fisk Jubilee Singers

The Fisk Jubilee Singers are an African-American a cappella ensemble, consisting of students at Fisk University. The first group was organized in 1871 to tour and raise funds for their college. Their early repertoire consisted mostly of traditional spirituals, but included some Stephen Foster songs...

. A standard Gospel song

Gospel music

Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....

, it is found in the hymnals of many Protestant denominations and has been recorded by numerous artists.

The first verse, including the chorus is as follows:

The gospel train is coming,

I hear it just at hand,

I hear the car wheels moving,

And rumbling thro' the land.

Get on board, children,

Get on board, children,

Get on board, children,

For there's room for many a more.

Although "The Gospel Train" is usually cited as traditional, several sources credit a Baptist minister from New Hampshire, John Chamberlain, with writing it. Captain Asa W. Bartlett, historian for the New Hampshire Twelfth Regiment, reported Chamberlain as singing the song on April 26, 1863, during Sunday services for the regiment.

History

The source for the melody and lyrics is unknown but developed out of a tradition which resulted in a number of similar songs about a "Gospel Train". One of the earliest known is not from the United States, but from Scotland. In 1853, Scotsman John Lyon published a song in Liverpool titled "Be in Time", the last verse of which mentions that the Gospel train is at hand. Lyon's book was written to raise funds for the Morman emigration of the 1840s and 50s. In 1857, an editor for Knickerbocker magazine wrote about visiting a "Colored Camp-Meeting" in New York where a song called "The Warning" was sung which featured an almost identical last verse. "The Warning" used the melody from an old dance song about Captain Kidd.

"Be in Time"

The last verse from "Be in Time" is:

Now the Gospel train's at hand, be in time, be in time:

Now the Gospel train's at hand, be in time;

Crowds at the station stand, with passport in their hand,

To start for Zion's land, be in time, be in time.

To start for Zion's land, &c.

"The Warning"

The last verse of "The Warning" is:

The Gospel train's at hand,

Be in time, be in time!

The Gospel train's at hand,

Be in time,

Behold your station there,

JESUS has paid your fare;

Let's all engage in prayer:

Be in time, be in time!

Let's all engage in prayer:

Be in time!

"The Gospel Railroad"

"The Gospel Railroad" is another one of the early "Gospel Train" songs from Britain. Written sometime before 1867, its last verse is:

Come, sinner! join the Gospel-train

Would you the Holy City gain;

That you the journey may begin—

The train is waiting—O step in!

External links

• "The Gospel Train's A'Comin'" at Owen Sound's Black History