Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

Swing low, sweet chariot

Refrain:
Swing low, sweet chariot,
coming for to carry me home.
swing low, sweet chariot,
coming for to carry me home.

1 I looked over Jordan, and what did I see
coming for to carry me home?
A band of angels coming after me,
coming for to carry me home. O, [Refrain]

2 If you get there before I do,
coming for to carry me home,
tell all my friends I'm coming too,
coming for to carry me home. O, [Refrain]

3 The brightest day that ever I saw,
Coming for to carry me home,
when Jesus washed my sins away,
Coming for to carry me home. O, [Refrain]

4 I'm sometimes up and sometimes down,
coming for to carry me home,
but still my soul feels heavenly bound,
coming for to carry me home. O, [Refrain]

(This is the only representative text available.) • Text size: Regular | Large ^ top

First Line:	Swing low, sweet chariot
Title:	Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
Meter:	Irregular
Source:	African American spiritual
Language:	English
Refrain First Line:	Swing low, sweet chariot
Notes:	While ostensibly based on Elijah's ascent into heaven (2 Kings 2:11), his African American spiritual also communicates the enslaved people's hope that they might find deliverance across a river (i.e. in the free states beyond the Ohio). Call-and-response singing enhances this piece.
Copyright:	Public Domain