Swing Low, Sweet Chariot is a song that was sung by slaves in the south while they were working on plantations. Although the author of this song is unknown, the meaning of it is pretty clear by the lyrics of the song. One of the lines that is repeated many times throughout the song is "Swing low, sweet chariot, comin' for to carry me home," (Swing). I think that this line means that they just want to go to heaven because they would rather be up there than be enslaved. I think that every time the word "home" is used in this song it is referring to heaven because of other lines in this song. For example, in line 8 it goes "a band of angels comin' after me" and again in line 12 when it says "Tell all my friends I'm comin' too" (Swing). I think that this song has a very religious meaning. In Go Down Moses I noticed that one of the most repeated lines in this song is "Let my People Go!" which automatically makes me think of slavery (Go Down). As I was reading through the lyrics of this song, I began to realize that this song is also heavily based on religion. For example, it says "God-The Lord said 'Go down, Moses Way down in Egypt land Tell all Pharaoes to Let My People Go!" (Go Down). I think that these few lines mean exactly what it says, that God sent Moses to Egypt to tell the Pharaoes to let his people free. I think that this song and Swing Low, Sweet Chariot are similar in that they are both religious songs. In the song Keep Your Hand on the Plow, it also refers to Jesus and God quite a lot. On of the most repeated verses in this song is "Keep your hands on that plow, hold on" which makes me think that whoever is holding that plow is struggling to keep going (Keep). The writer of this song makes quite a few references to Jesus in this song, for example they say "Peter was so nice and neat Wouldn't let Jesus wash his feet" and "Jesus said, "If I wash them not You'll have no father in this lot."" (Keep). I think that a common theme in all three of these songs is that even if you are struggling to keep going, God is there and will help you through it. Once again I think that all of these songs include quite a bit of religion in them, which is also a philosophy found in the writings of Emerson.
"Keep Your Hands On The Plow - GospelSongLyrics.Org." GospelSongLyrics.org - Lyrics and Music to All Your Favorite Gospel Songs. Web. 09 Feb. 2012.
"Go Down Moses Lyrics - Lyrics." Gospel Music Lyrics. Web. 09 Feb. 2012. "Go Down Moses Lyrics - Lyrics." Gospel Music Lyrics. Web. 09 Feb. 2012.
"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, Lyrics." Scout Songs: Song Lyrics for Boy Scouts Songs, Girl Scouts Songs, and American Patriotic Songs. Web. 09 Feb. 2012.
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