No. 196 To Lay This Body Down or White or I’m a Long Time Traveling, Osh 288
Hexatonic, mode 1 b (I II — IV V VI 7)
Ye fleeting charms of earth, farewell,
Your springs of joy are dry;
My soul now seeks another home,
A brighter home on high.
I’m a long time trav’ling here below,
I’m a long time trav’ling away from home;
I’m a long time trav’ling here below
To lay this body down.
Farewell, my friends, whose tender care
Has long engaged my love;
Your fond embrace I now exchange
For better friends above.
Elder Edmund Dumas of Georgia is supposed to have made the tune. He very likely was the first to record it, that is, for the 1859 edition of the Sacred Harp. A variant is ‘Converted Thief (A)’ in this collection. The negroes have caught the significant part of the chorus in their song ‘Lay This Body Down’, Slave Songs, No. 26. One couplet of this song is
And my soul an’ your soul will meet in de day
When we lay dis body down.