Publisher Desc.  The origin of this authentic African-American spiritual is indefinite.  Similar versions of the chorus which opens the work may be found in various hymnals published in the late 19th century, but none of those are identical to the way it appears today.  One might assume that oral tradition affected the hymn-text over the years so it has arrived to us in the form we currently have it.  Or we may also assume that it emerged completely from oral tradition until it began to appear in modern publications being attributed to no specific person.  Cooper's melody-part writing defines the style and harmonic content of this arrangement.