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(Redirected from Hold On (folk song)) Traditional African American song

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Keep Your Hand On the Plow

Tune for Keep Your Hand On the Plow

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"Gospel Plow" (also known as "Hold On" and "Keep Your Hand on the Plow") is a traditional African American spiritual. It is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index, number 10075. The title is biblical, based on Luke 9:62.

The earliest date in which this spiritual appears in written form is in 1917, in the Cecil Sharp Collection, while the earliest recording is from 1930 under the title of "Keep Yo' Hand on the Plow, Hold On" by the Hall Johnson Negro Choir.

Like most African American spirituals, Gospel Plow can be defined as a "musical poem, not attributable to any specific poet or composer" that describes some aspect of the "early Afro-American's view of life."

The allusion to the plow makes clear reference to the enslaved condition of African Americans working in the fields. Presumably, this spiritual must have been a message of encouragement connected to Luke 9:62's teaching that to keep plowing is to be fit for the kingdom of God.

Lyrics

There is no one official version of the lyrics of this song, such as is the case with many traditional spirituals and folk songs in general whose authorship is unknown. Perhaps the most famous rendition of Gospel Plow is Bob Dylan's in 1962:

Mary wore three links of chain
Every link was Jesus' name
Keep your hand on that plow, hold on
Oh Lord, oh Lord, keep your hand on that plow, hold on

Mary, Mark, Luke and John
All these prophets are dead and gone
Keep your hand on that plow, hold on
Oh Lord, oh Lord, keep your hand on that plow, hold on

Well, I've never been to Heaven
But I've been told streets up there
Are lined with gold
Keep your hand on that plow, hold on
Oh Lord, oh Lord, keep your hand on that plow, hold on
Oh Lord, oh Lord, keep your hand on that plow, hold on
Oh Lord, oh Lord, keep your hand on that plow, hold on

Another famous rendition of the song is under the name of "Keep Your Hand on the Plow" by gospel singer and civil rights activist Mahalia Jackson. The lyrics are slightly different:

Hold on
Hold on
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on

Hold on
Hold on
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on

Heard the voice of Jesus say
Come unto me, I am the way.
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on.

When my way gets dark as night,
I know the lord will be my light,
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on.

Hold on
Hold on
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on.

You can talk about me much as you please
The more you talk, gonna stay on my knees.
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on.

When I get to heaven, gonna sing and shout
Be nobody there to put me out.
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on.

I know my robe's gonna fit me well,
I tried it on at the gates of Hell.
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on.

Hold on
Hold on
Keep your hand on the plow, hold on

The structure of Jackson's rendition is interesting because it does not follow the traditional spiritual composition format of four-line stanzas in the AAAB or AABA rhyme scheme. Instead, it is composed in three-line stanzas that follow the AAB rhyme scheme which might be attributed to being a gospel adaptation of the traditional spiritual form of the song.

This song must have been an important one for Jackson, considering that the title of one of the chapters of her autobiography Movin' On Up is precisely "Keep your hand on the plow." In this chapter, she makes reference to pushing through during times of physical exhaustion after her tour through Europe.

Recordings

Hall Johnson Negro Choir - Keep Yo' Hand on the Plow, Hold On - 1930
Duke Ellington at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival
The Folksmiths, including Joe Hickerson - We've Got Some Singing To Do 1958
Odetta on Odetta at Carnegie Hall 1961
Clara Ward and Her Singers 1962
Bob Dylan on his self-titled debut album 1962
Peggy Lee - 2 Shows Nightly 1968
Noel Pointer - Hold On 1978
Screaming Trees - Dust 1996
Old Crow Medicine Show - Greetings from WAWA - 2000
The Hackensaw Boys - Look Out - 2007
Charlie Parr - Keep Your Hands On The Plow - 2011
Uncle Sinner - Ballads and Mental Breakdowns - 2008
Elizabeth Cook - Gospel Plow - 2012
Moses Hogan - The Moses Hogan Choral Series 2003: This Little Light of Mine
Slim Cessna's Auto Club - Always Say Please & Thank You (2000)
Chance McCoy - Chance McCoy and the Appalachian String Band (2008)
Vondie Curtis-Hall 2019 Official soundtrack Harriet

Published versions

Alan Lomax and John A. Lomax Our Singing Country 1941 (pp 44–45)

References

"Keep Your Hand on the Plow". The Traditional Ballad Index: An annotated source to folk song from the English-speaking world, edited by Robert B. Waltz.
Tyler, Mary Ann L. "The Music of Charles Henry Pace and Its Relationship to the Afro-American Church Experience" (Ph.D. diss., University of Pittsburgh, 1980), 15. Contained in: Darden, Robert. “What Spirituals Are, What Spirituals Mean.” People Get Ready! A New History of Black Gospel Music, 2015, pp. 70–93.
“What Spirituals Are, What Spirituals Mean.” People Get Ready! A New History of Black Gospel Music, 2015, p. 73
Jackson, Mahalia, and Evan McLeod Wylie. Movin' on Up. ed., Hawthorn Books, 1966.
"Gospel Plow | The Official Bob Dylan Site". www.bobdylan.com. Retrieved 2018-07-01.
"Chance McCoy & the Appalachian String Band - Gospel Plow - YouTube". YouTube. 28 September 2012.

v t e Bob Dylan songs by album (1960s)
Bob Dylan	"You're No Good" "Talkin' New York" "In My Time of Dyin'" "Man of Constant Sorrow" "Fixin' to Die" "Pretty Peggy-O" "Gospel Plow" "Baby, Let Me Follow You Down" "House of the Risin' Sun" "Freight Train Blues" "Song to Woody" "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" "Highway 51"
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan	"Blowin' in the Wind" "Girl from the North Country" "Masters of War" "Down the Highway" "Bob Dylan's Blues" "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" "Bob Dylan's Dream" "Oxford Town" "Talkin' World War III Blues" "Corrina, Corrina" "Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance" "I Shall Be Free"
The Times They Are a-Changin'	"The Times They Are a-Changin'" "Ballad of Hollis Brown" "With God on Our Side" "One Too Many Mornings" "North Country Blues" "Only a Pawn in Their Game" "Boots of Spanish Leather" "When the Ship Comes In" "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" "Restless Farewell"
Another Side of Bob Dylan	"All I Really Want to Do" "Black Crow Blues" "Spanish Harlem Incident" "Chimes of Freedom" "I Shall Be Free No. 10" "To Ramona" "Motorpsycho Nitemare" "My Back Pages" "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)" "Ballad in Plain D" "It Ain't Me Babe"
Bringing It All Back Home	"Subterranean Homesick Blues" "She Belongs to Me" "Maggie's Farm" "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" "Outlaw Blues" "On the Road Again" "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" "Mr. Tambourine Man" "Gates of Eden" "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"
Highway 61 Revisited	"Like a Rolling Stone" "Tombstone Blues" "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" "From a Buick 6" "Ballad of a Thin Man" "Queen Jane Approximately" "Highway 61 Revisited" "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" "Desolation Row"
Blonde on Blonde	"Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" "Pledging My Time" "Visions of Johanna" "One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)" "I Want You" "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" "Just Like a Woman" "Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine" "Temporary Like Achilles" "Absolutely Sweet Marie" "4th Time Around" "Obviously 5 Believers" "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands"
John Wesley Harding	"John Wesley Harding" "As I Went Out One Morning" "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine" "All Along the Watchtower" "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest" "Drifter's Escape" "Dear Landlord" "I Am a Lonesome Hobo" "I Pity the Poor Immigrant" "The Wicked Messenger" "Down Along the Cove" "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight"
Nashville Skyline	"Girl from the North Country" "To Be Alone with You" "I Threw It All Away" "Lay Lady Lay" "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You"
Other	"Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues" "Mixed-Up Confusion" "Positively 4th Street" "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" "If You Gotta Go, Go Now"
Lists	Songs written by Dylan

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Lyrics

Recordings

Published versions

See also

References