Wade in the Water - Elements of Performance

The Elements of Performance (using DR C SMITH):

The song is sycopated- which basically means the notes are off-beat. The brotherhood sing louder on the repeated phrase "God's gonna trouble the water" for emphasis. the tempo is 108 (Andante/Moderato) and is a relatively steady walking pace. "Wade in the Water"  is a Negro spiritual first published in New Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers (1901) by John Wesley Work II and his brother, Frederick J. Work. Negro spirituals are religious songs that were created by enslaved African people in the United States. Spirituals were originally an oral tradition that imparted Christian values while also describing the hardships of slavery. The song relates to both the Old and New Testaments. The verses reflect the Israelites' escape out of Egypt as found in Exodus:14. The lyrics of the chorus: "Wade in the water, God's gonna trouble the water" refers to the biblical statement on healing: "For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had." Negro spirituals were important because they allowed a form of release of the slaves who had to live in captivity and had little to no freedom. Music acted as a form of their freedom.