Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" is an American negro spiritual. The earliest known recording was in 1909, by the Fisk Jubilee Singers of Fisk University. It is also the anthem of the England national rugby union team.

In 2002, the Library of Congress honored the song as one of 50 recordings chosen that year to be added to the National Recording Registry. It was also included in the list of Songs of the Century, by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.

History

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" may have been written by Wallis Willis, a Choctaw freedman in the old Indian Territory in what is now Choctaw County, near the County seat of Hugo, Oklahoma sometime before 1862. He was inspired by the Red River, which reminded him of the Jordan River and of the Prophet Elijah's being taken to heaven by a chariot (2 Kings 2:11). Some sources claim that this song and "Steal Away" (also sung by Willis) had lyrics that referred to the Underground Railroad, the freedom movement that helped blacks escape from Southern slavery to the North and Canada.

Swing Low (album)

Swing Low, also known as Sam Cooke, is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke. Produced by Hugo & Luigi, the album was released in March 1961 in the United States by RCA Victor. The album includes the hit single "Chain Gang".

The album was remastered in 2011 as a part of The RCA Albums Collection.

Track listing

Side one

Side two

Personnel

All credits adapted from The RCA Albums Collection (2011) liner notes. The musicians who recorded "Chain Gang", save for Cooke, Clifton White and Glenn Osser are unknown.