 | She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountaintraditional |
Writer(s): unknown (see lyrics here) Released: 1899 First Charted: -- Peak: -- (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 42.85 video, 89.64 streaming |
Awards:Click on award for more details. 
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About the Song:“She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain” is a traditional folk song which first appeared in print in 1927 in Carl Sandburg’s The American Songbag. In the 1890s, railroad workers in the Midwestern United States adapted it from the melody for “When the Chariot Comes,” a Negro spiritual. WK It was published in 1899 in Old Plantation Hymns. AS It has since become a children’s standard and campfire song, which is interesting when one dives into the song’s background. Negro spirituals emerged from field hands in the South who sang as a way to pass the time and beakup the monotony of the work. That same spirit infused the song’s embrace by railroad workers, as they also faced tedious, difficult labor. AmericangSongwriter.com’s Jacob Uitti says the original spiritual was about the Second Coming of Christ and asserts that the “she” in “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain” is a reference not to a woman, but the chariot that Christ will be riding. AS Blogger Deb Simons suggests the line “We’ll all go out to meet her when she comes” likely refers to the Rapture. DS However, Simons also says there may be “an underlying meaning about freedom and the Underground Railroad.” DS Uitti notes that slaves would use religious text as a means of sending messages to help others escape from their slave owners. AS In labor circles, the song would also become a rally about the coming of Mother Jones, who was a labor activist who would visit communities to help them unionize. AS The song has been recorded by Bing Crosby, Pete Seeger, Neil Young, and others. The first known recordings were by Henry Whitter (1924) and Vernon Dalhart (1925). WK Resources:
First posted 11/28/2025. |
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