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"Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" (or "Michael Rowed the Boat Ashore" or "Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore" or "Michael Row That Gospel Boat") is a negro spiritual. It was first noted during the American Civil War at St. Helena Island, one of the Sea Islands of South Carolina.〔William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison, (''Slave Songs of the United States'' ), p. xl.〕 It is cataloged as Roud Folk Song Index No. 11975. It was sung by former slaves whose owners had abandoned the island before the Union navy arrived to enforce a blockade. Charles Pickard Ware, an abolitionist and Harvard graduate who had come to supervise the plantations on St. Helena Island from 1862 to 1865, wrote the song down in music notation as he heard the freedmen sing it. Ware's cousin, William Francis Allen, reported in 1863 that while he rode in a boat across Station Creek, the former slaves sang the song as they rowed. The song was first published in ''Slave Songs of the United States'', by Allen, Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison, in 1867.〔William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison, (''Slave Songs of the United States'' ), p. 23.〕 ==Lyrics== The oldest published version of the song runs in a series of unrhymed couplets:〔 : Michael row de boat ashore, Hallelujah! : Michael boat a gospel boat, Hallelujah! : I wonder where my mudder deh (there). : See my mudder on de rock gwine home. : On de rock gwine home in Jesus' name. : Michael boat a music boat. : Gabriel blow de trumpet horn. : O you mind your boastin' talk. : Boastin' talk will sink your soul. : Brudder, lend a helpin' hand. : Sister, help for trim dat boat. : Jordan stream is wide and deep. : Jesus stand on t' oder side. : I wonder if my maussa deh. : My fader gone to unknown land. : O de Lord he plant his garden deh. : He raise de fruit for you to eat. : He dat eat shall neber die. : When de riber overflow. : O poor sinner, how you land? : Riber run and darkness comin'. : Sinner row to save your soul. :::or : Michel, row the boat a-shore : Hallelujah! : Then you'll hear the trumpet blow : Hallelujah! : Then you'll hear the trumpet sound, : Hallelujah! : Trumpet sound the world around : Hallelujah! : Trumpet sound the jubilee : Hallelujah! : Trumpet sound for you and me : Hallelujah! As this song originated in oral tradition, there are many versions of the lyrics. It begins with the refrain, "Michael, row the boat ashore, Hallelujah." The lyrics describe crossing the River Jordan, as in these lines from Pete Seeger's version: :Jordan's river is deep and wide, hallelujah. :Meet my mother on the other side, hallelujah. :Jordan's river is chilly and cold, hallelujah. :Chills the body, but not the soul, hallelujah.〔("Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" ), Pete Seeger Appreciation Page.〕 The River Jordan, the place where Jesus was baptised, can be viewed as a metaphor for deliverance and salvation, but also, as the boundary of the Promised Land, death and the transition to Heaven. On his album ''Midnight Special'', Harry Belafonte sang a rendition that combines the Christian, American slavery and 1960s Civil Rights traditions. The lyrics work their way through different parts of the Biblical narrative before concluding with the following verses: 〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Harry Belafonte - Michael Row The Boat Ashore Lyrics )〕 : They nailed Jesus to the Cross, Hallelujah : But his faith was never lost, Hallelujah : So Christian soldiers off to war, Hallelujah : Hold that line in Arkansas, Hallelujah : Michael row the boat ashore, Hallelujah! : Michael row the boat ashore, Hallelujah! : Like Joshua at Jericho, Hallelujah : Alabama's next to go, Hallelujah : So Mississippi kneel and pray, Hallelujah : Some more buses on the way, Hallelujah : Michael row the boat ashore, Hallelujah! : Michael row the boat ashore, Hallelujah! According to Allen, the song refers to the Archangel Michael.〔William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison, (''Slave Songs of the United States'' ), p. xvi.〕 In Christian tradition, Michael is often regarded as a psychopomp, or conductor of the souls of the dead.〔("St. Michael the Archangel" ), ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'', 1913.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Michael Row the Boat Ashore」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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