Bye and Bye We're Going to See the King

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"Bye and Bye I'm Goin' to See the King"
Johnson-ByeAndBye.jpg
Single by Blind Willie Johnson
Released1930 (1930)
RecordedNew Orleans, Louisiana, December 10, 1929
Genre Gospel blues
Length2:53
Label Columbia
Songwriter(s) Unknown

"Bye and Bye We're (or, I'm) Going to See the King" is a Christian song from the African-American musical tradition. It is known by a variety of titles, including "I Wouldn't Mind Dying (If Dying Was All)" and "A Mother's Last Word to Her Daughter". It was recorded seven times before 1930, using the preceding titles.

Contents

It has been most often recorded in gospel or gospel blues style, but also in other styles such as country.

Description

The song consists of several four-line verses (quatrains) and a repeated refrain. The words both of verses and of refrain often differ from one artist to another. A standard feature is that the refrain consists of four lines, the first three of which are identical. Common variants of those three lines include "Bye and bye we're (or, I'm) going to see the King" and "Holy, holy, holy is His name". The fourth line almost always begins "(I) wouldn't (or, don't) mind dying". It concludes in various ways in different versions, for example "If dying was all", or "But I gotta go by myself", or "Because I'm a child of God".

"The King" is a title of the Christian God. Many versions include a verse which refers to the vision of the chariot in the Book of Ezekiel, Chapter 1. A line found in many versions, "He said he saw him coming with his dyed garments on", alludes to the Book of Isaiah at 63:1:

Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?

"A Mother's Last Word to Her Daughter"
Phillips-LastWordToDaughter.jpg
Single by Washington Phillips
Released1930 (1930)
RecordedDallas, Texas, December 2, 1929
Genre Gospel blues
Length3:06
Label Columbia
Songwriter(s) Washington Phillips
Producer(s) Frank B. Walker [1]

Titles like "Bye and Bye We're Going to See the King" and "I Wouldn't Mind Dying (If Dying Was All)" are taken from the refrain. The title of the 1929 version by Washington Phillips, "A Mother's Last Word to Her Daughter", whose verses differ markedly from other versions, was presumably chosen to indicate that he intended it as a companion song to his "Mother's Last Word to Her Son" of 1927. Blind Mamie Forehand's 1927 performance of "I Wouldn't Mind Dying If Dying Was All" has been reissued on various Washington Phillips compilations, so Phillips is often confused to be the performer. YouTube has multiple videos doing just this, but Phillips never recorded this song, only his adaptation, "A Mother's Last Word to Her Daughter".

Recordings

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Other songs

These songs have similar titles to the song which is the subject of this article, but are different from it and from each other:

See also

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References

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  43. ↑ Mississippi Fred McDowell: Wouldn't Mind Dying at AllMusic . Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  44. ↑ Fred McDowell –Good Morning Little School Girl at Discogs
  45. ↑ Flora Molton / Flora Molton & the Truth Band / The Truth Band: Bye and Bye I'm Going To See the King at AllMusic . Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  46. ↑ Flora Molton & the Truth Band: Bye and Bye I'm Goin' to See the King, Composed by Traditional at AllMusic . Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  47. ↑ Flora Molton And The Truth Band –Living Country Blues USA Vol. 3 at Discogs
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  52. ↑ John & Heidi Cerrigione: Wood Stoves and Bread Loaves at AllMusic . Retrieved August 27, 2015.
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  58. ↑ The Flat Mountain Girls: Honey Take Your Whiskers Off at AllMusic . Retrieved August 27, 2015.
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