Musical Countdown to Christmas: Go Tell it on the Mountain by John W. Work Jr.

Welcome to Day 7 of my Musical countdown to Christmas. Today we’re going to take a look at Go Tell it on the Mountain, shared with the world by John W. Work, Jr.

Who was John W. Work, Jr.?

Born on June 15, 1901 in Tullahoma, Tennessee
Son of a church choir director
Grew up in Nashville
Earned his Master’s degree in Latin
Taught Latin and Greek
A professor at Fisk University
A professional musician who published more than 50 compositions
Decided to collect songs sung by American slaves

The Story Behind Go Tell it on the Mountain

The song was sung by American slaves as far back as 1865
In 1960 John W. Work III published Folk Songs of the American Negro, which included the song called, Go Tell it on the Mountain (author unknown)
Peter, Paul & Mary changed the lyrics and renamed the song, Tell it on the Mountain
Paul Schlossal rewrote the lyrics for children and named the song, Go Tell it on the Swingset
The song has been recorded by over 20 popular artists through the years

Historical Context

1955 – Winston Churchill was defeated
1955 – First transistor radio was produced by Sony
1956 – Elvis Presley released his first song
1957 – Soviet Union launched the Sputnik
1958 – NASA was founded
1959 – Xerox produced the first commercial photocopier
1960 – Students protested segregation in Greensboro, North Carolina

Looking for more details?

http://www.sharefaith.com/guide/Christian-Music/hymns-the-songs-and-the-stories/go-tell-it-on-the-mountain,-the-song-and-the-story.html
http://gaither.com/news/%E2%9Cgo-tell-it-mountain%E2%9D-story-behind-song
http://johnworkfoundation.org/About_John_W.html
http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe50s/worldevents_01.html

My Gift for today:

A paperback copy of the Kathi Macias’ 12 Days of Christmas, which contains 12 stories by 12 different authors. My story, Cecile’s Christmas Miracle, is number seven in this series.