Gospel Ship: A Song History
"Gospel Ship," also titled "The Old Gospel Ship" in hymnals and folk collections, is a religious song in which the singer, with good news to share, looks forward to a voyage aboard the gospel ship.[1] The Traditional Ballad Index files the Carter Family's "Gospel Ship" and later versions titled "Old Gospel Ship" or "On That Old Gospel Ship" as one song (Roud 7383), and its earliest date is the Carter Family's 1935 recording, issued in 1936 on Melotone and Conqueror.[1] Sources differ on who wrote it: the Ballad Index lists the author as unknown,[1] Hymnary.org credits the words to A. P. Carter under a 1939 copyright held by Tennessee Music and Printing Co.,[2] and Hymnary.org's entry for the 1947 hymnal Revival Message credits the tune to Alphus LeFevre.[3] An older religious song also called "The Gospel Ship," documented in manuscript by 1843, is a separate piece; the Ballad Index finds only slight textual overlap between the two.[4]
Frances Flora Bond Palmer, Clipper Ship "Contest", hand-colored lithograph, 1853. Shown for its subject; it has no connection to the song.
Other early records followed the Carters' release: the Monroe Brothers cut "On That Old Gospel Ship" for Bluebird in 1937, and the Speer Family recorded "Old Gospel Ship" for Columbia in 1947, with release the next year.[1]
Jim Miller includes it in 15 Tunes In The Public Domain Recorded By The Carter Family, Volume 2, a mountain dulcimer songbook with tablature, lyrics, and chord symbols, published by Fingers Of Steel.[5]
Sources
- The Traditional Ballad Index: "The Old Gospel Ship".
- Hymnary.org: "The Old Gospel Ship".
- Hymnary.org: "The Old Gospel Ship," Revival Message (1947), no. 30.
- The Traditional Ballad Index: "The Gospel Ship (I)".
- Fingers Of Steel: "Jim Miller, 15 Tunes In The Public Domain Recorded By The Carter Family, Volume 2".
- Image: Frances Flora Bond Palmer, Clipper Ship "Contest", hand-colored lithograph, 1853. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.