Joshua Fought The Battle Of Jericho: A Song History

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"Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho," also titled in dialect as "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho," is a religious song drawn from the siege and fall of Jericho told in the sixth chapter of the Book of Joshua; it is number 10074 in the Roud index.[1] In the sources consulted here, nothing is documented about who first sang it or where. The earliest printing found is in A Collection of Revival Hymns and Plantation Melodies, compiled by Marshall W. Taylor and published in Cincinnati (copyright 1882, title page dated 1883).[2][3] There the familiar Jericho chorus, spelled "fought," is attached to the verses of a hymn about trumpeters calling volunteers for the march to Canaan, under a heading citing Joshua 6:20; another plantation melody in the same book includes a couplet about Joshua blowing his horn at the walls.[2] The Ballad Index notes that the song shares its tune with the song "Slavery Chain Done Broke at Last."[1]

Wood engraving of the walls of Jericho falling as priests blow ram's-horn trumpets beside the Ark

Henry Hugh Armstead, The Fall of the Walls of Jericho, from Dalziels’ Bible Gallery, wood engraving, 1881. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0). The biblical scene the song retells.

On record, the Ballad Index gives its earliest date as a Paramount recording by Harrod's Jubilee Singers made in 1922; the Online 78 rpm Discography names a Jay Roberts as author of that record, but the Index notes there appears to be no further evidence for the credit.[1] Paul Robeson recorded it with Lawrence Brown, who is credited as arranger and with tenor vocal and piano, for Victor in Camden, New Jersey, over several sessions in July 1925; the take issued on Victor 19743, whose label calls the song a spiritual, was made on July 30.[4] Other recordings listed by the Index include the Dixie Jubilee Singers (Columbia, 1928), the Cotton Pickers Quartet (OKeh, 1931), the Hall Johnson Choir (Victor, 1940) and Pete Seeger, and its printed references include Folk Song U.S.A. (Lomax) and Seeger's American Favorite Ballads.[1]

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Sources

  1. The Traditional Ballad Index: "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho".
  2. Internet Archive (Princeton Theological Seminary Library): "Collection of Revival Hymns and Plantation Melodies".
  3. Hymnary.org: "A Collection of Revival Hymns and Plantation Melodies".
  4. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Victor matrix BVE-33088. Joshua fit de battle ob Jericho / Lawrence Brown ; Paul Robeson".