Breedloves's Folk Songs

GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN

  • GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN
    “Go Tell It on the Mountain” is an African-American spiritual dating back to at least 1865
    that has been sung and recorded by many gospel and secular performers. It is considered
    a Christmas carol because its original lyric celebrates the Nativity: “Go tell it on the
    mountain, over the hills and everywhere; go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is
    born.”
    In 1963, Peter Yarrow, Noel “PaulStookey, and Mary Travers, along with their musical
    director, Milt Okun, adapted and rewrote “Go Tell It on the Mountain” as “Tell It on the
    Mountain”, their lyrics referring specifically to Exodus and employing the line “Let my
    people go,” but implicitly referring to the Civil Rights struggle of the early ’60s. The song
    was recorded by Yarrow, Stookey and Travers on their Peter, Paul and Mary album In
    the Wind” and was also a moderate hit single for them. Civil rights activist Fannie Lou
    Hamer used this rewritten version of the song as an anthem during the mid-1960s.
    Go tell it on the mountain
    Over the hills and far away
    Go tell it on the mountain
    That Jesus Christ is born
    The shepherds all were watching
    Over their sheep at night
    When a guiding star shone from heaven
    And the followed that holy light
    Got tell it on the mountain
    Over the hills and everywhere
    Go tell it on the mountain
    That Jesus Christ is born
    They found a lovely manger
    Where the humble Christ was born
    And God sent out salvation
    On that blessed Christmas morn
    Go tell it on the mountain
    Over the hills and everywhere
    Go tell it on the mountain
    That Jesus Christ is born
    He brought with Him forgiveness
    He live to show us the way
    He came to redeem all creation
    And to wash all our sins away
     Go tell it on the mountain
    Over the hills and everywhere
    Go tell it on the mountain
    That Jesus Christ is born

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