Wikipedia

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

For the album by Paul Robeson, see Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (album).
"Swing Low" redirects here. For the album by Sam Cooke, see Swing Low (album).

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" is an African-American spiritual song and one of the best-known Christian hymns. Originating in early African-American musical traditions, the song was probably composed in the late 1860s by Wallace Willis and his daughter Minerva Willis, both Choctaw freedmen. Performances by the Hampton Singers and the Fisk Jubilee Singers brought the song to the attention of wider audiences in the late 19th century.[1] The earliest known recording of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" was recorded in 1894, by the Standard Quartette.[2]

"Swing Low Sweet Chariot"
Page from The Jubilee Singers (1873)
Song
WrittenAfter 1865
GenreSpirituals
Songwriter(s)Minerva Willis
Wallace Willis
"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"
Performed by the Fisk Jubilee Singers
Problems playing this file? See media help.

The song uses the theme of death to remind the audience of the glory that awaits in Heaven, when Christians believe they will transcend the earthly world of suffering and come to rest in their final home. Specifically, the text refers to the Old Testament account of the Prophet Elijah's ascent into Heaven by chariot.[1] The stylistic elements and thematic content are highly typical to those of other spirituals. The song is characterized by its use of repetition as a key poetic element, powerful imagery, personal rhetoric, and potentially coded lyrics. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" was traditionally performed as a call-and response tune. Its free-form structure intentionally allows for improvisation and spur-of-the-moment changes made to bring the performers and audience to a state of ecstasy and connection with the Holy Spirit. The melody is pentatonic.

In 2002, the US Library of Congress honored the song as one of 50 recordings chosen that year to be added to the National Recording Registry.[3] It was also included in the list of Songs of the Century, by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.[4]

History

edit

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" was composed by Wallace Willis and Minerva Willis, Choctaw freedmen in the old Indian Territory in what is now Choctaw County, near the County seat of Hugo, Oklahoma, sometime after 1865. He may have been inspired by the sight of the Red River, by which he was toiling, which reminded him of the Jordan River and of the Prophet Elijah being taken to heaven by a chariot (2 Kings 2:11).[5][6] Some sources[7][8] claim that this song and "Steal Away"[9] (also sung by Willis) had lyrics that referred to the Underground Railroad, the freedom movement that helped black people escape from Southern slavery to the North and Canada.

Alexander Reid, a minister at the Old Spencer Academy, a Choctaw boarding school, heard Willis singing these two songs and transcribed the words and melodies. He sent the music to the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. The Jubilee Singers popularized the songs during a tour of the United States and Europe.[6]

In 1939, Nazi Germany's Reich Music Examination Office added the song to a listing of "undesired and harmful" musical works.[10]

The song enjoyed a resurgence during the 1960s Civil Rights struggle and the folk revival; it was performed by a number of artists. Perhaps the most famous performance during this period was that by Joan Baez during the legendary 1969 Woodstock festival.

Oklahoma State Senator Judy Eason McIntyre from Tulsa proposed a bill nominating "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" as the Oklahoma State official gospel song in 2011. The bill was co-sponsored by the Oklahoma State Black Congressional Caucus. Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed the bill into law on May 5, 2011, at a ceremony at the Oklahoma Cowboy Hall of Fame; making the song the official Oklahoma State Gospel Song.[11]

Lyrics

edit

Refrain:
Swing low, sweet chariot,[note 1]
Coming for to carry me home.
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home.

I looked over Jordan, and what did I see,
Coming for to carry me home.
I saw a band of angels coming after me,
Coming for to carry me home.

[Refrain]

If you get back to heaven before I do,
Coming for to carry me home.
You'll tell all your friends I'll be coming there too,
Coming for to carry me home.

[Refrain]

As is typical of folk songs, there is no standardized set of lyrics. The version by the Fisk Jubilee Singers takes the following structure:

Refrain:
Swing low, sweet chariot
Coming for to carry me home
Swing low, sweet chariot
Coming for to carry me home

[Refrain]

I'm sometimes up, I'm sometimes down
Coming for to carry me home
But still my soul feels heavenly bound
Coming for to carry me home

[Refrain]

I looked over Jordan and what did I see?
Coming for to carry me home
A band of angels coming after me
Coming for to carry me home

[Refrain]

[Refrain]

Content and style

edit

The content of the song is typical to the style of the spiritual in several ways: its use of imagery that provides a sense of immediacy to the historical and biblical past, the repetition of the key poetic element of the song (“Coming for to carry me home”), and the alteration between the refrain and the stanzas throughout.  The song alternates between first person and second person pronouns, stressing the relationship between the performer, the listener, and the events unfolding in the song. By directly calling to the listener in the second stanza (“If you get there before I do”) the audience is transformed into a creative device that serves to heighten the emotional urgency of the tune.[12]

The song was originally intended to be sung in a call-and-response, a format that draws from the heritage of African styles of music and is widely used in African-American churches today. A leader sings the differentiated lines, and the congregation replies “Coming for to carry me home” after each. This style of performing the spiritual can be heard in the existing recordings of the Fisk Jubilee Singers performing the tune. This call-and-response performance style is the most common form of spiritual.[13]

The simple, repetitive nature of the song, along with the fact that it was commonly performed without instrumental accompaniment, meant that spontaneous shifts in tempo, pitch, and emphasis were commonly made, leading the song in new and exciting directions intended to unify congregants with the Holy Spirit.[13]

Like other spirituals, “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” has been thought to contain coded meanings not immediately apparent to all listeners. American historian Charshee Charlotte Lawrence McIntyre argues that many spirituals make use of “metonymic devices,” or metaphors that have encoded meanings. She claims that throughout many traditional spirituals several recurring figures always carry a metonymic double meaning. These double meanings allowed enslaved people to safely communicate messages of hope, freedom, and specific plans for escape to one another under the watchful gaze of their captors. The double meanings encoded in “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” are believed to be the Jordan River as representative of the first step to freedom from slavery, “home” as Africa, and Jesus as anyone who helps bring the enslaved to freedom. However, a definitive categorization of any such figures is impossible to make.

Film, video games, and television appearances

edit

The song has frequently been used in films and television.

Renditions

edit

A popular early recording[35] was by the Fisk University Jubilee Quartet for Victor Records (No. 16453) on December 1, 1909,[36] which became the first gospel song to sell 1 million copies[37] and is one of the best-selling gospel songs of all time. Two years later the Apollo Jubilee Quartette recorded the song on Monday, February 26, 1912, Columbia Records (A1169), New York City.[38][39]

Since then, numerous versions have been recorded; including those by Nellie Melba (one of her last recordings, made in June 1926), Bing Crosby (recorded April 25, 1938),[40] Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen (included in the album The Kenny Ball Show – 1962), Louis Armstrong (for his album Louis and the Good Book – 1958), Sam Cooke (for his album Swing Low – 1961), Vince Hill (1993),[41] Peggy Lee (1946),[42] and Paul Robeson (recorded January 7, 1926 for Victor (No. 20068)).[43] In 1951, Dizzy Gillespie replaced the chariot with a Cadillac; first a Fleetwood and later, as on the 1967 album Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac, an Eldorado.[44]

Biviano Accordion Sextette

edit
External audio
  You may listen to the Joe Biviano Accordion Rhythm Sextette with John Serry Sr. and Tony Mottola performing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot in 1945 Here

The jazz accordionist/composer John Serry Sr. recorded the composition with the jazz guitarist Tony Mottola as members of the Biviano Accordion & Rhythm Sextette in 1947 for Sonora Records on the album Accordion Capers (Sonora # MS 476).[45][46]

Eric Clapton

edit
"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"
 
Single by Eric Clapton
from the album There's One in Every Crowd
B-side"Pretty Blue Eyes"
ReleasedMay 1975 (1975-05)
GenreBlues rock · reggae
Length3:33
LabelRSO
Songwriter(s)Wallace Willis
Producer(s)Tom Dowd
Eric Clapton singles chronology
"Willie and the Hand Jive"
(1974) 		"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"
(1975) 		"Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
(1975)

British rock musician Eric Clapton recorded a reggae version of the song for his 1975 studio album There's One in Every Crowd. RSO Records released it with the B-side "Pretty Blue Eyes" as a seven-inch gramophone single in May the same year, produced by Tom Dowd.[47] His version reached various singles charts, including Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Weekly chart performance

edit
Chart (1975) Peak
position
Japan (Oricon)[48] 89
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[49] 21
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[50] 26
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[51] 15
UK Singles (OCC)[52] 19

References in other songs

edit

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" contains the lyrics, "I looked over Jordan and what did I see? Coming for to carry me home". Pink Floyd's 1977 song "Sheep", written by Roger Waters, makes reference to the song with the lyrics, "I've looked over Jordan and I have seen, things are not what they seem". A later 1992 song by Waters, "The Bravery of Being Out of Range", makes further reference to the song with the lyrics, "I looked over Jordan and what did I see? I saw a U.S. Marine in a pile of debris".

Use in rugby union

edit

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" has been sung by English rugby players and fans for some decades,[53] and there are associated gestures, sometimes used in a drinking game, which requires those who wrongly perform the gestures to buy a round of drinks.[54][55] Folk singer Joe Stead claimed he introduced it to the rugby fraternity as early as 1960 after hearing it from civil rights activist Paul Robeson.[56] An article published in Tatler in 1966 described a "tradition" at the West Park bar at Twickenham of patrons singing the song whilst swaying as one, shoulder-to-shoulder.[57] It became associated with the England national side, in particular, in 1988.

First documented singing at Twickenham (1987)

edit

The World Rugby Museum in 2020 unearthed archive footage of Swing Low being sung at Twickenham when Martin Offiah (nicknamed "Chariots" as a play-on-words referencing the 1981 film Chariots of Fire), played in the 1987 Middlesex Sevens tournament.[56] The curator of the museum believes the crowd at Twickenham would already have known Swing Low because it had been sung in rugby clubs since the 1960s, with rude gestures illustrating the words.[58]

First documented singing at an England international match (1988)

edit

Coming into the last match of the 1988 season, against Ireland at Twickenham, England had lost 15 of their previous 23 matches in the Five Nations Championship. The Twickenham crowd had only seen one solitary England try in the previous two years and at half time against Ireland they were 0–3 down. However, during the second half England scored six tries to give them a 35–3 win. The official account of this occasion from England Rugby is that a group of fans from Market Bosworth rugby club in the West Stand started singing the song before it was taken up by the rest of the crowd.[59][60] Another account states that a group of boys from Douai School were the ones in the crowd to begin singing the song before it was taken up by other fans.[53][61] The song is still regularly sung at matches by English supporters.[62]

2020 review

edit

In 2020 the Rugby Football Union, in response to the increased interest in the Black Lives Matter movement after the murder of George Floyd, said it was "reviewing" fans' use of the song. Former rugby player Brian Moore and Prince Harry both argued that the song should no longer be sung in rugby contexts.[63][64] Former Barbarian and Rugby League Hall of Fame player Martin Offiah shortly afterwards said that he thought the song should be retained as an opportunity to educate England's and other nationalities' rugby fans about racial discrimination and Black history.[65] Former England player Maggie Alphonsi said "I think it's good the RFU are having a review, but I don't agree with it being banned".[66]

edit

1991

edit

The song became the England Rugby World Cup theme for the 1991 Rugby World Cup, when performed by "Union featuring the England World Cup Squad". It reached number 16 on the UK singles chart.

1995

edit

The song was covered in 1995 for that year's tournament by British reggae duo China Black together with South African male choral group, Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Released as a single on 22 May 1995, it reached number 15 on the UK Singles Chart.[67][68]

1999

edit

1999's tournament featured Russell Watson record a version (titled Swing Low '99) which had less success, only peaking at number 38 on the UK chart.[69]

2003

edit
"Swing Low"
Single by UB40 featuring United Colours of Sound
from the album Homegrown
B-side"Swing Low" (Stadium mix)
ReleasedOctober 27, 2003 (2003-10-27)[70]
Length3:27
LabelDEP International
Songwriter(s)
  • Charlie Skarbek
  • Traditional
Producer(s)Charlie Skarbek
UB40 singles chronology
"Cover Up"
(2002) 		"Swing Low"
(2003) 		"Kiss and Say Goodbye"
(2005)

The song enjoyed more success in 2003's tournament, but included the album Homegrown, when recorded by UB40 and the United Colours of Sound. It originally peaked at number 23, but following England's victory in the tournament, the cover reached number 15.[71][72] In the wake of the tournament, UB40 performed the song at a concert at the NEC Arena Birmingham that was attended by England rugby fans and captain Martin Johnson.[73] The England national rugby union team returned from the 2003 Rugby World Cup triumph in Australia on a plane dubbed "Sweet Chariot".[74]

2007

edit

Another version was recorded by Blake for the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

2011

edit

For the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, all-girl group Our Lady Muse (O.L.M) released an England Rugby World Cup Song. An upbeat party anthem version of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot – The Song was premiered at the "Polo Rocks" concert in aid of The Prince's Trust.

2015

edit
"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"
 
Single by Ella Eyre
ReleasedSeptember 7, 2015
Recorded2014
GenrePop
Length3:14
LabelVirgin EMI Records
Songwriter(s)Wallace Willis
Producer(s)
  • Glyn Aikins
  • Mojam
Ella Eyre singles chronology
"Good Times"
(2015) 		"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"
(2015) 		"Best of My Love"
(2015)

English singer Ella Eyre released a cover version of the song on September 7, 2015 as a digital download in association with England Rugby, to coincide with the 2015 Rugby World Cup, with the song raising money for England Rugby's All Schools programme. The song was produced by Glyn Aikins and Mojam, it peaked to number 134 on the UK Singles Chart and number 87 on the Scottish Singles Chart. A music video to accompany the release of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" was first released onto YouTube on September 10, 2015 at a total length of three minutes and ten seconds.

Track listing

edit
Digital download[75]
No.TitleLength
1."Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"3:14

Chart performance

edit
Chart (2015) Peak
position
Scotland (OCC)[76] 87
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[77] 134

Release history

edit
Region Date Format Label
United Kingdom September 7, 2015[75] Digital download Virgin EMI Records

2018

edit

Country and gospel artist, Josh Turner, released a cover of the song on the 2018 album, I Serve a Savior. The album was Turner's first release that contained mainly gospel music.[78]

See also

edit

African-American spirituals

edit

Rugby Union fan songs

edit

Notes

edit
  1. ^ In subsequent refrains, it is customary to add "Oh" before the first "Swing Low"

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot". Hymnary.org. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
  2. ^ hennessey. "Earliest Recording Of 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' Discovered On Wax Cylinder". Archeophone Records. Retrieved 2022-12-20.
  3. ^ "2002 | View Registry by Induction Years | Recording Registry | National Recording Preservation Board | Programs | Library of Congress". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  4. ^ "CNN.com - Entertainment - Songs of the Century - March 7, 2001". edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  5. ^ "Story behind spiritual 'Swing Chariot' emerges". usatoday30.usatoday.com. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  6. ^ a b "Michael Overall, How an Oklahoma slave came to write one of the world's most famous songs". Tulsa World, January 28, 2019. 27 January 2019. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
  7. ^ Walls, Bryan. "Underground Railroad Terminology". www.pbs.org. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
  8. ^ Eversley, Melanie (August 12, 2006). "Story behind spiritual 'Sweet Chariot' emerges". USA Today. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
  9. ^ "A Guide to The Underground Railroad in New Jersey" (PDF). Njstatelib. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 23, 2013. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
  10. ^ "Banned Music in the Third Reich". Völkischer Beobachter, Full edition Nr. 94 of April 4, 1939. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
  11. ^ "Oklahoma House Approves 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' As State Gospel Song". www.newson6.com. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  12. ^ Peters, Erskine (1989). "The Poetics of the Afro-American Spiritual". Black American Literature Forum. 23 (3): 559–578. doi:10.2307/2904207. ISSN 0148-6179. JSTOR 2904207.
  13. ^ a b Darden, Bob (5 October 2005). People get ready! : a new history of Black gospel music. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-0-8264-1752-7. OCLC 875302254.
  14. ^ Croce, Fernando. "Dirigible (Frank Capra / U.S., 1931)". CinePassion. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  15. ^ Simpson, Eugene Thamon (2008). Hall Johnson: His Life, His Spirit, and His Music. Scarecrow Press. p. 116. ISBN 978-0810860384.
  16. ^ Lupack, Barbara Tepa (1999). Nineteenth-Century Women at the Movies: Adapting Classic Women's Fiction to Film. Popular Press. p. 245. ISBN 0879728051.
  17. ^ Koestenbaum, Wayne (2012). The Anatomy of Harpo Marx. University of California Press. p. 117. ISBN 978-0520269019.
  18. ^ Dunne, Michael (2004). American Film Musical Themes and Forms. McFarland Publishing. pp. 45–46. ISBN 078641877X.
  19. ^ Cornelius, David. "A Date With Judy". DVD Talk. Retrieved January 23, 2018.
  20. ^ Goldsmith, Melissa; Wilson, Paige; Fonseca, Anthony (2016). The Encyclopedia of Musicians and Bands on Film. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 353–354. ISBN 978-1442269866.
  21. ^ "Production Information about the TV Cartoon Bentley Van Rolls". The Big Cartoon Database. Retrieved November 3, 2021.[dead link]
  22. ^ Stanfield, Peter (2018). Hoodlum Movies: Seriality And The Outlaw Biker Film Cycle, 1966–1972. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0813599021.
  23. ^ Devine, Jeremy (1995). Vietnam at 24 Frames a Second: A Critical and Thematic Analysis of 360 Films About the Vietnam War. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-1476605357.
  24. ^ Blazing Saddles (1974) – IMDb, retrieved June 18, 2020
  25. ^ Scribner, John (20 May 2015). "Worst Disney 52: The Shaggy D.A." Cinema 52. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  26. ^ Knapp, Laurence (1996). Directed by Clint Eastwood: Eighteen Films Analyzed. McFarland & Co. p. 113. ISBN 0786402717.
  27. ^ "Quotes Description". Movie Quotes. Retrieved May 26, 2019.
  28. ^ "The 'Addams Family Values' Cast Reveals Behind-The-Scenes Secrets 20 Years Later". BuzzFeed. 19 November 2013. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  29. ^ Long, Michael (2015). Peaceful Neighbor: Discovering the Countercultural Mister Rogers. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-0664260477.
  30. ^ "The 'Con Air (1997) Quotes IMDB". IMDB. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  31. ^ Freedom (2014) – IMDb, retrieved June 19, 2020
  32. ^ "The Birth of a Nation: how Nate Parker failed to remake history". The Guardian. October 10, 2016. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
  33. ^ Johnson, Kevin (February 15, 2016). "The Amazing World of Gumball succeeds with a simple, silly origin story". The A.V. Club. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
  34. ^ Rowan, Kate (November 5, 2019). "Rugby must make the most of popularity surge following Japan – Joe Marler should be the new face of the sport on TV". The Telegraph. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
  35. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1986). Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890–1954. Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 159. ISBN 0-89820-083-0.
  36. ^ "The Online Discographical Project". 78discography.com. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
  37. ^ Greg Adams (February 19, 2017). "The first million-selling gospel single?". Music Weird. Blogspot. Retrieved January 25, 2024.
  38. ^ Dixon, Robert M. W. Blues and Gospel Records: 1890–1943 (Blues and Gospel Records), Oxford University Press (1997), p. 23 – ISBN 0-19-816239-1
  39. ^ Brooks, Tim. Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890–1919, University of Illinois Press (2004), p. 258 – ISBN 0-252-02850-3
  40. ^ "A Bing Crosby Discography". BING magazine. International Club Crosby. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
  41. ^ "Discogs.com". Discogs.com. 1993. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
  42. ^ "The Peggy Lee Bio-Discography And Videography". peggyleediscography.com. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
  43. ^ "The Online Discographical Project". 78discography.com. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
  44. ^
  45. ^ Joe Biviano, his Accordion and Rhythm Sextette (June 19, 1947). "Accordion Capers" – via Internet Archive.
  46. ^ "Leone Jump; Swing Low, Sweet Chariot; The Jazz Me Blues; Nursery Rhymes" – via Internet Archive.
  47. ^ "Eric Clapton – Swing Low Sweet Chariot – hitparade.ch". Schweizer Hitparade (in German). Steffen Hung – Hung Medien. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  48. ^ Tatsaku, Ren (2011). The Oricon Sales Report (in Japanese). Tokyo: Oricon Style – Recording Industry Association of Japan.
  49. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Eric Clapton" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  50. ^ "Eric Clapton – Swing Low Sweet Chariot" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  51. ^ "Eric Clapton – Swing Low Sweet Chariot". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  52. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  53. ^ a b "The story behind "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" and how it became a rugby anthem". everyhit.com. Retrieved October 8, 2007.
  54. ^ Hash House Harriers, Hash Songs, Ankara Hash House Harriers Retrieved February 7, 2009
  55. ^ Hugh Farrelly. "Oti the man to blame as 'Swing Low Sweet Chariot' continues to roll", Irish Independent, March 13, 2008.
  56. ^ a b Lowbridge, Caroline (March 7, 2020). "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot rugby 'mystery solved'". BBC News. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  57. ^ Bull, Andy (July 2, 2020). "Complicated history of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot needs to be taught and honoured". theguardian.com. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  58. ^ Gardner, Jamie (June 19, 2020). "'I hate Swing Low Sweet Chariot' says former hooker Brian Moore". The Scotsman. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
  59. ^ "The story of how Swing Low, Sweet Chariot became England Rugby's anthem". YouTube. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  60. ^ "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot". rfu.com. Archived from the original on October 25, 2007. Retrieved August 15, 2007.
  61. ^ Oliver Price Blood, mud and aftershave in The Observer Sunday February 5, 2006, Section O is for Oti
  62. ^ Holden, Jim (March 16, 2014). "Italy 11 – England 52: Stuart Lancaster's men end with a flourish". Sunday Express.
  63. ^ "Prince Harry backs rugby move to kick out slavery song Swing Low, Sweet Chariot". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  64. ^ "Ex-England hooker Brian Moore says Swing Low, Sweet Chariot must go". Stuff. June 21, 2020. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  65. ^ "Black Lives Matter: RFU reviewing use of slave song Swing Low, Sweet Chariot". BBC Sport. June 18, 2020.
  66. ^ "'Swing Low debate a chance to educate' - Will Greenwood, Maggie Alphonsi, Topsy Ojo discuss | Rugby Union News | Sky Sports". Archived from the original on 2020-06-22. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  67. ^ "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. 20 May 1995. p. 57.
  68. ^ "swing low sweet chariot | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  69. ^ "swing low | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  70. ^ "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. October 25, 2003. p. 33.
  71. ^ "UK Charts – UB40". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved June 14, 2013.
  72. ^ "Swing Low". www.discogs.com. December 2003. Retrieved June 14, 2013.
  73. ^ UB40 – Swing Low Sweet Chariot (live at the NEC Arena Birmingham, 2003) YouTube
  74. ^ England rugby heroes head home BBC, November 24, 2003
  75. ^ a b "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot – Single by Ella Eyre". Apple Music.
  76. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  77. ^ Chart: CLUK Update 19.09.2015 (wk38). Official Charts Company. Zobbel.de/
  78. ^ "Praise the Almighty with Josh Turner's "I Serve a Savior"". 25 May 2021.
edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Swing_Low,_Sweet_Chariot&oldid=1254987772"