My Lord, What a Morning

musical notation for _My Lord, What a Morning_
  Midi version of the bar of music.

Refrain:
My Lord, what a morning,
My Lord, what a morning,
Oh, my Lord, what a morning,
When the stars begin to fall.

You'll hear the trumpet sound,
To wake the nations underground,
Looking to my God's right hand,
When the stars begin to fall.
Refrain:

You'll hear the sinners cry,
To wake the nations underground,
Looking to my God's right hand,
When the stars begin to fall.
Refrain:

You'll hear the Christians shout,
To wake the nations underground,
Looking to my God's right hand,
When the stars begin to fall.
Refrain:

The text can mean either morning (the beginning) or mourning (the end). It refers to the morning when the dead will be raised, or the slaves emancipted, but also the false dawn of reconstruction failed. The trumpet sounds will wake the nations of of "underground" Americans both black and white to challenge racism and segregation. The metaphor of falling stars may stand for the Union Army's campfires, the beacons of freedom, or perhaps the great black men whose spirits flash like falling stars in The Souls of Black Folk, a usage that may be traceable to the Kongolese belief that falling stars are "spirits flashing across the sky." (Sundquist, 498-99)

Chapter Title of Chapter Chapter's Song Significance of the song Author Title Comment
2 Of the Dawn of Freedom My Lord, What a Mourning The end (Mourning) and the beginning (Morning) James Lowell "The Present Crisis" Truth on the Scaffold sways the future

[Return to Chapter 2] [Main Page]