LYRICS
Refrain:
Do, Do, Do, Do, Do,
Do, Do, Do, Do,
Do, Do, Do, Do,
Do not give up.

Repeat refrain
Do not give up when times are hard.
Do not give up, have a happy heart.
Do not give up, pray and obey.
When you get scared let me hear you say

Repeat verse 1 and refrain
Repeat verse 1 and refrain
Repeat refrain two more times.

Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley?
c. 1933

Hymn Background:

The origins of this folk hymn, appropriate for Holy Week, are shrouded in obscurity. It first appeared in USA hymnals during the second half of the 20th Century. Although listed as an American folk hymn in most hymnals, it appears that its origins may be a merging of the Appalachian folk song tradition and the African American spiritual.

Folk song ethnomusicologist Cecil J. Sharp (1859-1924) notes that a category of “lonesome and love tunes” may be found in the Appalachian Mountains of the southeastern United States. These are often mournful ballads that dealt with loss of life and love. The region is from its inaccessibility a very secluded one. There are but few roads—most of them little better than mountain tracks—and practically no railroads. The word “lonesome” plays a large role in many songs from this region. In addition to loneliness, these songs often carry a melancholy sensibility and helpless fatalism in which the characters in the narrative must live with the consequences of actions they have initiated.

Variants of Lonesome Valley

George Pullen Jackson (1874-1953), another ethnomusicologist and folk song collector, explores the religious dimension of songs from this region and the relationship between spirituals in both black and white communities during the first half of the twentieth century.

Elsewhere, Jackson, when comparing melodies and texts found in both the white and black spiritual traditions, indicates that similar songs were from camp meetings initially and therefore belonged to the white spiritual tradition.

Many differing texts are featured in Jackson’s collection, Spiritual Folk Songs of Early America (Locust Valley, NY, 1953). He recorded it in 1933 at the Cumberland foothills of Monteagle, Tennessee, at the famous Highlander Folk School:

You got to go that lonesome valley
You got to cross that River Jordan
You got to lie in that lonesome graveyard
Some folks say that John was a Baptist
Can’t your brother cross it for you
You’ve got to stand your test of judgement
Loud and strong your Master calling
Jordan’s stream is chilly and cold
When my dear Lawd was hangin’ and bleedin’
You gotta join that Christian Army
You gotta live a life of service
Jesus prayed for his disciples
Jesus died on Calvary’s mountain
Jesus rose from death’s dark prison.

Is it possible that this folk song represents a cross cultural exchange between white and black rural communities? Some variants of this song appear in pre-Civil War slave encounters as well as during the Civil War. Dated in 1862, during the War, the following descriptions from encounters with a Gullah community, a region off the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina, indicate a deep connection with these enslaved people and “Lonesome Valley,” a song that obviously had been sung for some time before this account. This description comes from the journal of Charlotte Forten (1837-1914), a Philadelphia-born free black American. This beloved lenten hymn “Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley” takes the singer on a personal journey with Jesus and his passion.

Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley
LYRICS:

1. Jesus walked this lonesome valley, He had to walk it by himself;
O nobody else could walk it for him, He had to walk it by himself.

2. We must walk this lonesome valley, we have to walk it by ourselves.
O nobody else can walk it for us, we have to walk it by ourselves.

3. You must go and stand your trial, you have to stand it by yourself.
O nobody else can stand it for you, you have to stand it by yourself.

I Thank You Jesus