Remarks:
I thought this song was as old as the hills. While the hymn does go back to 1755, the gospel song only goes back to Edwin Hawkins in 1967. In time it would reach #2 on the US R&B chart and become an international hit in 1969.
See also:
- songs: the 1960s
- Harriet Tubman’s hymnal
- Sarah Noëlle: Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing – another hymn from the 1750s
- Anglo-Protestant culture
Lyrics:
Oh happy day (Oh happy day)
Oh happy day (Oh happy day)
When Jesus washed (When Jesus washed)
Oh when he washed (When Jesus washed)
When Jesus washed (When Jesus washed)
He washed my sins away (Oh happy day)
Oh happy day (Oh happy day)
Oh happy day (Oh happy day)
Oh happy day (Oh happy day)
Oh when he washed (When Jesus washed)
When Jesus washed (When Jesus washed)
Oh, when he washed (When Jesus washed)
He washed my sins away (Oh happy day)
Oh happy day (Oh happy day)
He taught me how to watch, fight and pray
(Fight and pray)
(And he’ll rejoice every day)
(Every day)
(Every day)
Oh happy day (Oh happy day)
Oh happy day (Oh happy day)
When Jesus washed (When Jesus washed)
Oh when he washed (When Jesus washed)
When Jesus washed (When Jesus washed)
He washed my sins away (Oh happy day)
Oh happy day (Oh happy day)
He taught me how to watch, fight and pray
Fight and pray!
And he’ll rejoice every day
Every day
Every day
Oh happy day (Oh happy day)
Oh happy day (Oh happy day)
Oh happy day (Oh happy day)
Oh happy day (Oh happy day)
Oh happy day (Oh happy day)
When I get to heaven (Oh happy day)
I’m gon’ talk right down, yeah (Oh happy day)
Ask my lord Jesus, all right (Oh happy day)
For my starry ground, oh yeah (Oh happy day)
I ain’t been to heaven (Oh happy day)
That’s what I’ve been told (Oh happy day)
That the streets up there, all right (Oh happy day)
That they’re paved with gold (Oh happy day)
Yeah if you go there (Oh happy day)
Yeah, before I do, yeah (Oh happy day)
Just tell my friends I’m there (Oh happy day)
Then I’m coming too, yeah (Oh happy day)
Oh, oh it was a happy day (Oh happy day)
Oh, it was a happy day, all right (Oh happy day)
Yes a happy day (Oh happy day)
Oh, a happy day (Oh happy day)
Happy day (Oh happy day)
Oh happy day (Oh happy day)
When Jesus washed (When Jesus washed)
Oh when he washed (When Jesus washed)
When Jesus washed (When Jesus washed)
He washed my sins away (Oh happy day)
Oh happy day (Oh happy day)
Oh happy day (Oh happy day)
Oh, good god (Oh happy day)
Oh, Jesus (Oh happy day)
Mmh, yeah (Oh happy day)
Abagond 
To be honest, I don’t see the appeal of most black music, and most blacks don’t seem to care for most White music. Just another indicator that Whites and blacks are deeply different from each other culturally.
“Watch Me Whip (Nae Nae)” has no appeal to me, and I’m pretty sure “Rhodesians Never Die” has no appeal to you.
We should separate fairly and have our own countries, independent of each other. We could have enlarged the Bantustans so they were viable, and done the same thing in the US…create a black-majority state in the southern US, send all the blacks there, and expel all Whites. I would even be willing to pay reparations to blacks in exchange for them leaving the country and starting their own.
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This is a Negro Spiritual that was sung in bush harbor churches in the 17th, 18th and afterward used as messenger song that the Underground Railroad was passing through. It was not a hymn. It was a song about the of celebration of life and passing on into heaven. It’s sung through Louisiana at funerals along with “When The Saints Go Marching In.”
Another popular song grew out of this song was “When I Get To Heaven.”
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