“I’m a Po’ Li’l Orphan” is a spiritual arrangement for voice and piano by Eva Jessye. The song is the tenth arrangement included in Jessye’s book My Spirituals (1927). In the song’s preface, Jessye describes a scene from her childhood in which she first heard “I’m A Po’ Li’l Orphan” during a meeting at Macedonia. Jessye writes that she and her childhood friends “filed in the door just as the minister was pleading and urging the unsaved to come forward to the mourner’s bench. Catching sight of us he directed his plea to the group—speaking of our tender years, the uncertainty of life and the tragic day when the form of our beloved mothers would be consigned to dust. The picture was too much for our tender hearts. We broke down completely in a flood of tears. Exulting over his partial victory, the elder delegated Aunt Charlotte and several others to assist us to the mourner’s bench while the jubilant congregation moaned: ‘I’m a po’ li’l orphan in this world…’”

Text

I’m a po’ lil’ orphan in dis worl’,

(answer): In the worl’,

I’m a poor lil’ orphan in dis worl’,

(answer): In the worl’,

I’m a po’ lil’ orphan in dis worl’,

Good Lawd, I cannot stay heah by mahse’f.

My mothuh broke de ice an’ gone,

(distantly): Ice an’ gone,

Mah mothuh broke de ice an’ gone,

(distantly): Ice an’ gone,

Mah mothuh broke de ice an’ gone,

Good Lawd, I cannot stay heah by mahse’f.

I promis’d her I’d follow on

(distantly): Follow on,

I promis’d her I’d follow on,

(distantly): Follow on,

I promis’d her I’d follow on.

Good Lawd, I cannot stay heah by mahse’f.

(distantly): by mahse’f.

Source: Jessye, Eva. My Spirituals. New York: Robbins-Engel, 1927.

Videos

Jessye: “I’m a Po’ Lil’ Orphan”

2012

I’m a Po’ Li’l Orphan

Text

Videos

Jessye: “I’m a Po’ Lil’ Orphan”

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