So I Can Write My Name

“So I Can Write my Name” is a spiritual arrangement for voice and piano by Eva Jessye. The song is the twelfth arrangement included in Jessye’s book My Spirituals (1927). In the song’s preface, Jessye writes that she learned it from “Happy Day”—a young man known for his “buoyant spirits” and “ready tongue.” Happy Day himself learned the tune from his maternal grandmother, “Gran’ma Spikes,” who would shout it while “loitering about her tiny garden, spreading pumpkin seed to dry, or crooning to one of the youngsters, who in search of sugar cookies, hung around the door step.”

Date: 1927Composer: Eva JessyeText: SpiritualSong Collection: My Spirituals

Print vitals & song text

Text

Oh Lord!

Oh my Lord,

Oh Lord,

Oh my blessed Lord

 

Gimme the lil’ book now Daniel.

Gimme the lil’ book now!

Gimme the lil’ book now Daniel,

So I can write my name.

 

Gimme the lil’ book now Daniel.

Gimme the lil’ book now!

Gimme the lil’ book now Daniel,

So I can write my name.

 

Angels

Oh angels,

angels.

Oh sen’ glad tidings down. 

 

Gimme the lil’ book now Daniel,

Gimme the lil’ book now!

Gimme the lil’ book now Daniel,

So I can write my name.

 

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

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