She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain

“She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain” (sometimes referred to as “Coming ‘Round the Mountain”) is a traditional folk song often categorized as children’s music. The song is derived from the Christian spiritual known as “When the Chariot Comes”. It has been assigned the number 4204 in the Roud Folk Song Index. The first appearance of “She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain” in print was in Carl Sandburg’s The American Songbag in 1927. Sandburg reports that the Negro spiritual “When the Chariot Comes”, which was sung to the same melody, was adapted by railroad workers in the Midwestern United States during the 1890s. It is often heard today with responses that add on to the previous verse. The original song was published in Old Plantation Hymns in 1899. It ostensibly refers to the Second Coming of Christ and subsequent Rapture, with the she referring to the chariot that the returning Christ is depicted as driving. Like many spirituals that originated in the African-American community, this was probably a coded anthem for the Underground Railroad. It was also used in labor circles to refer to Mother Jones, who frequently visited far-flung communities with labor issues. The secularized version that developed among railroad work gangs in the late 19th century has become a standard over the years, appearing in printed collections of children’s music while also being performed by both children and adults in sing-alongs, particularly as a campfire song. Since the mid-1920s, “She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain” has been recorded by numerous musicians, ranging from Tommy Tucker and Bing Crosby to Pete Seeger and Neil Young. The earliest known recordings of the song were by Henry Whitter on Okeh Records (OKeh 40063) in 1924 and Vernon Dalhart & Co. on Edison Records (Edison 51608) in 1925. In the Reader’s Digest Children’s Songbook, published in 1985, the song is adapted with new words by Dan Fox and his son, Paul. The lyrics tell of the things “she” will do in increasing number up to ten, for example, “She’ll be ridin’ on a camel”, “She’ll be tuggin’ on two turtles”, and “She’ll be carvin’ three thick thistles”. Some sports fans at the University of Cambridge use this tune to sing “we would rather be at Oxford than St John’s”