"Rock O' My Soul", also known as "Rock My Soul", "Bosom of Abraham" or "Rocka My Soul", is a traditional

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

spiritual. It was first documented by William Francis Allen, in the 1867 collection '' Slave Songs of the United States''. William Francis Allen,

Charles Pickard Ware Charles Pickard Ware (1840–1921), was an American educator and music transcriber. An abolitionist, he served as a civilian administrator in the Union Army, where he was a labor superintendent of freedmen on plantations at Port Royal, South Carolin ...

Lucy McKim Garrison Lucy McKim Garrison (October 30, 1842 – May 11, 1877) was an American song collector and co-editor of ''Slave Songs of the United States'', together with William Francis Allen and Charles Pickard Ware. Early life Lucy was born in Philadelphia, ...

''Slave Songs of the United States''
#94, p. 73, A. Simpson & Co, 1867. Allen attributed the origin of the song to the state of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and documented the following lyrics: One of the earliest recorded version was made in 1937 by the Heavenly Gospel Singers.Rock My Soul
at secondhandsongs.com Notable artists who have recorded the song include

the Jordanaires The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. Over the years, they recorded both sacred and secular music for recording companies such as Capitol Records, RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Decca Records, Vocal ...

, Louis Armstrong,

Lonnie Donegan Anthony James Donegan (29 April 1931 – 3 November 2002), known as Lonnie Donegan, was a British skiffle singer, songwriter and musician, referred to as the " King of Skiffle", who influenced 1960s British pop and rock musicians. Born in Scot ...

, Peter Paul & Mary and

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

Alvin Ailey Alvin Ailey Jr. (January 5, 1931 – December 1, 1989) was an American dancer, director, choreographer, and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT). He created AAADT and its affiliated Alvin Ailey American Dance Center ...

made "Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham" the music for the triumphant finale of his internationally known choreography ''Revelations'', which was born out of the choreographer's "blood memories" of his childhood in rural Texas and attending the Baptist Church with his mother. It was also performed as a tribute at his 1989 funeral at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Israeli dancer and choreographer Nadav Zelner used "Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham" as music for a clip for his student dance troupe.

References

External links

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

recording
of Rich Brown singing "Rocky My Soul" unaccompanied. Recorded by

John Lomax John Avery Lomax (September 23, 1867 – January 26, 1948) was an American teacher, a pioneering musicologist, and a folklorist who did much for the preservation of American folk music. He was the father of Alan Lomax, John Lomax Jr. and Bess Lo ...

, 1940.
Library of Congress recording of "Rock My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham"
by an unidentified vocal quartet. Fort Valley, Georgia, 1941. African-American spiritual songs American Christian hymns Elvis Presley songs Peter, Paul and Mary songs {{song-stub