"Lift Him Up That's All" is a
gospel blues song recorded in 1927 by
Washington Phillips. It is a solo performance, with Phillips' vocals and
zither
Zithers (; , from the Greek word ''cithara'') are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat bo ...
.
Description
The verses tell the story of
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
and the
Samaritan woman at the well
The Samaritan woman at the well is a figure from the Gospel of John. John 4:4–42 relates her conversation with Jesus at Jacob's Well near the city of Sychar.
Biblical account
The woman appears in ; here is John 4:4–26:
This episode take ...
, found in the
Gospel of John
The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...
at
4:4-30.
The
refrain
A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the vi ...
draws from the Gospel of John at
12:32
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
, often interpreted as a
prophecy
In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or prete ...
of the
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...
and/or the
Resurrection of Jesus
The resurrection of Jesus ( grc-x-biblical, ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lo ...
:
and runs as follows:
The song seems to have fallen into obscurity until revived in 2002 by the
bluegrass musician
Ralph Stanley.
Recordings
* 1927Washington Phillips, Columbia Records single
* Blind Benny Paris and Wife,
Victor Records(?) single
* 2002Ralph Stanley, "Lift Him Up, That's All"
on the album ''
Ralph Stanley''
* 2011 Ralph Stanley, "Lift Him Up, That's All"
on the album ''A Mother's Prayer''
Other songs
The refrain has some resemblances to that of the 1903 hymn "Lift Him Up" by
Johnson Oatman, Jr., but the music and verses are different.
See also
* "
Jesus Met the Woman at the Well", a different
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
song on the same Biblical story
References
{{authority control
Blues songs
Gospel songs
Washington Phillips songs
1927 songs
Columbia Records singles
Songwriter unknown
Songs about Jesus
Songs based on the Bible