"Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child", also "Motherless Child", is a traditional Spiritual. It dates back to the era of

slavery in the United States The legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of Africans and African Americans, was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865, predominantly in the South. Sla ...

. An early performance of the song was in the 1870s by the Fisk Jubilee Singers. "Blue Gene" Tyranny, "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" article ''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

'' Commonly heard during the

Civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

in the United States, it has many variations and has been recorded widely.

Description

The song is an expression of pain and despair as the singer compares their hopelessness to that of a child who has been torn from their parents. Under one interpretation, the repetition of the word "sometimes" offers a measure of hope, as it suggests that at least "sometimes" the singer ''does not'' feel like a motherless child."Sweet Chariot: the story of the spirituals"
by Arthur C. Jones

Renditions

Multiple recordings of the song were made by

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplish ...

, starting in 1926. Bessie Griffin and The Gospel Pearls recorded the song on their '' Portraits In Bronze'' album in 1960.

Odetta Odetta Holmes (December 31, 1930 – December 2, 2008), known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, lyricist, and a civil rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire co ...

performed the song at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built ...

on April 8, 1960. The song was included on her album, '' Odetta at Carnegie Hall'' the same year. This version was part of the soundtrack of Pier Paolo Pasolini's '' The Gospel According to St. Matthew'' (1964). Mary Travers performed the song on

Peter, Paul and Mary Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's reper ...

's album: '' A Song Will Rise'' (1965) and on

Milt Okun Milton Theodore Okun (December 23, 1923 – November 15, 2016) was an American arranger, record producer, conductor, singer and founder of Cherry Lane Music Publishing Company, Inc. Okun transformed the careers of a dozen or more major U.S. a ...

's album: ''Something to Sing About'' in 1968.

Esther & Abi Ofarim Esther & Abi Ofarim were an Israeli musical duo active during the 1960s, consisting of husband and wife Abi Ofarim and Esther Ofarim. They enjoyed particular success in Germany. They had hits in Europe with their songs "One More Dance," "Morning o ...

recorded the song for their album '' Das Neue Esther & Abi Ofarim Album'' (1966).

Richie Havens Richard Pierce Havens (January 21, 1941 – April 22, 2013) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His music encompassed elements of folk, soul (both of which he frequently covered), and rhythm and blues. He had a rhythmic guitar styl ...

performed a historical rendition of the song – retitled ''Freedom (Motherless Child)'' – on August 15, 1969 at the opening of the

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...

festival. Elvis used the first verse of the song to open the gospel sequence in his big Comeback Special in 1968, sung by Darlene Love.

Maki Asakawa was a Japanese jazz and blues singer, lyricist and composer. She was an important voice of the Japanese urban counterculture. It is written in ''The Japan Times'' that she "made her name in 1970" with ''The World of Maki Asakawa'' and is know ...

recorded the song for her debut album ''

The World of Maki Asakawa ''Asakawa Maki no Sekai'' (English: ''The World of Maki Asakawa'') is the debut album by Japanese musician Maki Asakawa, released in September 1970 by Toshiba Records. A number of the tracks were co-written with Shūji Terayama, though the alb ...

'' (1970). Thea Bowman, a Black Catholic religious sister, recorded the song in 1988 for the stereocassette, "Songs of My People". She then sang it at a meeting of the

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 1966 as the joint National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic Conference (US ...

the next year, shortly before her death from cancer, while giving a speech on Black Catholic history and experience. The studio recording was re-released in 2020 for the 30th anniversary of Sister Bowman's death as part of the digital album, ''Songs of My People: The Complete Collection''. Boney M. recorded a disco version of the song titled "Motherless Child" on their 1977 album '' Love for Sale'' with singer

Liz Mitchell Liz is a female name of Hebrew origin, meaning "God's Promise". It is also a short form of Elizabeth, Elisabeth, Lisbeth, Lizanne, Liszbeth, Lizbeth, Lizabeth, Lyzbeth, Lisa, Lizette, Alyssa, and Eliza. People * Liz Balmaseda (born 1959), P ...

taking the lead vocal. Liz had previously recorded the song as part of Les Humphries Singers in 1971.

Billy Preston William Everett Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American keyboardist, singer and songwriter whose work encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel. Preston was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, during which he ba ...

recorded a version of the song titled “Motherless Child” on his 1978 album “Behold!”

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in t ...

recorded a version for his 1987 album '' Poetic Champions Compose''. In his rendition, writes biographer Brian Hinton, "it is 'Mother Ireland' whom Van is missing and his world weary vocals are like sobs of pain."

Martin Gore Martin Lee Gore (born 23 July 1961) is an English songwriter, musician, singer, record producer and DJ. He is one of the founding members of the electronic rock band Depeche Mode and is the band's main songwriter. He is the band's guitarist an ...

recorded his rendition of the song (titled only ''Motherless Child'') on his 1989 EP

Counterfeit To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...

Hootie and the Blowfish Hootie & the Blowfish are an American soft rock band that were formed in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1986. The band's lineup for most of its existence has been the quartet of Darius Rucker, Mark Bryan, Dean Felber, and Jim Sonefeld. The band ...

closed out their biggest-selling 1994 album ''Cracked Rear View'' with an a cappella rendition.

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. ...

performed his rendition of the song at many concerts beginning in 1999. Soprano

Barbara Hendricks Barbara Hendricks (born November 20, 1948) is an American operatic soprano and concert singer. Hendricks has lived in Europe since 1977, and in Switzerland in Basel since 1985. She is a citizen of Sweden following her marriage to a Swedish c ...

sang it when she received the 2002 Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts.

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer. He began his musical career by working behind the scenes, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Eve ...

sang the song during the '' Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief'' telethon in 2010. The song is also included on his 2004 album, '' Solo Sessions Vol. 1: Live at the Knitting Factory''.

Tom Jones Tom Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tom Jones (singer) (born 1940), Welsh singer *Tom Jones (writer) (1928–2023), American librettist and lyricist *''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', a novel by Henry Fielding published in 1 ...

included a version on his 1999 album '' Reload'', together with the British band Portishead.

Michael Kiwanuka Michael Samuel Kiwanuka (born 3 May 1987) is a British singer-songwriter and record producer who is signed with Polydor Records. His 2012 debut album, '' Home Again'', went gold in the United Kingdom and his second album, '' Love & Hate'', debu ...

recorded a version for the Man in the High Castle Album In 2022, Jazmine Sullivan recorded a rendition for the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrac ...

Baz Luhrmann Mark Anthony Luhrmann (born 17 September 1962), known professionally as Baz Luhrmann, is an Australian film director, producer, writer and actor. With projects spanning film, television, opera, theatre, music and recording industries, he is re ...

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

biopic '' Elvis''.

References

External links

Lyrics as by J. W. Johnson & J. R. Johnson (1926)
at negrospirituals.com
Art of the States: Piano Sonata No. 4
musical work quoting the spiritual by African-American composer George Walker
''Sometimes''
a 1976 work for tenor and tape by Olly Wilson, based on the spiritual. {{Authority control African-American spiritual songs Eric Burdon songs Esther & Abi Ofarim songs Hootie & the Blowfish songs Louis Armstrong songs Mildred Bailey songs The Osmonds songs Paul Robeson songs Peter, Paul and Mary songs Portishead (band) songs Tom Jones (singer) songs Van Morrison songs Protest songs Songs about children Songs about parenthood Songs based on American history Works about American slavery