It’s St. Stephen’s Day, or Boxing Day, or the 26th of December, so let’s have Eva Cassidy; I’ve chosen her acoustic take on “Wade in the Water”.
“Wade in the Water” is a jubilee song, an African American
spiritual originating in slavery and collected and sung by the Fisk University
Jubilee Singers in the early years of the 20th Century. A lot
of those songs were about getting through terrible times by holding out hope
for deliverance and salvation.
Not sure, but the first time I heard it might have been
Bernice Johnson Reagon, founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock, singing it in a
class she taught at American University. And here’s that amazing
group singing it, if you’re interested.
Cassidy’s warm, powerful and steady voice is what I need today, reminding me that—even when the waters are choppy—we need to wade in. Maybe because they're choppy we need to do that.
©2025 Bas Bleu
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