From the recording Back to Laurel Hill: Pennsylvania and West Virginia Folk Songs from the Bayard Collection, Vol. I
Keep the Ark A-Moving (spiritual), from Hannah Bayles Sayre, 1862-1955, Washington (formerly Greene) County, Pennsylvania, and Mary Ann Pierson Rogers, born c. 1870, New Freeport, Greene County, Pennsylvania. 1930s. Mrs. Sayre, whose father was a worker of magic, was one of Bayard’s most colorful source singers. Her rural childhood included camp meetings. Mrs. Rogers was a fiddler and singer who recalled her parents’, aunt’s, and uncle’s hymns and spirituals.
Lyrics
1. Now fathers, if you’re willing, we’ll keep the ark a-moving,
And we’ll pass over Jurdan by and by.
Where the streets is lined with gold, and the gates is set with pearl,
And we’ll pass over Jurdan by and by.
2.mothers, 3. brothers, 4. sisters