"MICHAEL, ROW THE BOAT ASHORE"

THOSE PERHAPS FAMILIAR STRAINS PLAYING FROM THE AUDIO FILE ABOVE BY PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA SHOULD REMIND THE LISTENERS OF A VERY OLD  AFRICAN-AMERICAN SPIRITUAL OR GOSPEL SONG OFTEN CALLED "THE GOSPEL BOAT". THE MOST FAMILIAR VERSION OF THE TUNE CAME ABOUT IN 1961 WHEN A VERSION OF THE SONG BY THE HIGHWAYMEN REACHED #1 AND TOPPED THE CHARTS IN THE US AS WELL AS THE UK. IT ALSO REACHED #1 ON WHAT WAS CALLED (AT THE TIME) THE EASY LISTENING TOP TEN. IT WAS ALSO SUNG BY CAMPERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY WHEN IT WAS POPULAR, AND IN MANY LIVE CONCERTS. HERE IS THAT HIT VERSION:

HISTORICALLY, it was first noted during the American Civil War at St. Helena Island, one of the Sea Islands of South Carolina. It was sung by former slaves whose owners had abandoned the island before the Union navy would arrive to enforce a blockade. Charles Pickard Ware, an abolitionist and Harvard graduate who had come to supervise the  plantations on St. Helena Island from 1862 to 1865, wrote the song down in music notation as he heard the freedmen sing it. Ware's cousin, William Francis Allen, reported in 1863 that while he rode in a boat  across Station Creek, the former slaves sang the song as they rowed. 
PERSONALLY, we never heard a version of the song we didn't like. Here are a few for you. Can you choose a favorite?
 

               THE LETTERMEN

           THE BEACH BOYS

    PETE SEEGER  LIVE

BOBBY DARIN  LIVE

HARRY BELAFONTE

  GOSPEL WITH MARION WILLIAMS

     MORE GOSPEL WITH SCHOVANKY

             TRINI  LOPEZ

                JOHNNY RIVERS

   THE HIPPY BOYS (CALYPSO SONG)

     THE NEW CHRISTY MINSTRELS (LIVE)

MAGGIE WHEELER from THE X FILES

            DONE IN CELTIC STYLE

             HERE ARE THE ALWAYS IRREVERENT SMOTHERS BROTHERS