Parallel Anthology Track 49

Track 49: The Elders McIntorsh and Edwards' Sanctified Singers - Since I laid My Burden Down  Okeh 8698; Recorded in Chicago, 4.12.1928

No image of record label available. Neither anthology booklet assigns authorship, nor does www.78discography.com.

According to the Old Weird America blog, this song is "a very popular spiritual found in the repertoire of many Bluesmen and African-American songsters [...] heard a lot in the repertoire of Gospel singers of all kind and entered also the New-Orleans Jazz canon," while the Where Dead Voices Gather blog calls it "an extremely popular song [which] probably originated in the United States during the late 19th century."

There are fairly good grounds for treating this composition as public domain.

Parallel anthology main index page

Alternative versions
Glory Glory Hallelujah by the Plantation Singers   (recorded between 1929 and 1942 according to album title): Spotify

Glory Glory by Odetta   recorded in 1956 (according to wikipedia): Spotify   Album cover appears to make no claim to arrangement credit, and treats all songs as traditional

When I Lay My Burdens Down by Blind Roosevelt Graves   recorded in 1936 (according to wikipedia): Spotify