In That Great Gettin' Up Morning

Lyrics

The lyrics below are preserved exactly as documented in nineteenth-century primary sources. Dialect, spelling, and phrasing reflect the living tradition of the communities who created and sang these songs. Standardizing the language would erase the historical record. See our editorial standards for more.

Historical Context

"In That Great Gettin' Up Morning" is one of the grandest of the Judgment-Day spirituals, an extended vision of the Resurrection morning and the Last Judgment. It draws on the apocalyptic scriptures — the trumpet of the archangel Gabriel, the opening of the graves, the falling of the stars, the gathering of all souls (1 Corinthians 15, Matthew 24, Revelation). The song was carried by the Fisk Jubilee Singers, documented by John Wesley Work, and anthologized by James Weldon Johnson.

The title phrase — "the great gettin' up morning" — names the day of general resurrection, when the dead "get up" from their graves at the sound of the trumpet. It is a morning of awakening in the most literal and cosmic sense.

Cultural Significance

The Judgment held a particular meaning for the enslaved. It was the promise of a final accounting, a day when the moral order of the universe would be set right and every hidden thing revealed. For those who suffered injustice with no earthly recourse, the "great gettin' up morning" was the assurance that the ledger would one day be balanced — that the powerful would answer and the faithful would be raised.

The song's most striking passage is the dialogue with Gabriel. Told to blow his trumpet, the archangel asks, "Lord, how loud shall I blow it?" — and the answer is tender: "Blow it right and calm and easy, do not alarm all my people." Even at the world's ending, God's care for "my people" is gentle. The terror of the apocalypse is reserved for the unjust; for the faithful, the trumpet is a summons home.

The recurring "fare you well" gives the song its bittersweet edge — a farewell to the world of sorrow, sung with the confidence of those who expect a better day.

Scholarly Notes

James Weldon Johnson admired the dramatic architecture of the great Judgment spirituals, with their shifts of scene, direct address, and cinematic sweep — qualities that mark "In That Great Gettin' Up Morning" as one of the tradition's most ambitious narrative songs.

John Wesley Work documented the centrality of Judgment and Resurrection themes in the repertoire, and their function as an assurance of ultimate justice for a people denied it on earth.

The song's imagery — the falling stars, the opening graves, Gabriel's trumpet — has echoed through African American preaching and music for generations, and it remains a powerful showcase for choirs and soloists in the concert-spiritual tradition.