She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain
"She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" (sometimes referred to as "Coming 'Round the Mountain") is a traditional folk song often categorized as children's music. The song is derived from the Christian spiritual known as "When the Chariot Comes". It has been assigned the number 4204 in the Roud Folk Song Index. Background The first appearance of "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain" in print was in Carl Sandburg's The American Songbag in 1927. Sandburg reports that the Negro spiritual "When the Chariot Comes", which was sung to the same melody, was adapted by railroad workers in the Midwestern United States during the 1890s. It is often heard today with responses that add on to the previous verse. The original song was published in Old Plantation Hymns in 1899. It ostensibly refers to the Second Coming of Christ and subsequent Rapture, with the she referring to the chariot that the returning Christ is depicted as driving. Like many spirituals that originated in the African-American community, this was probably a coded anthem for the Underground Railroad. It was also used in labor circles to refer to Mother Jones, who frequently visited far-flung communities with labor issues. The secularized version that developed among