Written byLanguageEnglishComments African-American spiritual. While the most commonly found lyrics allude to the Exodus of The Bible, it is also said to be a "coded" song telling escaping slaves to follow streams to evade tracking by dogs. Licensing Request a synchronization license
- Originals
- Highlights 5
- Versions 192
- Adaptations 4
- Web Covers 1
- All
| Wade in the Water | The Sunset Four Jubilee Singers | 1925 | First recording in April 1925 | ||
| Wade in the Water | The Lincoln Four Quartette | 1928 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Birmingham Quartet | 1930 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Empire Jubilee Quartet | July 15, 1932 | |||
| Wade in the Water and Be Baptized | Belmont Silvertone Jubilee Singers | 1940 | Unverified | ||
| Wade in the Water | Golden Gate Quartet | October 1947 | |||
| Wade in the Water | The Original Gospel Harmonettes | October 1954 | |||
| Wade in de Water | Lucretia West | February 1955 | |||
| Wade in the Water | The Folksmiths | 1958 | |||
| Wade in the Water | The Drinkard Singers | 1958 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Brother John Sellers | June 1960 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Bill McAdoo accompanied by Pete Seeger | 1960 | |||
| Wade in the Water – A Man Went Down to the River | Ella Jenkins and The Goodwill Spiritual Choir | 1960 | Medley | ||
| Wade in the Water | Marijohn Wilkin with The Jordanaires | 1961 | |||
| Wade in the Water | The Norman Luboff Choir | 1962 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Judy Henske | April 16, 1963 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Bob Carey (Bob Carey) | 1963 | Unverified | ||
| Wade in the Water | The Sawbuck Singers | 1964 | |||
| Let's Wade in the Water | Marlena Shaw | October 1966 | |||
| Wade in the Water | The Salem Travelers | 1966 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Ian & The Zodiacs | 1966 | |||
| Wade in the Water | The Art Reynolds Singers | 1967 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Big Mama Thornton and Her Hounddogs | 1968 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Andraé Crouch & The Disciples | 1968 | |||
| Wade in the Water | The Chambers Brothers | 1969 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Lee Patterson Singers | 1969 | |||
| Wade in the Water | CCS | October 1970 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Clara Ward & The Ward Singers | 1970 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Clover | 1970 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Little Sonny | 1971 | |||
| Wade in the Water | The God Squad featuring Leonard Caston | January 1972 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Ellen McIlwaine | 1972 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Graham Bond + Jack Bruce + Ginger Baker + Dick Heckstall-Smith | 1972 | Live | ||
| Wade in the Water | Audrey Motaung - Lars Wolf | 1977 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Cyndee Peters | 1977 | |||
| Wade out in the Water | Ron Penix - Cathy Barton - Dave Para - Jay Round | 1981 | |||
| Wade in the Water | The Mendicants | 1982 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Fine Young Cannibals | October 1985 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Bo Katzman and The Soul Cats | May 1990 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds | 1990 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Vernard Johnson | 1991 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Katina Boyz | 1991 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Carnegie Jazzband – Örgryte Kammar - Och Kyrkokör | 1991 | Live | ||
| Wade in the Water / Summertime | Penny Lang | 1992 | Live | ||
| Wade in the Water | Kim & Reggie Harris | 1992 | |||
| Wade in the Water | David & Roselyn | 1993 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Lewis Cowdrey | 1994 | |||
| Go Down Moses / Wade in the Water | Joe Williams | 1995 | Medley | ||
| Wade in the Water | Mavis Staples and Lucky Peterson | 1996 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Emma Perry Freeman | 1996 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Spencer Bohren | 1996 | |||
| Wade in the Water | The ARC Choir | June 24, 1997 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Eva Cassidy | September 1997 | |||
| Wade in the Water | The Bubbadinos | 1997 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Wazir Peacock, Matthew and Marshall Jones | 1997 | Live | ||
| Wade in the Water | Make Up | 1999 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Mary Mary [US] | May 2, 2000 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Salamander Crossing | September 12, 2000 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Tok Tok Tok | 2000 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Pat Lewis & The 103rd Street Gospel Choir | 2000 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Caroline Doctorow | August 2001 | |||
| Wade in the Water | The James Sisters | 2001 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Counterparts [US] | 2001 | A cappella | ||
| Wade in the Water | Babbie Mason | 2001 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Take 6 | May 21, 2002 | A cappella | ||
| Wade in the Water | Breath of Aire | 2002 | |||
| Wade in the Water | The Blind Boys of Alabama | 2002 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Bill Ramsey & Peter Weniger mit dem Achim Kück Trio | 2002 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Mark Kershner with Mort Lindsey | 2002 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Wayne Pascall acappella | 2003 | A cappella | ||
| Wade in the Water | Island Choral Experience | 2003 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Caroline Henderson | 2003 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Emily Singleton | 2003 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Kathy Mattea | 2005 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Vincent Nilsson & The World Sextet | 2005 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Geshem | 2005 | A cappella | ||
| Wade in the Water | Elijah Rock | March 21, 2006 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Helene Lundstrom | 2006 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Layla Zoe | 2006 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Michelle Shocked | September 2007 | Live | ||
| Wade in the Water | Cherry Lee Mewis | October 2007 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Meta4 | 2007 | |||
| Wade in the Water / Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child | Mary Ann Hurst | 2007 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Atlanta Sacred Chorale | 2007 | |||
| Wade in the Water | WorldSong | 2007 | Live | ||
| Wade in the Water | ACM Gospel Choir | 2008 | |||
| Wade in the Water | LaVon Hardison | 2008 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Asylum Street Spankers | October 6, 2009 | Live | ||
| Wade in the Water | Harriet Lewis & Gregor Hilden Band | December 4, 2009 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Brandon Burrows | 2009 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Kim & Reggie Harris and Magpie | January 19, 2010 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Patty Griffin with Regina McCrary and Mike Farris | January 26, 2010 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Angie Stone | September 28, 2010 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Jessica Lee & Anthony Janflone | October 11, 2010 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Come Sunday | 2010 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Cerys Matthews with Serafina Steer | May 9, 2011 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Kaarstadbygget | 2011 | A cappella | ||
| Wade in the Water | Tedeschi Trucks Band | May 16, 2012 | Live | ||
| Wade in the Water | The 1937 Flood | 2012 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Matt Lemmler's New Orleans Jazz Revival Band featuring Kim Prevost | 2012 | |||
| Wade | Bobby McFerrin | May 17, 2013 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Margriet Sjoerdsma | 2013 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Joan Chamorro & Magalí Datzira | March 20, 2014 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Lauren Dawes | April 14, 2014 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Paul Anquez & Isabel Sörling | April 24, 2015 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Jimmy Burns | August 21, 2015 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Joe Louis Walker | October 9, 2015 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Chris Vallillo | October 29, 2015 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Birgitte Soojin | 2015 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Jane Lee Hooker | April 15, 2016 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Los Kingdom | June 17, 2016 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Measha Brueggergosman | January 13, 2017 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Tori Sparks | February 2017 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Shirma Rouse | March 2017 | |||
| Afro Blue / Eye See You / Wade in the Water | Jazzmeia Horn | May 12, 2017 | Medley | ||
| Wade in the Water | Taj Mahal | June 2, 2017 | Live | ||
| Wade in the Water | Bee Culture | February 16, 2018 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Mia Boostrom | April 2, 2018 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Christine Hitt | July 2018 | |||
| Wade in the Water | The Crooked Jades | November 12, 2018 | |||
| Wade in the Water | The Petersens | August 9, 2019 | |||
| Evolution | Edward W. Hardy | August 31, 2019 | Unverified | ||
| Wade in the Water | Matt Rollings (Matt Rollings) | 2020 | Unverified | ||
| Wade in the Water | Theo Bleckmann & The Westerlies | January 29, 2021 | |||
| Wade in the Water | Dara Tucker | 2021 |
| i | Wade in the Water | Johnny Griffin Orchestra | 1960 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Pony Poindexter | 1963 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | The Graham Bond Organisation | January 1965 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Ramsey Lewis | June 1966 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Billy Preston | November 1966 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Das Klaus Weiss Trio | 1966 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | The Soulful Strings | 1966 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass | February 1967 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | De Maskers | June 1967 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Brother Jack McDuff | 1967 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Don Patterson | 1967 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Ralph Carmichael and HIs Orchestra | 1967 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Carlos Piper e Sua Orquestra | 1967 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Living Brass - Arranged and conducted by Ray Martin | 1968 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Orchester Ambros Seelos | 1968 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Ray Terrace | 1968 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | John Bishop Trio | March 1969 | Live | |
| i | Wade in the Water | Harvey Mandel | 1969 | Editor's cover song pick | |
| i | Wade in the Water | Willie Mitchell | 1970 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Certain Lions & Tigers | 1970 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Rhoda Scott | 1971 | Live | |
| i | Wade in the Water | The MPS Rhythm Combination & Brass | 1972 | Live | |
| i | Wade in the Water | Dieter Reith | 1974 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Bruno's Salon Band | 1974 | Live | |
| i | Wade in the Water | Harry Stoneham | 1976 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Jugendband Hannover | 1983 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Dr. John | 1988 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Brazz Brothers | 1994 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Charlie Haden, Hank Jones | April 4, 1995 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Grand Dominion Jazz Band | October 31, 1995 | ||
| i | Wayfaring Stranger / Wade in the Water | Timothy Seaman | 1995 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Booker T & The MGs | 1995 | Released more than 10 years after its recording | |
| i | Wade in the Water | Russell Gunn | 1995 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Bernard Purdie | September 1, 1996 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Cyrus Chestnut Trio | 1996 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Eddie Harris | January 2, 1997 | Live | |
| i | Wade in the Water | Bill Mize | 1998 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Dona Carter | 1999 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Ricardo Scales | 2000 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Charlie Hunter Quintet | March 25, 2003 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Milt Hinton | August 5, 2003 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | The Ron Kearns Quintet | 2003 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | The Polite Jazz Quartet | December 2004 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | The Sessions Quartet | 2004 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Gregory Tardy | December 2005 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Jim Bennett | 2006 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Steve Hobbs Quartet | October 13, 2009 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Yaron Gershovsky | September 2011 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Jonathan Roth | November 15, 2011 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Willy Ketzer | 2011 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Stix Hooper | 2011 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Timothy Seaman featuring Bill Gurley | 2012 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | The Slide Brothers | February 19, 2013 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Leslie Bridges | May 30, 2013 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Fabrizio Bosso Spiritual Trio | November 26, 2013 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Justin Johnson | January 28, 2014 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Diane Monroe - Tony Miceli | 2014 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Tim Warfield | June 2018 | ||
| i | Wade in the Water | Chris Nole | April 16, 2020 | ||
| i | Medley of Spirituals: Wade in the Water / Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen / Go Down Moses | Søren Bødker Madsen | November 7, 2020 |
Who is the original singer of Wade in the Water?
The Sunset Four Jubilee Singers made the first commercial recording of "Wade in the Water" in 1925—released by Paramount Records. W. E. B. Du Bois called this genre of songs the Sorrow Songs. "Wade in the Water" is associated with songs of the Underground Railroad.
Did slaves sing Wade in the Water?
Because many slaves knew the secret meanings of these songs, they could be used to signal many things. For example, Harriet Tubman used the song “Wade in the Water” to tell escaping slaves to get off the trail and into the water to make sure the dogs slavecatchers used couldn't sniff out their trail.
When was Wade in the Water sang?
Wade In The Water's Official Publishing
This popular song likely has origins that date at least back to the 1870s. John Wesley Work Jr. spent three decades at the HBCU Fisk University, collecting a series of songs from the original Fisk Jubilee Singers.
What does the gospel song Wade in the Water mean?
The lyrics of 'Wade in the Water' reference the Biblical story of the Israelites crossing the river Jordan, but the lyrics also remind those seeking freedom to walk in the rivers along their journey, so that tracking dogs and slave-catchers could not follow their footprints or their scent.