“Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning” is a traditional gospel-blues song whose imagery comes straight from scripture — the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, who are told to keep their lamps lit and ready for the bridegroom’s return. The song is old: a version of it was set down in print as early as 1870, among the spirituals collected from formerly enslaved soldiers.
The song is often attributed to the Texas gospel-blues singer Blind Willie Johnson, whose powerful 1920s recording is among the best known, but it belongs to the wider African American sacred tradition and circulated widely before and after him. Built in a flexible call-and-response form, its verses vary greatly from one performer to the next.
The song crossed from gospel and blues into the folk and bluegrass repertoires.
