“Wade in the Water” is an African American spiritual. Its lyrics were published in 1901 by arrangers connected with the Fisk Jubilee Singers, and the Sunset Four Jubilee Singers made the first commercial recording in 1925; the song is far older still, born in the years of slavery.
On its surface the song retells Old Testament scenes — the troubled water, the crossing toward the Promised Land — and serves as a baptismal song. It is also widely understood to have carried a hidden message on the Underground Railroad, telling those escaping to take to the water so that dogs could not track them.
The spiritual has been sung across gospel, folk, and bluegrass.
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