America's railways changed America. We are searching for that kind of change today. The earliest railway construction was done by the Chinese. Multitudes of black Americans found employment with the railroads all across America. Black Americans helped invent the train system and helped build the railways, men and women.

When I was a child, I was introduced to this concept by the song, "I Have Been Working on the Railroad". Imagine lines and lines of men wailing songs as they built change all across America. These songs have a cadence and a vigor to stand up to the tests of time. Their music courses through our veins and makes us who we are this very day. We need a working song as we toil and labor to change our world.

I had a vivid dream several years ago. I was walking alone through a dark field in the country. I heard a train coming. I looked up into the sky and saw a magnificent moving light. This light, train, stopped and carried me up to ride. I knew I was in the presence of people destined for eternity. The energy on the train was peaceful and reassuring. This song is a testimony to my dream, and the dream of someone many years ago that wrote about a chariot in the sky. Music soothes the savage beast in each of us, and restores harmony to our journey; our journey that will blaze through the heavens.

Oooh…oooh…oooh…
Mmm…mmm…

Oooh…oooh…oooh…
Mmm…mmm…

Oooh...oooh...oooh...
Oooh...oooh...oooh...

I hear a whistle blowing
Oooh…oooh…oooh…
Rolling down the track
Oooh…oooh…oooh…

I see the light a coming
Oooh…oooh…oooh…
And It ain’t going back

It’s my train of salvation
It's my chariot in the sky
It’s my train of salvation
And we will rise, rise, rise

Everybody sing
Gloria…
Gloria…

Everybody sing
Gloria…ah...
Glory to the Lord on high

Oooh…oooh…oooh…
Oooh...oooh...ooh...

When I was a baby
Mmm…mmm…mmm...
On my mama’s knee
Mmmm…mmm…mmm…

When I was a baby
Mmm…mmm…mmm...
This is what she sang to me
There’s a child in a manger
There’s a great light in the sky
There’s a king in a manger
And we will rise, rise, rise

Everybody sing
Gloria…
Gloria…

Everybody sing
Gloria…ah...
Glory to the Lord on high

Oooh…oooh…oooh…
Oooh...oooh...oooh...

I know where I'm going
Mmm…mmm…mmm…
I know where I’ve been
Mmmm…mmm…mmm…
I know where I going
Mmmm…mmm…mmm…
Jesus is my friend

He’s my Child in the manger
He’s my Great Light in the sky
He’s my King and my Savior
And we will rise, rise, rise

Everybody sing
Gloria…
Gloria…

Everybody sing
Gloria…ah...
Glory to the Lord on high

(Old Popular Negro Spiritual - SWEET CHARIOT)

Swing low, swing high,
Sweet chariot
Coming for to carry me home

Swing low, swing high,
Sweet chariot
Coming for to carry me home

I looked over Jordan, and what did I see?
Coming for to carry me home
A band of angels
Coming after me
Coming for to carry me home

Everybody sing
Gloria…
Gloria…

Everybody sing
Gloria…ah...
And we will rise, rise, rise!

NOTE: IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN HEARING THE MUSIC TO THIS SONG, CONTACT THE ARTIST ON THIS BLOG.