Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning

Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning. Traditional, author unknown.  The Companion to ICH5  (2005) suggests that the ‘oil in my lamp’ song ‘has all the feeling of an American traditional spiritual’ (Darling and Davison, 2005, p. 751). It may indeed be a song that has its origins in the culture of the African American spiritual*. Hymnary.org reports a song by the influential hymn writer and tune composer Thoro Harris* beginning ‘While the dread hour of darkness is settling o’er the earth’ with a refrain:  Give me oil in my lamp,Oil in my lamp,Oil in my lamp, I pray;Give me oil in my lamp, keep me shining in the camp,Until the break of day.  This was published in Full Redemption Songs...

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