Traditional / Arrangement Bob Dylan / 1:44
Musician
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica
Recording Studio
Columbia Recording Studios / Studio A, New York: November 22, 1961
Technical Team
Producer: John Hammond
Sound Engineers: George Knuerr and Pete Dauria
“Gospel Plow” is another traditional title quoted by the folklorist Alan Lomax in his book Singing Country (1949). This folk song is known by two names: “Hold On” and “Gospel Plow,” referring to the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke, chapter 9, verse 62, where it is written: “Jesus replied: ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’” For the singer, it is the first true reference to the New Testament. Before Dylan, Duke Ellington and Odetta had interpreted this spiritual, respectively, at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958 and Carnegie Hall in 1961. After Dylan, two later interpretations are the Screaming Trees (Dust, 1996) and Old Crow Medicine Show (Greetings from Wawa, 2000). “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize,” which became an anthem for the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, is based on “Gospel Plow.”
Dylan delivers a “super energetic” rendition, far from the spiritual message of Mahalia Jackson as recorded in 1954 for Columbia Records as “Keep Your Hand on the Plow.” Dylan’s interpretation is close to country music and delivered with an astonishingly intense harmonica part (in G). His voice is sometimes close to breaking up at 1:16, but his own message is nevertheless less clear, with a touch of irony. He eventually makes us believe that he actually held a plow! With a running time of 1:44, this piece is the fastest and the shortest on the album. Only one take was necessary to record the song.