An' when I found him this is what he said, _um-u'_ Yo' sin forgiven an' you soul set free, _um-u'_ _I pray all night, an' I pray all day, um-u' um-u', Then my Lord taken my sins away, um-u', um-u'._ Nex' day, nex' day while walkin' along, um-u', um-u', I heard a voice an' saw no one, um-u', um-u', It said, sinner man, you better come home, um-u', um-u'. One day I was walkin' long dat lonesome road, um-u', um-u', King Jesus spoke unto me an' lifted off dat load, um-u'. Again, "Brother, you'd Better be a Prayin'", while mostly repetition makes a long song when sung to its limit. "_Sister_", "_Sinner_", "_Backslider_", "_Mourner_", "_Children_", each serves to make a complete stanza of eight lines: Brother you'd better be a prayin', Brother, you'd better be a prayin', My brother, you'd better be a prayin', An' I'll be carried above, An' I'll be carried above, An' I'll be carried above, I'll see king Jesus in his reign, An' I'll be carried above. The chorus song, "Wheel in middle of Wheel" is most likely a variation of the old song "Wheel in a wheel" which was "run by _love_, by _faith_," and was sometimes conceived as a chariot wheel upon which "gwine take a ride, On de chariot wheel", for "de chariot's comin', O my Lord". Sometimes the wheel was conceived as being a "Little wheel a-turnin' in my heart", in which case it signified some sort of feeling. The phrase means nothing more than a chorus in the present-day song. O sinner man, how can it be? _Wheel in de middle of wheel_, If you don't serve God, you can't serve me, _Wheel in de middle of wheel_. _In the wheel, in the wheel, Wheel in de middle of wheel, In the wheel, in the wheel, Wheel in the middle of wheel._ Well don't you know it's prayin' time? _Wheel in middle of wheel_; Lay down yo' way an' go to God, _Wheel in middle of wheel_. Well don't you know it's mournin' time? _Wheel in middle of wheel_; He'll hear yo' prayers an' sanctify, _Wheel in middle of wheel_. Jesus and God are represented as "Listenin' all the day long", and the sinner is directed to pray. The plantation songs called to him: "Where you goin' sinner? O come back, don't go dat way." And one of the singers affirmed that "about the break o' day" his sins were forgiven and "his soul set free." The song "Jesus is a listenin'" seems at some time to have been considerably corrupted. The negroes have sung it: "_I've_ been a listenin' all day long, and all night long, to hear some sinner pray." However, the correct version now seems to be: Jesus is a listenin' all the day long, He keep listenin' all the day long, He keep listenin' all the day long, For to hear some sinner pray. If I was a sinner I would please him, I would pray an' pray a day, An' when I got to heaven, So he could say he heard me pray.