One cherished memory from my youth was sitting with my cousins singing an old African-American spiritual, ” When Israel was in Egypt’s land” which retells the events in the Old Testament of the Bible (Exodus, chapters 3-12), in which God commands Moses to demand the release of the Israelites being held in Egypt. The song was made famous by Paul Robeson whose voice, deep and resonant as it was, conveyed the authority of the voice of God before Moses in Egypt.
This is how the song goes:
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When Israel was in Egypt’s land
Let my people go
Oppressed so hard they could not stand
Let my people go
Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt’s land
Tell old Pharaoh, Let my people go
So Moses went to Egypt’s land
Let my people go
To make old Pharaoh understand
Let my people go
Thus spake the Lord, bold Moses said,
“Let my people go,
If not, I’ll strike your first born dead
Let my people go”
Perhaps someone could re write the song for the 21st century. I’m thinking something along the lines of:
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When bloggers were in Egypt’s prisons
Let our people go
Oppressed so hard they could not stand
Let our people go
Stand up bloggers; stand up for Egypt’s scribes
Tell old Pharaoh, Let our people go
A Google bomb dropped on Egypt’s land
Let our people go
To make old Pharaoh understand
Let our people go
Thus spake the bloggers, bold google said,
“Let our people go,
If not, we’ll strike your google ranking
Let our people go”
Something like that, yeah I know the lyrics are not that good, in my defence however, it is early on a Tuesday morning. For some proper lyrics you should head over to mshairi’s.
(cross-posted from Mental Acrobatics)