GOLDEN SLIPPERS / Fisk University Jubilee Quartet / unaccompanied / Recorded: 21 December 1909
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Wikipedia:
\"GOLDEN SLIPPERS\" is a spiritual popularized in the years following the American Civil War by the Fisk Jubilee Singers. The song is also known by its opening line, \"What Kind of Shoes You Gwine (Going) To Wear\". The song became the basis for a minstrel show parody song, \"O Dem Golden Slippers\", which itself became an American musical standard.
As presented in its earliest recordings, \"Golden Slippers\" is a stirring and proud song, considerably different than its rather jaunty parody. In it, the lead singer asks the choir what kind of finery they will wear in going to join the Heavenly choir.
The lyrics for the first stanza are:
What kind of shoes you goin to wear?
Golden slippers!
What kind of shoes you goin to wear?
Golden slippers!
Golden slippers I'm bound to wear
To outshine the glittering sun
Oh, yes, yes, yes my Lord
I'm going to join the Heavenly choir.
Yes, yes, yes my Lord
Soldier of the cross.
Although there are variations between existing recordings, subsequent stanzas involve a \"long white robe\" (as in \"O Dem Golden Slippers\"), a \"starry crown\", a \"new song\", and a \"golden harp\".
