"Daniel and the Sacred Harp" is a song written by Robbie Robertson that was first released by The Band on their 1970 album Stage Fright.
As with several songs on Stage Fright, such as the title track, "Daniel and the Sacred Harp" reflects the difficulties the Band was going through at the time of the album's development.
[3] Band drummer and vocalist Levon Helm acknowledges that the theme of the song is "selling your soul for music.
[5] He then sings that although he did not make the deal out "of personal greed" he paid a heavy price, and his father tells him that he won the harp but is now "lost in sin.
"[5] He sings that he has lost his shadow, which the music makes clear is a metaphor for losing his soul, before the opening lines return.
"[10] The New Rolling Stone Album Guide critic Mark Kemp regards it as a "highlight" of Stage Fright which reveals "a growing sense of anxiety and cynicism.
"[18] Barrence Whitfield and Tom Russell covered "Daniel and the Sacred Harp" on the 1993 album Cowboy Mambo.
[19] Allmusic critic Jeff Burger describes the choice to include the song part of what gives the album an "inspired program of tunes.