Appropriated as a coded message for escape, by the end of the American Civil War it had become known through much of the eastern United States.

[3][4] In the same year, she sent a letter with some recordings from her trip to St. Helena Island to Dwight's Journal of Music, where it was published in 1863.

[6] A year later, a version was published in Slave Songs of the United States (compiled by abolitionists William Francis Allen, Lucy McKim Garrison, and Charles Pickard Ware).

The refrain of Stephen Foster's "Camptown Races", for instance, is considerably similar to the spiritual, and the melodies likewise have parallels.

[13] The song and its melody are a principle theme of Alan Plater's three-part radio play The Devil's Music (2001) (comprising Roll Jordan Roll, The Great Pork Pie Mystery, and Beacons), which is based on stories from the Women's Jazz Archive (now called Jazz Heritage), particularly that of the Fisk Jubilee Singers.

Britell, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, stated that he felt compelled to rearrange the song because "it was very important to create a world that was very unique", and the original lyrics were already well known.

As such, by crossing the Jordan River, the singers are expected to be able to set down their burdens and live life without trouble.

However, rather than name members of the congregation, the version sung by the church went through a number of Biblical figures, including Jesus, the archangel Gabriel, and the prophet Moses.

William [a performer] seems to be in a trance, his eyes are fixed, yet he goes on with a double-shuffle, till the perspiration stands in beads upon his face.

Feet, legs, arms, head, body, and hands swing and jump like a child's dancing Dandy Jim.