This song was released by "Sweet Honey In The Rock" on their "In This Land" album in 1992. It presents the pervasive theme of many spirituals, painting what is, on the surface, a negative, depressed view of a life; without hope, without even the comfort of kin, and little hope for a better life. The strength and powerful inspiration of these songs, however is in the unshakeable faith in the better life that God has planned, leading to the affirmation in the midst of the darkness: "I shout when I get happy, Lord, that's the way God's children do".