There's No Hiding Place Down Here

This gospel song is a traditional Afro-American spiritual, originally collected in 1907 and first printed in 1915.

It is based on Revelation 6:15-17, which tells of the futility of human attempts to hide from the wrath of God in mountains and rocks.

It was made popular by a 1955 recording by Dorothy Love Coates & The Original Gospel Harmonettes. Other recordings have been made by artists including the Carter family, who also added additional verses.

More recent publications include The Bluegrass Gospel Songbook, edited by Wayne Erbsen, and published in 2006 by Native Ground Books & Music,

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Examples

An early performance: lead singer, backing group and honkey-tonk piano:

Community choir in part-harmonies:

Lyrics

There's no hiding place down here,
There's no hiding place down here,
Oh I ran to the rock to hide my face
The rock cried out, ""No hiding place""
No hiding place down here.

The rock cried out, "I'm burning, too."
The rock cried out, "I'm burning, too."
Oh the rock cried out, "I'm burning, too
I want to go to Heaven the same as you."
There's no hiding place down here.

Sinner man he stumbled and he fell,
Sinner man he stumbled and he fell.
Oh, the sinner man stumbled and he fell
Wanted to go to Heaven but he had to go to ... Well,
There's no hiding place down here.