Not a word, not a word, not a word
Like most spirituals, the origin of this song is unknown, passed down from generation to generation. Alan and John Lomax recorded prisoners in Louisiana and Mississippi in 1933 singing “Never Said A Mumbling Word.” The Lomax brothers noted on their anthology, American Ballads and Folksongs, that the song was well known throughout the deep south. Blues performer Huddie William Ledbetter (Lead Belly), born in Louisiana and raised in Texas, recorded the song in 1945 and said he learned the spiritual from his mother. Others who recorded it include The Golden Gate Quartet and operatic soprano Barbara Hendricks.