•
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor arranged the song as the first movement of his
Trio in E minor of 1893. • Multiple recordings of the song were made by
Paul Robeson, starting in 1926. •
Mahalia Jackson recorded the song for her album
Bless This House in 1956. •
Bessie Griffin and The Gospel Pearls recorded the song on their
Portraits in Bronze album in 1960. •
Odetta performed the song at
Carnegie Hall on April 8, 1960. The song was included on her album,
Odetta at Carnegie Hall the same year. This version was part of the soundtrack of
Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964). •
Mary Travers performed the song on
Peter, Paul and Mary's album:
A Song Will Rise (1965) and on
Milt Okun's album:
Something to Sing About in 1968. •
Esther & Abi Ofarim recorded the song for their album
Das Neue Esther & Abi Ofarim Album (1966). •
Sweetwater recorded the song on their self-titled debut album, and often opened their live performances with it. •
Richie Havens performed a historical rendition of the song – retitled "Freedom (Motherless Child)" – on August 15, 1969 at the opening of the
Woodstock festival. •
Elvis Presley used the first verse of the song to open the gospel sequence in his Comeback Special in 1968, sung by
Darlene Love. •
Jimmy Scott recorded this song in 1969 for his album
The Source. •
Maki Asakawa recorded the song for her debut album
The World of Maki Asakawa (1970). •
Thea Bowman, a
Black Catholic religious sister, recorded the song in 1988 for the stereocassette, "Songs of My People". She then sang it at a meeting of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops the next year, shortly before her death from cancer, while giving a speech on Black Catholic history and experience. The studio recording was re-released in 2020 for the 30th anniversary of Sister Bowman's death as part of the digital album,
Songs of My People: The Complete Collection. •
Boney M. recorded a disco version of the song titled "Motherless Child" on their 1977 album
Love for Sale with singer
Liz Mitchell taking the lead vocal. She had previously recorded the song as part of
Les Humphries Singers in 1971. •
Billy Preston recorded a version of the song titled "Motherless Child" on his 1978 album
Behold! •
Van Morrison recorded a version for his 1987 album
Poetic Champions Compose. In his rendition, writes biographer Brian Hinton, "it is 'Mother Ireland' whom Van is missing and his world weary vocals are like sobs of pain." •
Martin Gore recorded his rendition of the song (titled only "Motherless Child") on his 1989
EP Counterfeit. •
Crime & the City Solution recorded a version of the traditional song on their 1990 album
Paradise Discotheque. •
Hootie and the Blowfish closed out their biggest-selling 1994 album
Cracked Rear View with an a cappella rendition. It is a hidden track as its presence is not announced on the album's track listing. It is also the shortest track on the album, clocking in at only 53 seconds. •
Ghostface Killah recorded a hip-hop rendition of the song titled "Motherless Child" for his 1996 debut solo album,
Ironman. The song features fellow
Wu-Tang Clan member
Raekwon and uses samples from O.V. Wright's rendition. •
Prince performed his rendition of the song at many concerts beginning in 1999. •
Tom Jones included a version on his 1999 album
Reload, together with the British band
Portishead. • Soprano
Barbara Hendricks sang it when she received the 2002 Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts. •
John Legend sang the song during the
Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief telethon in 2010. The song is also included on his 2004 album,
Solo Sessions Vol. 1: Live at the Knitting Factory. • Alice Ella covered the song for the 2013 film
Grand Piano, with actress
Kerry Bishé lipsyncing her song on screen. •
Michael Kiwanuka recorded a version for the
Man in the High Castle album. • In 2022,
Jazmine Sullivan recorded a rendition for the
soundtrack of
Baz Luhrmann's
Elvis Presley biopic
Elvis. •
Kassa Overall created a rendition of the song on his
SHADES 3 mixtape in 2023. ==References==