I was surprised to find that this song was written by Wallace Willis, the same man who wrote 'Steal away to Jesus' and a freedman of Chowtaw descent. Very much in the usual spiritual story style; this is about Elijah being taken up into Heaven in a chariot. It was first recorded in1909 and has been covered by many famous singers over the years including Elvis. It has been a rugby song in this country for many decades since
a black player ran in four tries to enable England to trounce the Irish team after many years of being beaten.
It was sung at Twickenham in 1988 to encourage the National side and has been sung at every national game since then. A strange choice of a song to sing the team to victory but hey, if it works who cares?
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