Written by Josh White
The title is also sometimes listed as "Egypt Land," with a space. This is a placid but catchy spiritual, the lyrics citing Pontius Pilate, the Garden of Eden, and Moses. "The Pilate's wife, she had a dream / I don't intend to die in the Egypt land / That an honest man she seen / I don't intend to die in the Egypt land." White's smooth voice, accompanied only by his sparse, eerie guitar, make this a compelling mix of dirge and gospel. White was also an activist who recorded anti-segregation songs. White also enjoyed a long and close relationship with the family of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and he became the first African-American artist to give a command performance at the White House, in 1941.
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