Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child

"Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" (or simply "Motherless Child") is a traditional Negro spiritual. The song dates back to the era of slavery in the United States when it was common practice to sell children of slaves away from their parents. An early performance of the song dates back to the 1870s by the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Like many traditional songs, it has many variations and has been recorded widely.

Superficially, the song is clearly an expression of pain and despair as it conveys the hopelessness of a child who has lost her mother. A subtlety in the lyrics, however, offers a measure of hope. The repetitive singing of the word "sometimes" in the song's melody line suggests that at least "sometimes" I do not feel like a motherless child

Although the plaintive words can be interpreted literally, they were much more likely metaphoric. The “motherless child” could be a slave separated from and yearning for his African homeland, a slave suffering “a long ways from home”—home being heaven—or most likely both.

Richie Havens used lyrical elements of this piece in an improvised song at Woodstock Festival in 1969 when he ran out of songs to play after being called back for multiple encores.

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