"I Know His Blood Can Make Me Whole" | ||||
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Single by Blind Willie Johnson | ||||
A-side | "Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed" | |||
Format | 10" 78 rpm | |||
Recorded | December 3, 1927 (Dallas, TX) | |||
Genre | Gospel blues | |||
Length | 3:03 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Blind Willie Johnson singles chronology | ||||
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"(I Know) His Blood Can (or, Will) Make Me Whole" is a traditional gospel blues song recorded by Blind Willie Johnson in 1927, and released as the A-side of his first single. The song is sometimes called "Jesus' Blood Can Make Me Whole", "(I Know) His Blood Has Made Me Whole", and the like. It had been recorded earlier in 1927 under the former of those titles by Barbecue Bob.
As is common with traditional songs, the lyrics differ from one performer to another. One common theme is the evil of gambling, which the singer has now forgone. The line "If I touched the hem of His garment, His blood has made me whole" alludes to the story of the woman whose issue of blood was healed by touching Jesus' garment, in the Gospel of Luke at . She had been ritually unclean for so long as it persisted, according to the Book of Leviticus at .