People get ready, there's a train a comin'
You don't need no baggage, you just get on board
All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin'
Don't need no ticket, you just thank the Lord
People get ready for the train to Jordan
It's picking up passengers from coast to coast
Faith is the key, open the doors and board 'em
There's hope for all among those loved the most.
There ain't no room for the hopeless sinner
Who would hurt all mankind just to save his own
Have pity on those whose chances grow thinner
For there's no hiding place against the Kingdom's throne
So people get ready, there's a train a comin'
You don't need no baggage, you just get on board
All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin'
Don't need no ticket, you just thank the Lord
Written and composed in 1965 by Curtis Mayfield, Martin Luther King called this song the unofficial anthem of the Civil Rights movement and often had it played during an event to comfort and calm people.¹ Mayfield said this about the inspiration and origin of this song: “That was taken from my church or from the upbringing of messages from the church. Like there's no hiding place and get on board, and images of that sort. I must have been in a very deep mood of that type of religious inspiration when I wrote that song.”
Even now people are getting ready for the holidays. People are getting ready for the election. People are always getting ready for something. Often getting ready means taking on more tasks and packing up more stuff, but getting ready for God is the opposite. It is giving up. Letting go, as Mayfield writes, means “You don’t need no baggage.” We are people getting ready for a revival, and again according to Mayfield, one way to get ready is to “just thank the Lord.”
