Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child - wind band

Traditional Spiritual

"Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child", also "Motherless Child", is a traditional spiritual. It dates back to the era of slavery in the United States.

An early performance of the song was in the 1870s by the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Commonly heard during the Civil rights movement in the United States, it has many variations and has been recorded widely.

The song is an expression of pain and despair as the singer compares their hopelessness to that of a child who has been torn from their parents. Under one interpretation, the repetition of the word "sometimes" offers a measure of hope, as it suggests that at least "sometimes" the singer does not feel like a motherless child.