Bruce Springsteen has never performed or recorded 'I'm a soldier in the army of the lord' but he used excerpts from Alan Lomax's recording in Rocky Ground. According to producer Ron Aniello, it was Springsteen who had the idea to use the Alan Lomax recordings on the album.

 

I'm a soldier!
I'm a soldier! 

 

"Rocky Ground" is the second single from his album Wrecking Ball and was released exclusively in select stores as a limited-edition 7-inch 45-rpm vinyl single as a part of Record Store Day on April 21, 2012. The song made its live debut on March 9, 2012, during Springsteen and the E Street Band's performance at the Apollo Theatre. A music video for the song was first teased on Facebook and Twitter on May 24, 2012, and released the following day on May 25, 2012. The music video features the lyrics being written down on paper in sync with the song, interchanging this with a series of urban and suburban imagery. The song is heavy with a religious theme and features a gospel choir backing Springsteen. Singer Michelle Moore provides backing vocals along with rapping, a first for a Springsteen album. Springsteen has stated he originally attempted to do the rapping himself but was not satisfied with the sound.

 

 

 

Rocky Ground 

  

I'm a soldier in the army of the lord is a traditional gospel song. A performance by the Congregation Of The Church Of God In Christ was recorded by Alan Lomax in July 1942 in Clarksdale, MS. It can now be found on Lomax's The Land Where The Blues Began collection, released on Rounder Records in 2002. The above lyrics are transcribed from the original Congregation Of The Church Of God In Christ version of the song. Lomax was one of the great field collectors of folk music of the twentieth century, recording thousands of songs in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, the Caribbean, Italy, and Spain. The Land Where The Blues Began is the soundtrack to Alan Lomax's 1993 book of the same name. The collection was recorded between 1933 and 1959 by Alan Lomax, Lewis Jones, John W. Work, John A. Lomax, and Herbert Halpert, and remastered to 24-bit digital from the original metal and acetate discs and the original paper and acetate-backed tape recording.