<P> Blind Willie Johnson recorded the song during his first recording session on December 3, 1927, as "Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed" and the second take was released as his first single in 1928, backed by "I Know His Blood Can Make Me Whole". Johnson performed the song as a gospel blues with his vocal and slide guitar accompaniment, using an open D tuning with a capo resulting in a pitch of E ♭ . An initial pressing of 9,400 records showed Columbia's confidence in the song, who normally released fewer records for major stars such as Bessie Smith . A later pressing of 6,000 was very large for a debut and it was one of Johnson's most successful records . </P> <P> In 1928, Rev. B.J. Hill and The Jubilee Gospel Team recorded "Lower My Dying Head" as a cappela song . In December 1929, Charlie Patton recorded a version with somewhat different lyrics as "Jesus Is A-Dying Bed Maker". On August 15, 1933, Josh White recorded the song as "Jesus Gonna Make Up My Dying Bed". White later recorded it between 1944 and 1946 as "In My Time of Dying", which inspired several popular versions . </P> <P> In 1932, Martha Emmons published a nine - stanza, nine - refrains, version that she heard in Waco, Texas, under the title "Tone de Bell Easy". Two years later John and Alan Lomax printed a composite with 11 stanzas and 9 refrains . </P> <P> Versions were recorded by country blues artists like Vera Reed and gospel groups like the Soul Stirrers . The song gained greater prominence in popular music when Bob Dylan included a version (along with several others dealing with the subject of death) on his 1962 eponymous debut album . The song, closest to Josh White's version, had a slightly different name on the Dylan album, "In My Time of Dyin"'. </P>

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