O Lord, I want to be in that number
When the saints go marching in.

These lines come from the African American spiritual “When the Saints Go Marching In,” a song rooted in late-19th- and early-20th-century Black religious worship in the U.S. South and later popularized in gospel and jazz traditions. The refrain voices a personal plea to be counted among the righteous at the Last Judgment, drawing on biblical imagery of saints, heavenly procession, and the end times. The song circulated orally for years in church settings before appearing in print and recordings; because of its folk/spiritual transmission, it is typically treated as anonymous in authorship even though later arrangers and performers helped fix familiar versions.

The speaker’s address—“O Lord”—frames the lyric as prayer rather than mere narration. “That number” suggests a roll call of the redeemed: salvation is imagined not abstractly but as belonging to a community recognized by God. The “marching” image turns the afterlife into a triumphant procession, emphasizing hope, perseverance, and collective deliverance. In performance, the repeated refrain often functions as a call-and-response affirmation, allowing singers to rehearse faith in ultimate justice and inclusion. The line’s power lies in its simplicity: it compresses eschatological longing, humility, and aspiration into a single request to be among the saints.

“Oh Lord, I want to be in that number, when the saints go marching in.”
“I want to be in that number, when the saints go marching in.”
“Oh, when the saints go marching in, Lord, I want to be in that number.”