Elisha James King composed “Bound for Canaan” in three parts (tenor, bass, and treble) and contributed the revival chorus to the 1844 first edition of The Sacred Harp. The song appeared on page 82, where it remained unchanged during successive nineteenth-century revisions of the tunebook. “Bound for Canaan” is a perennially popular song, often used to open all-day singings from The Sacred Harp.