In the first printing of Original Sacred Harp, the book’s editors shortened the first note of “Bound for Canaan” from a half note to a quarter note, and removed the half note rest which had preceded the first note in the 1844–1870 editions of The Sacred Harp. This subtle change brought the song into closer alignment with gospel songs, which often begin with quarter or eighth note pickups. In contrast, many songs in The Sacred Harp begin with half or whole notes, providing singers an opportunity to sound a strong starting chord before launching into a succession of shorter notes as the song continues.

James made similar alterations to several other songs in the first edition of Original Sacred Harp but restored the original half note entrances to all of these songs in this second printing of the book. The resistance of singers to such musical modernizations likely caused the Original Sacred Harp’s editors to moderate their reforms. Rather than retypeset page 82, the book’s typesetters resorted to modifying the stereotyped copper plate they had produced for the book’s first edition, as a result, the song’s half rest and half note seem squeezed into the limited space previously occupied by song’s quarter note pickup.