A powerful song. Blind Willy Johnson formed that bullfrog voice as a street musician, to get volume. The song itself refers to the “City of Refuge” from the Old Testament. I happened to be reading Alphonsus Liguori’s “Glories of Mary” at the same time I was discovering this song. Willy Johnson and Alphonsus Liguouri both connect the city of refuge with the New Testament. Willy sings of the episode from the Book of Revelations (Apocalypse) where the woman with child flees from the dragon to give birth. Alphonse Liguori says that the Old Testament City of Refuge is a figure of Mary in the New Testament, and Mary in turn represents the Church founded by Christ. I also make this connection, Mary goes to the hills in haste (before she gives birth) to attend to the needs of Elizabeth her cousin. In which case, the city of refuge runs to the hills.
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