So, of course, I went back and corrected the mistake to make it appear I never made it. I love the way Blogger allows bloggers to falsify--I mean, correct--history. That capability comes in handy. Bush and Cheney should try it, should they ever settle on a single reason for having invaded Iraq.
And we've got some terrific Sunday morning gospel for your Sunday morning this morning, beginning with Everybody's Gonna Have Religion and Glory, the history of which I've forgotten. I'd researched it for a Fields on Fire post some time back, but I know better than to go by memory. However, I think the song was first titled Gospel Boogie. The info's out there, if you have the time and desire to find it. Just look up Lee Roy Abernathy. Last
Everybody's Gonna Have Religion and Glory (Abernathy)--Nash Family Trio (1960). From Columbia LP.
The Kingsmen and Pat Boone are two artists who have done good versions of Everybody's..., under the title A Wonderful Time Up There. Now you know.
Here's one I should have put up on MLK Day. Of course, I could always go back and make it look as if I did (by inserting a link after the fact--heh, heh):
I Shall Not Be Moved--The Inspirations. From V.A. LP.
And here's Roy (Great Speckled Bird) Acuff with Hank Williams' I Saw the Light:
I Saw the Light (Williams)--Roy Acuff. From Columbia Special Products gospel LP.
Onward, Christian Soldiers--possibly the most frequently-insulted and P.C.-church-banned hymn of them all--featured another tune prior to the one everyone knows. That tune was by Joseph Haydn (or, rather, adapted from that composer), and it didn't work one-tenth as well. To the rescue: Sir Arthur Sullivan's magnificent 1871 melody, St. Gertude.
Arthur Sullivan of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, of course. I'd dedicate this to the music-hating P.C.'ists (the sort incapable of understanding such advanced literary devices as metaphor) who have censored it from hymnals across the land, but they aren't fit to lick its bootstraps:
Onward, Christian Soldiers (Baring-Gould-Arthur Sullivan)--The Canterbury Choir, 1957. From MGM LP.
May this great hymn survive the nitwits who've assailed it. In Jesus's name, we pray. Amen.
I asked a conservative Christian friend what he thought of the next hymn, and he said, "Not bad for a song that sounds like a soap commercial." He's right, too....
Lewis E. Jones wrote the words and music for this classic in 1899.
There's Power in the Blood--Blue Ridge Quartet. From LP.
This one came 41 years later, though it sounds just as old. Luther G. Presley wrote the words and music. It shows up in Johnny Cash's mother's ancient 1956 Stamps-Baxter songbook:
I'll Have a New Life (Presley)--Southern-Aires Gospel Singers. From LP.
We close with You Go to Your Church (and I'll Go to Mine), a song written around 1930 by one Seth Parker (Phillips Lord):
You Go to Your Church (and I'll Go to Mine) (Phillips Lord)--Joe Emerson, 1960. From RCA Victor LP.
More to come next Saturday! I mean, Sunday....
Lee
4 comments:
Another Sunday has commenced at Lee's blog and it will be a sabbath one, too (as long as I stay away from the mall). Thanks for another gathering of gospel gems. I loved hearing Roy Acuff's version of "I Saw the Light." I've only known Hank Williams's record of it. "You Go to Your Church" is a great plea for diversity and a necessary anthem for our time. I didn't realize it dated from the time of Billy Sunday and Elmer Gantry. That's nice to know.
David,
Yes, hard to believe that an ecumenical spirit existed in the not-so-distance past, but it's true. One of the reasons I get fed up with past-bashing.
Took a bit of research to determine that "You Go to Your Church" hails from 1930 (or earlier), mainly because I somehow lost my Seth Parker (Phillips Lord) hymnal. Lord is the credited author on the music. However, not only did I come across a photocopy I'd made of the music, I found a 1931 TIME article that references the song.
A Parker hymnal went unbid-for on eBay at 65 cents (or so)! I wish I'd known about it. Sad that no one wanted it at that price.
Seth Parker was a radio character played by Phillips Lord, which sums up everything I know about Parker. Besides his terrific hymn, which should become our National Gospel Song. (Not with the present gang o' nuts in office, though.)
Lee
By the way, the song that the Nash Family Trio sang was called "Gospel Boogie", by Lee Roy Abernathy. Caused quite an uproar in the 1950's. I've seen this album by the Nash Family Trio, and it kinda grates on me, because the words are actually, "Everybody's gonna have religion IN glory". But that's my OCD self.
That makes sense--I was wondering about "religion AND glory."
Years ago, I passed on a 78 of "Gospel Boogie" (don't remember by whom--Columbia label, I think) but decided to buy it the next time I visited the shop. By then, the shop's 78s had been misplaced in/after a massive move.
Lee
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