Post by Admin on Apr 8, 2014 12:58:37 GMT -5
W. M. Givens
W. M. (Billy) Givens
Darien, Georgia
March 19, 1926
Lord, you know I love everybody,
Deep down in my heart.
Lord, you know I love everybody,
Deep down in my heart.
Lord, you know I love everybody,
Deep down in my heart.
Amen, Amen, Amen.
Lord, you know I love my preacher, etc.
Lord, you know I love my deacon, etc.
Lord, you know I love my brother, etc.
Lord, you know I love my Savior, etc.
Lord, you know I love everybody, etc.
Spoken:
W. M. Givens, Darien [?], Georgia, March the nineteenth, Nineteen twenty-six.
In his article on "Negro Spirituals from Georgia," Gordon describes the context in which these songs were performed. He urges the reader to "Go, on a Tuesday evening, to the smallest wooden church in a country district, and slip quietly into the last of the rough-hewn wooden benches" (p. 20). He describes the preparations of the sexton, the gathering of the congregation and the preacher's first hymn, lined out "just as he heard the white preacher do it seventy years ago … It is not a spiritual, but an old hymn of the camp-meeting type." A deacon is called upon for the first or "mourner's" prayer, and Gordon describes the congregations response, which leads up to the first spiritual:
The older women are swaying back and forth, and one of them is tapping nervously with her foot. When finally in the course of his prayer he mentions something that calls to mind the words of an old spiritual, this same woman who is tapping begins, probably quite unconsciously, to croon it almost under her breath. The spark catches, others near her join in, and the crooning becomes an audible under-tone -- "Jesus, Jesus, is my ond-ly friend, Jesus, Jesus, is my ond-ly friend, Jesus, Jesus is my ond-ly friend; King Jesus is my ond-ly friend." Louder and louder it grows as more and more join in till it seems actually to compete with the prayer. The deacon pauses a second, ceases abruptly his chanting, and drops into prose for a concluding line or so. And as he ceases the spiritual bursts forth free of all restraint: (here Gordon gives two stanzas of "Jesus is My Only Friend," p. 21).
Bessie Shaw and her husband Henry were the persons in the service Gordon described, and it was Bessie Shaw whose singing he transcribed in his article. Gordon's comment at the end of this recording indicates his awareness of the way in which the song was performed in context at church meeting. As mentioned in the note to "Brother Jonah," Henry Shaw was an important informant not only for Gordon but also for Lydia Parrish. As in Asheville, the outside collector relied upon local contacts, in this case the Shaws, for guidance and collectanea. Gordon recorded two other performances of this song (A308, GA97; A408, GA178) and an additional manuscript text (GA388) -- all from Georgia, and Ballanta- (Taylor) also published a version from St. Helena Island (pp. 6-7).
W. M. (Billy) Givens
Darien, Georgia
March 19, 1926
Lord, you know I love everybody,
Deep down in my heart.
Lord, you know I love everybody,
Deep down in my heart.
Lord, you know I love everybody,
Deep down in my heart.
Amen, Amen, Amen.
Lord, you know I love my preacher, etc.
Lord, you know I love my deacon, etc.
Lord, you know I love my brother, etc.
Lord, you know I love my Savior, etc.
Lord, you know I love everybody, etc.
Spoken:
W. M. Givens, Darien [?], Georgia, March the nineteenth, Nineteen twenty-six.
In his article on "Negro Spirituals from Georgia," Gordon describes the context in which these songs were performed. He urges the reader to "Go, on a Tuesday evening, to the smallest wooden church in a country district, and slip quietly into the last of the rough-hewn wooden benches" (p. 20). He describes the preparations of the sexton, the gathering of the congregation and the preacher's first hymn, lined out "just as he heard the white preacher do it seventy years ago … It is not a spiritual, but an old hymn of the camp-meeting type." A deacon is called upon for the first or "mourner's" prayer, and Gordon describes the congregations response, which leads up to the first spiritual:
The older women are swaying back and forth, and one of them is tapping nervously with her foot. When finally in the course of his prayer he mentions something that calls to mind the words of an old spiritual, this same woman who is tapping begins, probably quite unconsciously, to croon it almost under her breath. The spark catches, others near her join in, and the crooning becomes an audible under-tone -- "Jesus, Jesus, is my ond-ly friend, Jesus, Jesus, is my ond-ly friend, Jesus, Jesus is my ond-ly friend; King Jesus is my ond-ly friend." Louder and louder it grows as more and more join in till it seems actually to compete with the prayer. The deacon pauses a second, ceases abruptly his chanting, and drops into prose for a concluding line or so. And as he ceases the spiritual bursts forth free of all restraint: (here Gordon gives two stanzas of "Jesus is My Only Friend," p. 21).
Bessie Shaw and her husband Henry were the persons in the service Gordon described, and it was Bessie Shaw whose singing he transcribed in his article. Gordon's comment at the end of this recording indicates his awareness of the way in which the song was performed in context at church meeting. As mentioned in the note to "Brother Jonah," Henry Shaw was an important informant not only for Gordon but also for Lydia Parrish. As in Asheville, the outside collector relied upon local contacts, in this case the Shaws, for guidance and collectanea. Gordon recorded two other performances of this song (A308, GA97; A408, GA178) and an additional manuscript text (GA388) -- all from Georgia, and Ballanta- (Taylor) also published a version from St. Helena Island (pp. 6-7).