No musical style lasts forever. Various forms of swing developed in the Depression, and big bands became associated with World War II. Frank Sinatra changed the focus from musicians to the vocalist in 1942. [1] Elvis Presley didn’t modify the vocal-soloist format so much as he altered the instrumental accompaniment and redirected the emphasis from the song to the performance.
The commercial folk music that featured vocal groups like The Kingston Trio [2] lasted from 1958 to 1968. The general musical style continued with solo artists like Judy Collins, John Denver, Donovan, and Cat Stevens who were played by Middle of the Road radio stations that promoted themselves as a melodic alternative to ones playing rock. [3] Their lyrics dealt more with personal problems than political ones.
The pivotal event was the election of Richard Nixon in 1968. His national security advisor, Henry Kissinger, made clear the administration would ignore demonstrations and escalate the war in southeast Asia. The lottery was introduced in December 1969 to counter protests against the draft. The final blow to student activism was dealt by National Guardsmen who killed protestors at Kent State University in May 1970. [4] Earth Day replaced political protests as a vehicle for change. [5]
During this tumultuous period, Tommy Leonetti converted "Kumbaya" from an improvised, a la carte, secular song into a ballad of religious salvation. He reordered the verses into a narrative sequence beginning with crying, then praying. He turned the "come by here" stanza into a spoken interlude asking the Lord to intercede on his behalf. This was followed by an expression of thanks in the singing verse and a repetition of kumbaya.
It was an anomalous recording because it seems to have been a one record contract with no expectations for further work. [6] Leonetti had never had a major hit record. Most recently he had had a secondary, recurring role on the television series Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. [7]
The recording probably was made in mid September, before Leonetti went to Australia to begin hosting a ten-week variety program on a local television station. [8] The record was "being rushed for a holiday release" on 14 December 1968. [9] That was one week after he registered his copyright, [10] and would have been just after his commitment in Sydney ended.
Bill Justis was given credit for the arrangement, [11] and Leonetti’s wife, Cindy Robbins, wrote the spoken part. [12] The sheet music, as so often was the case, named Otto Zucker and Leonetti as the recipients of the royalties. Zucker was a pen name for Justis. [13]
Justis had been an arranger for Sun Records in the 1950s where he worked with artists like Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis. [14] He left Sun in 1959, and worked for Mercury Records between 1962 and 1966. Next, he moved to Los Angeles. [15]
In 1968, he probably was working as a free-lance arranger, and maintaining contacts with people in Nashville. [16] The year before, Carl Perkins, a former Sun artist, had written "Daddy Sang Bass." Cash,, another early Sun performer, recorded it in October 1968, [17] but gossip already may have spreading about his planned religious album before he entered the studio. [18]
For those in the music industry, "Daddy Sang Bass" may have signaled the existence of a market for songs that reworked familiar folk-song material. Perkins alluded to the Carter Family’s "Can the Circle Be Unbroken," which James Leisy had noted already was popular among folk-revival musicians in 1966. [19]
"Daddy Sang Bass" entered Billboard’s country charts on 7 December. The next week, Cash Box ran a full-page advertisement for Leonetti’s record that featured a white circle against a wheat field. The headline was "This Time We’ll Listen" and the interlude was reprinted in the circle.
The bottom of the ad proclaimed "The light of love shines out of the ‘dark continent’." It promised the "African folk song [. . .] expresses the needs and hopes of the times." [20]
Performers
Vocal Soloist: Tommy Leonetti
Vocal Group: at least one man and one woman
Vocal Director: Bill Justis
Instrumental Accompaniment: something like a single violin (seems too early for a synthesizer)
Rhythm Accompaniment: drum, perhaps a bongo or snare drum with the wires loosened
Credits
Sheet music
Adaption and Arrangement by Otto Zucker and Tommy Leonetti
Copyright © 1968 by Cintom Music Co., Los Angeles, Calif.
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: koom by YAH
Verses: kumbaya, cryin’, prayin’, hears you, come by here, singin’
Vocabulary
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: 6-verse song with spoken interlude between verses 3 and 4
Verse Repetition Pattern: kumbaya sung as first and last verses
Notes on Music
Sheet music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Time Signature: 3/4
Tempo: moderately
Key Signature: no sharps or flats; changes to two sharps
Guitar/Autoharp Chords: C F G changed to D G A
Recording
Basic Structure: changes in key and volume underscore the progression of the lyrics
Singing Style: one syllable to one note except for final "Lord"
Solo-Group Dynamics: Leonetti generally blended into the group, except for the recitation when he spoke and the group hummed
Vocal-Accompaniment Dynamics: a single hand drum was used throughout; during the recitation a violin-like instrument was added as a descant
Notes on Performance
Cover art on sheet music: profile of woman’s head with a single rose in front of it. It was a green on white lithograph.
Notes on Audience
"Kum Ba Yah" entered the Billboard Easy Listening chart on 29 December 1968, and slowly rose to fourth place on 1 March 1969. It stayed in the position for a week, then fell to #11 on 22 March 1969. It disappeared in a few more weeks, [21] but was ranked #25 on Billboard’s 1969 year-end list of top Easy Listening singles. [22]
The record penetrated Billboard’s popular music chart on 18 January 1969 in the 93rd position [23] and was # 90 on Cash Box’s list for that week. [24] It peaked at # 54 in Billboard on 8 March [25]
In total, radio stations were actively programming the record for three months from the end of December 1968 until the end of March 1969. Before that, some disc jockeys were telling Billboard they were broadcasting it. [26]
Notes on Performers
Leonetti’s parents were Italian immigrants who settled in Bergen County, New Jersey. [27] He began singing with his sisters with Tony Pastor’s band in 1946. [28] By the middle 1950s, Leonetti was being promoted by mobsters who controlled the juke boxes at the time. [29] He later joined Your Hit Parade’s cast in its final season. [30]
He was raised in the Roman Catholic church, but didn’t consider himself particularly devout. When he was battling cancer in 1977, he told a reporter "I’m not religious, but I do believe that God’s natural laws work." He added:
"I believe that God’s laws work through whatever dogmatic package you want to put them in. They all work for us in the most natural ways and on an impartial basis. The simple premise is what you sow, you reap. And man sows something every minute of the day, by every thought he thinks and, in turn, man reaps either the benefit or the destruction of those thoughts. I think prayer works in exactly that way — you don’t have to get on your knees and pray for 15 minutes. The moment you’ve thought it, you’ve prayed, the thought form is registered and energy is given to it." [31]
Leonetti’s wife also may have been raised as a Catholic. Cynthia Robinaux was raised in southeastern Louisiana. [32] She played minor roles in television before her marriage to Leonetti. [33] While she was in Australia, she published a children’s book, Little Dream, about a spirit waiting to be born as someone’s dream come true. [34]
Justis’ lived in Birmingham, but moved to Memphis where he was sent to a Roman Catholic high school. [35] He may not have been particularly religious: his memorial service was held by a funeral home. [36] However, his daughter was buried as a Baptist. Her obituary indicated his estate had established a music scholarship fund at Belmont College. [37]
His wife remembered "that in church everyone would sing the melody and Justis would hum an arrangement around it." [38]
Availability
Single: Tommy Leonetti. "Kum Ba Yah." Decca 32421. 1968. [39]
YouTube: Tommy Leonetti. "Kumbaya." Uploaded by The Orchard Enterprises on 8 November 2014.
Sheet Music: Otto Zucker and Tommy Leonetti. "Kum Ba Yah (Come By Here)." Miami Beach: Charles Hansen Publication.
End Notes
1. Wikipedia. "Frank Sinatra."
2. The Kingston Trio was discussed in the post for 13 October 2019.
3. Wikipedia. "Adult Contemporary (Chart)." At the time, Billboard used the term "Easy Listening" and described it as "middle-of-the-road." [40]
4. Wikipedia. "Opposition to United States Involvement in the Vietnam War."
5. Wikipedia. "Earth Day." Agitation for Earth Day began in 1969, and the first one in this country was held in April 1970, three weeks before the shootings at Kent State in Ohio.
6. A different record company released a single Leonetti made with his stepdaughter on 4 June 1968. Bill Justis was the producer. [41] His wife’s daughter, Kimberly Beck, had small roles in a few films, including Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. [42]
7. Wikipedia. "Tommy Leonetti." He appeared as Corporal Nick Cuccinelli in the 1964–1965 season.
8. Item. The Sydney [Australia] Morning Herald. 28 September 1968. 208. " He arrived this week."
9. "Tommy Leonetti Inked By Decca." Cash Box. 14 December 1968. I6.
10. United States Copyright Office. Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third series. July-December 1969. 1817. "Appl. states previous reg 2 Dec 68."
11. Randy Dennis posted a copy of the record label when he uploaded a copy of "Kum Ba Yah" to YouTube on 12 April 2018. The label read "arranged and produced by Bill Justis."
12. Cash Box, Leonetti.
13. The copyright application read: w. Tommy Leonetti, adaptation and arr. William Justiss, a. k. a. Otto Zucker. [43]
14. Wikipedia. "Bill Justis."
15. "Bill Justis." Rockabilly website.
16. The biographies are vague for this period. So far as I could discover on the internet, Justis had no earlier projects with Decca.
17. Johnny Cash. "Daddy Sang Bass." Columbia 4-44689. 1968.
Wikipedia. "Daddy Sang Bass."
18. Cash went to Israel after he married June Carter on 1 March 1968. [44] In January 1969, Columbia issued his The Holy Land [45] that included tapes he made on the trip. [46]
19. James F. Leisy. The Folk Song Abecedary. New York: Bonanza Books, 1966. 52. "It is quite popular today with banjo-flailing city billies." Leisy was discussed in the posts for 15 December 2019, 22 December 2019, and 9 February 2020.
20. Advertisement for "Kum Ba Yah." Cash Box. 14 December 1968. 27. Everything was in capital letters.
21. Billboard website. Adult Contemporary Charts.
22. "Top Easy Listening Singles - 1969." Billboard. 27 December 1969. 17.
23. Len. "New this week in ’69: January 18." 45 Ruminations Per Megabyte website. 19 January 2019.
24. Bob Lovely. "Cash Box Top 100 Singles. Week ending February 1, 1969." Posted to "Weekly Top 10 - February 1, 1969" thread in Music Corner section of Steve Hoffman’s website.
25. "Tommy Leonetti. Chart History. Hot 100." Billboard website.
26. Billboard promoted it the first time the week before the advertisement appeared in Cash Box. Disc jockeys were alerted it "comes out of left field with a beautiful interpretation of this haunting folk ballad, enhanced by moving narration. Could easily prove a surprise winner." [47] Bob Ouelette of Longview, Texas, [48] and Terry Green in Wichita, Kansas, [49] listed it as their "best littlefield pick" on 14 December 1968 and 28 December 1968.
27. "Tommy Leonetti." Find a Grave website. 19 May 2003.
Pam R. "Domenico Rocco Leonetti." Find a Grave website. 16 February 2014. His father.
Pam R. "Domenica Mira Leonetti." Find a Grave website. 16 February 2014. His mother.
28. "Tommy Leonetti, 50, a Singer On ‘Your Hit Parade’ in 1957-58." The New York Times. 18 September 1979. B17.
29. Gus Russo said Leonetti’s agent was John Ambrosia, and that he was "personally handled by the notorious Felix "Milwaukee Phil" Alderisio. [50] The Washington Post noted Leonetti "was cleared of any involvement before he was called" by the Senate Labor Rackets Committee. [51]
30. Your Hit Parade began on television in 1953. Russell Arms, Dorothy Collins, Snooky Lanson, and Gisèle MacKenzie sang the top seven songs each week. Viewership fell after the advent of Presley. In 1957, the producers replaced the cast with Alan Copeland, Jill Corey, Virginia Gibson, and Leonetti. It wasn’t enough to save the show and it was cancelled in 1958. [52]
31. Sue Rhodes. "Tommy Leonetti: My Battle with Cancer." The Australian Women’s Weekly. 21 December 1977. 19–21. Quotations, page 21.
32. Estienne Robichaut was one of the original settlers in French Acadia, and Robichauds were among the Cajun migrants to Louisiana. [53] However, she was born in Hammond, Louisiana, [54] which was not a Cajun community. [55]
33. Wikipedia. "Cindy Robbins."
34. Cynthia Leonetti. Little Dream. Roseberry, New South Wales, Australia: Sungravure, 1969. Tanya Murray summarized the plot. [56] Marianne published posts from several people who recalled the importance of the book to them as children. [57]
35. Wikipedia. "Bill Justis."
36. "Justis Services Set Tomorrow." The [Nashville] Tennessean. 18 July 1982. 16.
37. "Karen Leigh Justis." The [Nashville] Tennessean website. 9 February 2017. Belmont College was affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention until 2007. [58]
38. Yvonne Harris Justis. Quoted by "Heritage of Sun Records." 706 Union Avenue website.
39. "Tommy Leonetti – Kum Ba Yah." Discogs website.
40. Billboard. 14 December 2019. 56.
41. Tommy Leonetti With Daughter Kim. "Let’s Take A Walk." Columbia 4-44568. Released 4 June 1968. Source: Discogs website for song. The other side was "All the Brave Young Faces of the Night."
42. Wikipedia. "Kimberly Beck."
43. United States Copyright Office.
44. Wikipedia. "Johnny Cash."
45. Johnny Cash. The Holy Land. Columbia KCS 9726 . 1969.
46. Wikipedia. "The Holy Land (Album)."
47. "Top 60 Pop Spotlight" listing of records predicted to reach the top 60 of the Top 100 Chart." Billboard. 7 December 1968. 64.
48. Item in "Programming Aids." Billboard. 14 December 1968. 40.
49. Item in "Programming Aids." Billboard. 28 December 1968. 22.
50. Gus Russo. The Outfit. New York: Bloomsbury, 2003. 191.
51. "Tommy Leonetti, 50, Band Singer." The Washington Post website. 23 September 1979.
52. Norman Felsenthal. "Your Hit Parade." Museum of Broadcast Communications. Encyclopedia of Television. Edited by Horace Newcomb. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.
53. Tim Hebert. "The True Acadian Period: 1604-1755." Acadian-Cajun website.
54. Wikipedia, Cindy Robbins.
55. Wikipedia. "Hammond, Louisiana" and "Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana."
56. Tanya Murray. "Dreams Fulfilled." Suburban Jubilee website. 19 May 2010.
57. Marianne. "Look what I found next to the Funk & Wagnalls." Sunderwrap website. 3 April 2011.
58. Wikipedia. "Belmont University."
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