Doc McKenzie - Come By Here

Topic: Theology - Pentecostalism
Don McKenzie was raised in Saint Mark’s Holiness Church in Lake City, South Carolina. Its roots lay in the Holiness revivals held in the Carolinas in the 1880s. Some were open to Blacks, like one led by Elijah Lowney in Wilmington, North Carolina, 1892, [1] and some, like one held in Clinton, North Carolina, in 1896 by Abner Crumpler, had separate services for Blacks and whites. [2]

A number of groups who accepted the validity of the Azusa Street revival mentioned in the post for 7 December 2017 merged into the Pentecostal Holiness Church in Falcon, North Carolina, in 1911. [3] In 1913, the same year whites withdrew into the Assemblies of God, John Henry Pendergrass returned from its convention in Georgia convinced "leaving the Pentecostal Holiness Movement was inevitable." He and others formed the Believers Holiness Church two years later. Today the African-American conference has seventeen congregations, most in South Carolina. [4]

MacKenzie’s father, Leroy, was a deacon in the Lake City church, and historian for the conference. [5] Doc himself began attending church when he was three, led the choir when he was six, and was teaching Sunday School when he was eleven. The pastor gave him his nickname "because of his ability to ‘doctor’ just about anything." [6]

Lake City was located on the inland plain below the fall line in Florence County where Scots Irish had settled in 1736. The area grew with railroads just before the Civil War, and remained a rail center. During the period when the Holiness movement was spreading in the area, a mob murdered "the city’s black postmaster and his infant daughter." [7]

At some time, members of the extended McKenzie family began migrating north to Patterson, New Jersey. His sister, Beronzy, and her husband moved there after she graduated from high school in 1964. [8] She began singing with her cousin, Handy McFadden. Doc joined them a few years later. [9]

They made their first commercial record in 1981 for a small company, and one for Savoy in 1983 as Doc McKenzie and The Gospel Hi-Lites. He must have returned South in 1985, when he recorded under that name for Meltone Records of Atlanta. [10] He recorded "Come by Here" for Meltone in 1989, [11] when he was 40-years-old. [12]

His version followed the prelude-denouement format that began with a spoken introduction asking the Lord for a favor. He then sang verses that asked the Lord to come because "somebody needs You." After five verses, he was clear, "we need the Holy Ghost." He switched to a guttural voice on some lines, before chanting "we need You" in a list of places. He continued pleading for "one more touch" as the record ended.

The backup group emphasized the plea for the Lord to manifest Himself. In the first part, they finished his lines with "stop by here." During the denouement, they repeated "stop by" as McKenzie said he was praying.

Performers
Vocal Soloist: Doc McKenzie

Vocal Group: The Gospel Hi-Lites. They were all men on this recording.

Instrumental Accompaniment: piano, organ
Rhythm Accompaniment: drums

Notes on Lyrics
Language: English

Verses: come by here, need You, need a blessing, send a blessing, send a healing

Vocabulary
Pronoun: somebody, we, I
Term for Deity: Lord, Jesus
Special Terms: stop by here

Basic Form: prelude-denouement
Prelude
Verse Length: four lines

Line Repetition Pattern: AAAB, with slight variations in each repetition of A

Line Form: statement-refrain, with the form of the statements varying by verse

Denouement
Verse form: incremental repetition

Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: one tone, with a descent on the last words

Tempo: upbeat from the beginning, but the drummer began sounding more beats in the transition and continued during the denouement

Solo Singing Style: unornamented. McKenzie changed to gutteral phrases and shouts in the denouement.

Group Singing Style: chordal harmony.

Solo-Group Dynamics: they sang the first three lines of the early verses separately, and joined on the last. During the denouement, the group began repeating phrases that began after he sang the first word and continued while he finished.

Vocal-Accompaniment Dynamics: piano, guitar and drum began just before he began speaking, and continued throughout.

Notes on Performers
McKenzie recorded for Meltone, whose owner provided session musicians and backup singers. Melvin Couch also arranged concerts for his performers. However, he began having financial problems that led him to sell his recording studio to a drug dealer. That, in turn, led to investigations in 1990 by the Drug Enforcement Administration. [13]

McKenzie apparently responded by taking control of all his recordings and bookings. In 1990, he released six albums made for three companies: Savoy, Meltone, and Gospel AIR of Atlanta [14] I only found recent lists of members of The Gospel Hi-Lites.

His sister Beronzy stayed in Patterson where she was a "charter member of The Hope of Deliverance Church of God." She continued to sing with the Tribulation Ensemble and the Gospel Enchanters. [15]

At least two other sisters moved to Patterson: Teletha [16] and Ginnie. The latter left after graduating from high school in 1970, and moved back to Lake City. She sang in the Gospel Hi-Lites at one time. "She was a praise and worship leader and would sing whenever she was called on. She would sing at funeral services, conferences and revivals. She never said no when it came to singing, she loved to praise God in song." [17]

Availability
Album: That’s Why They Call Me Doc. Meltone 1501. 1989.

Reissue: That’s Why They Call Me Doc. Meltone 1501. 17 October 1990.

Reissue: That’s Why They Call Me Doc. Grammercy Records. 1 June 2004.

Reissue: The Best Of Doc McKenzie & The Gospel Hi-Lites. Grammercy Records. 5 May 2010. CD.

YouTube: uploaded by Gospel Experience on 23 February 2012.

End Notes
1. David D. Daniels, III. "Pentecostalism." 585-595 in Encyclopedia of African American Religions. Edited by Larry G. Murphy, J. Gordon Melton, and Gary L. Ward. Abington-on-Thames, Oxford: Routledge, 2013 edition. 587.

2. R. Michael Thornton. Fire in the Carolinas: The Revival Legacy of G. B. Cashwell and A. B. Crumpler. Lake Mary, Florida: Charisma Media, 2014. 61.

3. Wikipedia. "International Pentecostal Holiness Church."

4. "Our History." Believers Holiness Church Conference website. Dropping the word "Pentecostal" from its name may have had less to do with doctrine, and more with white connotations that were developing around word. The conference’s only comment on doctrine was "We strive by the leading of the Holy Ghost."

5. Believers Holiness Church.

6. South Carolina General Assembly. Joint Resolution S.1203, "To show appreciation to Doc McKenzie." Adopted 28 April 2004. The explanation for his name was ambiguous. I found no reference to him as a man with special healing skills.

7. Wikipedia. "Lake City, South Carolina."

8. Obituary for "Beronzy ‘Bea’ McKenzie." Carrie P. Bragg Funeral Home, Patterson, New Jersey.

9. SC General Assembly.

10. "Doc McKenzie And The Gospel Hi-Lites." Discogs website.

11. "Meltone Records." Just Gospel website.

12. SC General Assembly.

13. Melvin Couch. Power, Money, Music and the Almighty. With Kate E. Stephenson. New York: Welstar Publications, Inc., 2009. Chapter 12, "Scandalized My Name."

14. Wikipedia. "Doc McKenzie." Gospel AIR was owned by Alan Freeman’s Atlantic International Records. (Freeman’s Linked-In page)

15. Beronzy McKenzie.

16. Obituary for "Teletha (McKenzie) Horne." Legacy website.

17. Obituary for "Mary Delores ‘Ginnie’ McKenzie." Carrie P. Bragg Funeral Home, Patterson, New Jersey.