Lynda Randle - Kum Ba Ya

Topic: Theology - Evangelicals
I have no idea how many young people learned "Kumbaya" from evangelical youth groups in the 1970s. It became obvious when I was surveying versions on YouTube in December 2016 that one group who had not absorbed it into its repertoire was the Southern white gospel singers who had syndicated television shows in those years.

One reason may have been the associations of the song with commercial folk music and the protests of the 1960s. In the same way the National Association of Evangelicals had defined itself as the opposite of the National Council of Churches in 1943, [1] people had begun to define themselves as not "those" people. [2] By 1978, they even had competing versions of the Bible. [3]

As Del Delker discovered when she toured Seventh-day Adventists camp meetings with The Wedgewoods in 1967, it did not matter if their demeanor was wholesome and their songs Christian. When people saw their acoustic instruments, they refused to listen. [4]

Beyond this visceral reaction, there were theological reasons for the rejection of "Kumbaya." Gospel groups sang about the wonderful things Jesus would do for them, now and in the hereafter. Even with the legends described in the post for 19 December 2017, "Kumbaya" did not fit. It used "Lord" rather than "Jesus," and "someone" instead of "I."

Even more important, the summer camp singing tradition that produced "Kumbaya" differed from the Southern gospel one. As mentioned in the post for 29 October 2017, Lowell Mason began introducing post-Bach European harmonies into church music in his song books and singing schools in 1822. After the Civil War, the center for publishing singing-school books moved west, and after the great fire in Chicago in 1871, to Cincinnati. [5]

The heirs of the Scots Reformation rejected Mason’s aesthetic that submerged the individual’s voice into a anonymous mass supervised by a conductor. William Walker produced an alternative in his 1835 Southern Harmony. [6] Benjamin Franklin White and his brother-in-law, Elisha James King, followed with Sacred Harp in 1844. [7] These had four distinct parts, with the melody carried by the tenors, the second note of chords.

By 1900, two separate group singing traditions existed. In the North, singing schools in the Midwest included songs that survived in Camp Fire Girls camps. [8] In the South, groups held singing conventions where people singing the four parts were seated in separate areas, often along the four walls of a room. [9]

Singing schools became less popular in the North after recordings and radio introduced new forms of popular music. Northern churches responded with programs for youth groups that sometimes included summer camps. In the South, Virgil Stamps modernized his Dallas, Texas, music publishing business by sponsoring quartets that performed his songs on radio. [10] The most important was the Blackwood Brothers, who defined the quartet tradition until the technology of syndication opened the way for other artists. [11]

Individuals in the two singing schools learned to listen to different things. In the North, people did not hear themselves, but the total group. In the South, individuals learned to harmonize with others in their group and not hear the other voices. [12] When Bill Gaither invited surviving members of the gospel groups to come together, [13] they instinctively grouped themselves by voice when singing featured parts: tenors with tenors, basses with basses. [14]

"Kumbaya" used the basic triad of Bachian music, and most people transcribed it in parallel thirds, with the low voices singing octaves. There simply was no place for falsettos or basses. It was not amenable to Southern gospel quartet singing.

Eventually, Southern songbooks began using some of the harmonies found in popular music. Even then, groups retained their unique singing style. They strongly attacked the words that fell on the downbeats, but immediately softened the sound as they held the notes. This strong pulse gave momentum to the a capella music.

By 2008, many of the original quartet singers who performed on Gaither’s homecoming programs had died or retired, and been replaced by younger artists he was promoting. An African-American woman sang a version of "Kumbaya" that revealed lingering traces of these regional singing traditions.

To convert "Kumbaya" into a gospel song, Lynda Randle sang it as the prelude to Thomas Dorsey’s "Take My Hand, Precious Lord." Dorsey was a Black from Atlanta who had moved to Chicago where he accompanied Ma Rainey and recorded "Tight Like That." After his wife died in 1932, he wrote this song, and concentrated on religious music. [15]

Dorsey borrowed a tune from the Northern singing-school tradition, "Maitland," that first had appeared in George Allen’s Oberlin Social and Sabbath School Hymn Book in 1845. [16] Southern singing school editors criticized Mason for introducing "many new rhythmic forms" that were seen as "not only unnecessary and useless," but also as "positively injurious." [17] Michael Hawn noted Dorsey simplified Allen’s rhythm from 6/4 to 3/4. [18]

"Take My Hand" was performed by many black singers, and entered Southern tradition. Thus, when the Homecoming performance moved to this, everyone was able to sing because they knew both the words and their particular parts. Each group harmonized to produce a full sound. Further, they used the pulsing attacks to define an a capella rhythm.

The group had more trouble singing with Randle on "Kumbaya." One reason may have been the fact she actually was using the melody for "Come by Here" with somebody and the "needs you verse." Gaither, or someone, had determined in advance how they should accompany Randle’s singing. She had a resonant alto and did not incorporate the vocal flourishes used by Black sopranos.

The 1-5 melody popularized by the Hightowers was unfamiliar to those who did know the traditional form of "Kumbaya." Randle sang the first verse alone, and the group hummed while she did the two "Come by Here" verses. When she came to the familiar "Kumbaya" verses, they sang with her. To avoid problems with strange pronouns, they began on the verb in each line.

Once the group started, it fell into the sacred-harp cadences, and consistently was just a bit behind her. This was not an attempt to reproduce African-American singing practices, but was the result of each of them, Randle included, singing his or her part and ignoring the rest.

Jessy Dixon, a black gospel singer from Chicago, introduced some of the African-American embellishments, but only in the familiar "Take My Hand." He sometimes would sing above the line, especially when the group was holding a note at the end of a phrase. [19]

Gaither, who came from an area influenced by the Northern singing schools, probably hoped people would be able to harmonize on "Kumbaya" as he had done on the version described in the post for 17 December 2017. Instead, he created a medley of styles - Northern, Southern White, and African American - that were able to coexist because of the way singers in the Southern gospel tradition had learned to listen as children.

Performers
Vocal Soloist: Lynda Randle, alto
Vocal Group: men and women on stage
Vocal Director: Bill Gaither
Instrumental Accompaniment: none
Rhythm Accompaniment: none

Credits
None for "Kumbaya." The lyrics provided on YouTube were not the ones that were sung.

Notes on Lyrics
Language: English

Pronunciation: she varied the pronunciation of the first syllable of kumbaya

Verses: Randle sang kumbaya, come by here, needs you, praying, crying. YouTube listed kumbaya, singing, laughing, crying, praying, sleeping.

Vocabulary
Pronoun: Randle used somebody; YouTube gave "someone"
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none

Basic Form: four-verse song framed by kumbaya verses at start and end. First part was "Come by Here," second was "Kumbaya."

Verse Repetition Pattern: AxxxxA

Ending: none; You Tube indicated "Oh Lord, kumbaya" was repeated twice.

Unique Features: "Come by Here" form with "Kumbaya" title combined in a medley that circumscribed its meaning.

Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: Hightowers 1-5
Tempo: very slow

Basic Structure: repetition with variations in vocal accompaniment.

Singing Style: Randle held notes and sometimes varied their pitch, but otherwise allotted one note to one syllable. Only a pause separated "Kumbaya" from "Take My Hand."

Solo-Vocal Accompaniment Dynamics: the group hummed while she sang some verses, and, on others, sang the same words with chordal harmony.

Notes on Performance
Occasion: videotaping session for a Bill Gaither Homecoming program

Location: the set featured a large, circular brick fireplace with a dogtrot cabin in back. Older singers sat in rocking chairs and younger ones in three tiers of bleachers placed in a wide arc around the fire pit.

Microphones: Randle and some of the other singers had hand-held mikes.

Clothing: casual; Randle wore blue jeans and a yellow shirt.

Notes on Movement
During this video the singers did not leave their places. Some had their eyes closed and arms raised. Gaither stood to direct them during "Take My Hand."

Audience Perceptions
Most of the comments were general, and many may have been intended for "Take My Hand." One man said "Lynda Randles has such a great awesome amazing manufic fantastic exotic healing and touching voice." [20]

There was one who asked the meaning of the word "kumbaya," one who gave the words in Indonesian, [21] and one who repeated "kumbaya mi Señor" with two hearts. [22]

Notes on Performers
Randle was raised in northeastern Washington DC, and attended a private Baptist secondary school in Prince George County, Maryland. [23] She met her husband when she was a student at Liberty University. [24] They now live in Kansas City, Missouri, where he heads a church whose core beliefs echo those of the NAE. [25]

Family genealogists have tracked the family back to Clarke County in southwestern Alabama where Wyatt Tate died in 1894. [26] The family moved to Mobile. [27] Later, her father, who was born in 1922, [28] moved to Washington where he became a street evangelist and later pastor of New Bible Church. [29] He also drove a taxi [30] to provide a middle-class life for his children. Randle’s brother, Michael Tait, attended the same schools and sang with Contemporary Christian groups. [31]

Race is a nagging question whenever one sees, in Randle’s words, a few chocolate chips in a sea of vanilla. [32] Ryan Harper [33] believed she deliberately downplayed her childhood in a large city and teen-age role integrating a white Christian preserve, by emphasizing it was years before "she really experienced the freedom from bondage that only God could give" from a "tumultuous and painful" childhood. [34]

It would have been impossible for her to make her white audience comfortable if they had known her great-grandfather Wyatt did not just die in Finchburg, Alabama. In 1892, when the radical Holiness movement was spreading in the South and Midwest, poor white farmers in the county ambushed merchants who were exploited them. [35] They were suppressed in 1893, the same year Wyatt killed a constable "who attempted to serve a writ of attachment on him." He became a fugitive until he was killed. [36]

Availability
DVD: "Kum Ba Ya/Take My Hand, Precious Lord (Medley)." A Campfire Homecoming. 2008.

YouTube: uploaded by GaitherVEVO, 6 September 2012.

End Notes
1. The NAE was discussed in the post for 15 December 2017.

2. The song that most defined the dichotomy between upstanding Christians and "them" was Merle Haggard’s "Okie from Muskogee" released by Capital Records in 1969. (Capital 2626).

3. The National Council of Churches sponsored the Revised Standard Version that released its Old Testament in 1952. It was criticized as too Jewish, because passages were translated in ways that did not fit Protestant views. (Wikipedia. "Revised Standard Version.")

The National Association of Evangelicals and other groups responded by underwriting their own translation. The New International Version was published in 1978. (Wikipedia. "New International Version.")

4. Delker and the Wedgewoods were discussed in the post for 3 December 2017.

5. Camp Songs, Folk Songs. 483.

6. William Walker. The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion. Spartanburg, South Carolina: William Walker, 1835.

7. B. F. White and E. J. King. The Sacred Harp. Philadelphia: T. K. and P. G. Collins, 1844.

8. I discovered the significance of singing schools when I was tracking down endemic camp songs. I was living in Chicago and went through all the books in the Moody Bible Institute collection of materials from camp meetings and singing schools. Camp Songs mentioned particular songs, camps, and songbooks that demonstrated the link on page 434.

9. James B. Wallace. "Stormy Banks and Sweet Rivers: A Sacred Harp Geography." Southern Spaces website. 4 June 2007.

10. Jeannette Fresne. "History of the Stamps Baxter Singing Schools and Normal School of Music." Journal of Historical Research in Music Education 30:21-38:2008. Stamps was a Methodist in the Holiness tradition. He made clear when he scheduled a singing school in a church, people from all denominations could attend.

11. James R. Goff. Close Harmony. Pub info: UNC Press Books. 2002. 135-138+. The company told the quartet to change from guitar to piano because the songbooks were scored for piano. (138). The resulting piano style was publicized by Jerry Lee Lewis.

12. You can gain some idea of the concentration required to sing independent parts by watching some videos of The Happy Goodmans singing "The Sweetest Name I Know." In the version from 1998 uploaded by sendale Braveheart on 20 June 2016, Howard Goodman was playing the piano. Another version with their sons was uploaded 21 March 2013 by newhavenvideos.

13. The Homecoming videos grew out a 1991 informal session that followed a recording by members of many of the best-known Southern gospel quartets in Nashville. (Wikipedia. "Gaither Homecoming.") The first programs maintained the spontaneity of the first session, but as more were produced a structured format with rehearsals was introduced.

14. In the session where Randle sang "Kumbaya," the group also performed the Goodman’s "Sweetest Song." During the repetitions, one could see the tenors group together as one after another sang Howard’s part. One of the soloists was Johnny Minick who joined Howard and Vestal after their sons died. It was uploaded to YouTube by GaitherVEVO on 6 September 2012 and released on the Homecoming Picnic DVD.

Some of the performance was planned, but what could not be rehearsed was the way people interacted and the obvious joy they had singing. They especially appreciated the introduction of new soloists that allowed them to continue singing.

15. Ian Hill. "‘Georgia Tom’ Dorsey (1899-1993)." New Georgia Encyclopedia website. 11 March 2005, last updated 15 April 2013.

16. George Nelson Allen. Oberlin Social and Sabbath School Hymn Book. Oberlin, Ohio: J. M. Fitch, 1845.

17. J. B. Aikin. Christian Minstrel. Philadelphia: T. K. and P. G. Collins, 1846. 5.

18. C. Michael Hawn. "History of Hymns: ‘Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone’." The United Methodist Church Discipleship Ministries website.

19. Dixon was a protégé of James Cleveland, who, as mentioned in the post for 21 September, had learned from Dorsey. After religious music tastes changed, Dixon toured with Paul Simon in the 1970s. He began appearing of Gaither’s Homecoming programs in 1996. (Wikipedia. "Jessy Dixon" and "Gaither Homecoming.")

20. Murphy Mohapi. YouTube comment, October 2017.

21. "Kumbaya my Lord, Kumbaya! Datanglah oh Tuhan, datanglah! (Indonesian Ver.)" YouTube comment by Rillo Hans. March 2017.

22. Clady Diaz. YouTube comment, 2016.

23. "Tait, Michael." Contemporary Black Biography. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Thomson Gale, 2005.

24. Ryan P. Harper. The Gaithers and Southern Gospel. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2017. 224.

25. "Our Core Convictions." Mosaic Bible Fellowship website.
26. "Wyatt Tate." Geni website. 7 November 2014.

27. Jim Harris. "The Tait Man (Wyatt Tait) Family Home Page." Genealogy website. 5 September 2000.

28. "Reverend Nathaniel)Nathel James Tait, Sr." Geni website. 18 October 2016.
29. Bill Broadway. "On Christian Rock’s Cutting Edge." The Washington Post, 20 April 1996.
30. Harper. 224.
31. Contemporary Black. He sang with dc Talk and with the Newsboys.
32. Harper. 220. 
33. Harper discussed race, identity and self presentation in his chapter on Randle.
34. "Biography." Lynda Randle Ministries website.
35. Wikipedia. "Clarke County, Alabama" and "Mitcham War."
36. "The Outlaw’s End." The Monroe Journal [Claiborne, Alabama], 17 May 1894. 1.