Jay McGee - Come By Here

Topic: Rap
Secular rappers usually treated "kumbaya" as a string of syllables with rhythmic potential. The first two I discussed began with strong consonants and rhymed with the traditional representation of German brass bands, "oom-pah." The second two used open syllables that rhymed. A few treated the word or song as a generic symbol without amplification.

African Americans who wanted to use rap to advance evangelical goals tended to use "Come by Here," not "Kumbaya," especially if they had spent their early years in the southeastern United States. Thus, Leon, who came from Miami, used one verse as the chorus in his chanted descriptions of conversion experiences. [1]

Jay McGee was born in Lumberton, North Carolina, [2] and raised in Fayetteville [3] in the state’s sand hills. [4] He began performing in the late 1970s [5] when soul and disco were the primary music forms. Libra Boyd believed his singing style had been influenced by Sam Cooke and Johnnie Taylor, [6] both of whom began in gospel quartets.

In 2001 McGee wrote his own version of "Come by Here" that served the original ritual functions. The four-line verses described people in need and asked the Lord to intervene. While the group sang "come by here Lord" eight times as a chorus, he sang fragments of common verses like "we need you" and "please make some time."

After two repetitions of a verse-and-chorus, McGee changed from stating the reasons the Lord was needed to a more passionate request for His presence. This was similar to the free-form witnessing in Evelyn Turrentine-Agee’s version in which a woman spoke about her problems. [7] However, McGee followed MC Hollywood’s example and spoke in time to the syncopated drum rhythm. [8] The rapped lines were longer than the sung ones, but still were rhymed couplets.

After the rapped appeal, McGee sang two more verses that described humans in need before changing his pace again. While the chorus continued its role of repeating "come by here," he sang more extended lines asking for a healing that would come from the Lord appearing for "a little while."

This was followed by an instrumental section in which the keyboard took over the melody. Previously, the piano had played broken chords at the ends of lines. The chorus was repeated one more time, with McGee singing "come by here" instead of the improvised appeals used earlier. It grew softer and faded away at the end.

Performers
Vocal Soloist: Jay McGee
Vocal Group: men and women, not identified
Instrumental Accompaniment: keyboard
Rhythm Accompaniment: drums

Credits
(C) 2003 Beacon Records Inc. [9]
(P) 2003 J. McGee [10]

Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: strongly reflected the drum beat
Verses: come by here, own

Vocabulary
Pronoun: somebody
Term for Deity: Lord, Father (once)
Special Terms: need a healing

Basic Form: verse-chorus
Sung Verse Form
Verse Length: four lines
Verse Rhyme Pattern: AABB
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Line Meter: iambic (xX)
Line Length: ten syllables (pentameter)

Rapped Verse Form
Verse Length: eight lines
Verse Rhyme Pattern: rhymed couplets
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Line Meter: iambic
Line Length: 11 to 16 syllables

Chorus Verse Form:
Verse Length: four lines that repeated "come by here Lord" twice
Line Form: call-response

Line Repetition Pattern: calls sung by McGee were all unique, refrains all the same

Ending: none
Unique Features: variations in verse form

Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-1-3
Tempo: moderate

Basic Structure: AABAAB₁ where A was sung, B was partly rapped, and B₁ was partly instrumental.

Solo Singing Style: some syllables were sung on more than one note as a way to extend syllables rather than as melismatic accents.

Solo-Group Dynamics: McGee began each line, and chorus joined. Chorus sang "come by here" over and over" while he varied how much of the line he sang.

Vocal-Accompaniment Dynamics: drums provided the beat and piano played flourishes at the ends of lines. During the instrumental break, the keyboard played the melody to the same rhythm.

Notes on Performers
McGee was born in 1950. His father was a singer, and he began singing in church when he was four-years-old. He settled in Flint in 1968, then moved to Toronto, Canada, in 1974. [11] He made his first records for a Belgium company, Scorpio Records, then did an album for a Canadian company, Quantum. [12] While he remained unknown in this country, one of his songs, "Another Love in Your Life," was nominated for the Best R&B Song for the Canadian Juno awards. [13]

He moved back to Flint in 2001 and, after he "received Christ Jesus as my Lord and Savior." began producing his own religious records. [14]

Availability
CD: No Walls. Cousin Marie’s Music. 2001. [15]

Reissue: No Walls. Beacon Records, Inc. 3 June 2003. [16]

YouTube: uploaded by CDBaby on 23 June 2015.

End Notes
1. For more on Leon’s version, see post for 30 March 2018.
2. Toby Walker. "Jay W. McGee." Soul Walking website.
3. "About Jay McGee." Facebook.
4. Wikipedia. "Fayetteville, North Carolina."
5. Walker.
6. Libra Boyd. "‘Stand Up!’ - Jay McGee." Gospel Music Fever website. 16 August 2013.
7. For more on version by Evelyn Turrentine-Agee, see post for 6 August 2017.
8. MC Hollywood’s contribution to rap was described in the post for 22 March 2018.
9. Amazon page for "No Walls."
10. YouTube notes.
11. Walker.
12. "Jay W. McGee." Discogs website.
13. "Jay McGee." LinkedIn.
14. LinkedIn.
15. "Jay McGee – No Walls." Discogs website.
16. Amazon and YouTube.