Six-Line Format - Come by Here

Topic: Early Versions
"Kumbaya" developed as a version within the "Come by Here" song cluster in the 1950s. Chee Hoo Lum [1] and Stephen Winick [2] have established the original song was circulating in coastal Georgia and South Carolina in the 1920s where an African-American creole language called Gullah survived from slavery times.

It then existed in two forms. One repeated a single line six times: AAAAAA. The other repeated a single line three times, with a different fourth line: AAAB. The sestet was the more widely diffused.

Floyd Thorp combined four stanzas describing Daniel in the lion’s den with "Lord, I am worthy now" and "Lordy won’t you come by here." He was recorded in 1926 near Darien, Georgia, by Robert Winslow Gordon. [3]

None of his verses used the statement-refrain format. The inclusion of verses from other songs was characteristic of this improvised form. "Daniel was recorded as a separate song by the Norfolk Jubilee Quartet in 1927. [4]

The six-line verse was then known in Atlanta where Clara Hudman recorded a commercial version in 1930. She began with "needed time" and ended with "won’t you come by here." Another sestet asked the Lord if He would hear her pray. When she began humming, a man in the background sang "won’t you hear my cry" while two women made comments. [5]

It had been recorded earlier in Chicago by Charles Henry Pace who was born in Atlanta and moved to Chicago around 1900. [6] Verses sung in 1927 by the Pace Jubilee Singers included "this is a needed time," "won’t you stop by here," and "oh Lordy, won’t you hear my cry." One verse referred to a gambler. [7]

The next year Daniel Brown recorded a version in Chicago with the verse "Lord won’t you come by here." The others were entreaties to the Lord to hear him pray, groan, and cry, along with a line from "Standing in the Need of Prayer." [8] Nothing more is known about him.

Even less is known about another version recorded in Camden, New Jersey, in 1923 by the Bethel Jubilee Quartet. Victor never released "Now Is the Needy Time." [9] All that survived were the names of the men paid to sing: Thomas H. Wiseman, H. S. Allen, A. C. Brogdon, and J. C. Eubanks. [10] Wiseman was a minister in Chicago when he organized the group. [11]

The six-line form also moved into Alabama where Ruby Pickens Tartt collected a version in Sumpter County that combined three of Pace’s verses with "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" and "I’m goin’ down in your name." Her unidentified source began the third lines with "Oh Lord." The other five started with just "Lord." [12]

Lightnin’ Hopkins recorded this version in Houston in 1952 as "Needed Time." Like the other sestets it was a loose combination of repeated verses: "come by here," "come if you don’t stay long," "praying," "praying on my knees."

It differed from the others because Hopkins was a blue musician, who was more familiar with the AAB blue format. As mentioned in the post for 21 August 2018, he began singing the AAAAAA form, but then changed to AAABBB. At one point, he adopted the blue form within the sestet. [13]

Hopkins’s recording crystalized into a distinct version like "Kumbaya." Inez Andrews’ "It’s a Needed Time" became a similar node in the cluster. Her 1965 performance was discussed in the post for 27 August 2018.

End Notes
These versions will be discussed in more detail in future posts.

1. Chee Hoo Lum. "A Tale of ‘Kum Ba Yah’." Kodaly Envoy 33(3):5-11:2007. Copy provided by Lum.

2. Stephen Winick. "The World’s First ‘Kumbaya’ Moment: New Evidence about an Old Song." Folklife Center News 34(3-4):3-10:2010.

3. Floyd Thorp. "Daniel in the Lion’s Den." Collected by Robert Winslow Gordon near Darien, Georgia, 1926. Archives of American Folk Song.

4. Norfolk Jubilee Quartet. "Daniel In The Lion’s Den." Paramount 12499. New York. February1927.

5. Clara Hudman. "Lordy Won’t You Come by Here." Okeh. Atlanta, Georgia. 12 December 1930.

6. Cassandra Pritts. "Charles Henry Pace Gospel Music Collection." University of Pittsburgh library website. April 2003.

7. Pace Jubilee Singers. "Lawdy Won’t You Come By Here." Brunswick 7009. 1927.
8. Daniel Brown. "Now Is the Needy Time." Paramount 12663. Chicago. May 1928.

9. Bethel Jubilee Quartet. "Now Is the Needy Time." Victor B-28188. Camden, New Jersey, 13 July 1923. Not issued and the masters were destroyed.

10. Craig Martin Gibbs. Black Recording Artists, 1877-1926: An Annotated Discography. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, Inc., Publishers, 2013.

University of California, Santa Barbara, Library. Discography of American Historical Recordings. Library website.

11. Dave Lewis. "Uncle Dave Lewis presents Rainbow 1092: Homer Rodeheaver & and the Wiseman Sextet." YouTube. 2 January 2014

12. "Lord, Won’t You Come by Here." Alabama Department of Archives and History. "Lyrics and some musical scores" folder 3. Unnumbered typescript. 60.

13. See post for 21 August 2018 for recording details.