Johannine Hymnal - Cum-ba-Ya

Topic: Religious Folk Music Revival
The introduction of guitars, group harmonies, and songs from the commercial folk-music revival into religious music was suggested by Vatican II. [1] It became a reality in the United States when Ray Repp recorded his Mass For Young Americans in 1966. [2] While the album contained all the elements of a traditional mass—the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei—it also contained a group of Psalms and Refrains. It was the latter, especially "Here We Are" and "Clap Your Hands," that entered the summer, resident camp repertoire. [3]

If singers expected to find Repp’s songs when they bought the Roman Catholic’s Johannine Hymnal in 1970, they were disappointed. [4] Michael Gilligan’s idea of post-Vatican II music was to write new texts to old melodies that could be accompanied by guitar. There was no expectation that congregations would actually sing. The editors said:

"one voice alone cannot be an effective support for the people. Instead, we suggest a small group of trained singers (a schola) be used for this purpose. Occasionally a larger group, singing in parts (a choir), may alternate verses for hymn with the people." [5]

In contrast, Thomas Blackburn watched Repp tell an audience in Kansas

"he was going to sing some of his new songs and invited the people to join in. Although almost no one in the crowd had heard the songs before--the record album was released that day - almost everyone sang along." [6]

Both Repp and Gilligan were seminary students during the Vatican conference, but Repp’s school was founded by Vincentians, [7] while Gilligan’s University of Saint Mary of the Lake was influenced by Jesuits. [8] Just as important, Repp was from the Saint Louis area, [9] where German singing traditions persisted, [10] while Gilligan was studying in urban Chicago where Italians, Poles, and other Catholic groups predominated.

Only one song was borrowed from popular music, the Youngblood’s "Get Together," and one came from the commercial folk-music revival, "We Shall Overcome." Eight were identified as Black spirituals, but the original words were used for only four: "He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands," "Amen," "Let Us Break Bread Together," and "Come by Here."

Like the Lutherans, Chicago Catholics did not grow up with African-American music. This was partly because the two denominations conferred membership to individuals soon after birth. They had no need for the revivals and camp meetings of Protestants descended from the Anglo-Scots Reformation.

After the Civil War, Methodists and Baptists were in the South educating newly liberated slaves. Roman Catholics were dealing with an influx of new immigrants from Europe.

Lutherans and Catholics used a standard liturgy with music selected to fit the ritual year. Anglo-Scots denominations had a general order of service that allowed singing between segments. While these originally were psalms, and then hymns that explicated the Bible, after Charles Wesley the gospel songs were more focused on the feeling of religious salvation. It was easier for them to bring popular songs into the service.

The differences were clear in the two versions of "Kumbaya." "Come by Here" and its West Indian equivalent, "Cum-by-Yah," shared five verses with the standard song: come by here, someone’s crying, praying, singing, and shouting.

Beginning seminary students at Saint Mary of the Lake’s Niles campus wrote an additional eight verses to "Cum-ba-Yah" that revealed they had no genuine understanding of the repetitive formulas used in African-American spirituals and white camp-meeting songs. They maintained the AAAB format, but ignored the use of a constant refrain within lines.

They converted the song into a prayer with lines like "Fill our hearts, O Lord, with your peace" and "For your Church, O Lord, intercede." The term "O Lord" was used when the first part of the line had fewer syllables than the melody. It did not occur to them to use some form of portamento to cover the difference. They already had changed the two-note "Lord" in the final phrase to "Lord Jesus" and added an extra note to handle the third syllable.

The sixth and final verses showed the ways Gilligan revised songs. In one of the few instances in the collection, he identified the two versions with a specific part of the Bible, Revelation 20. He set part of verse 17 to the melody.

Douay-Rheims Bible: And the spirit and the bride say: Come.

"Come by Here"
Let the spirit say: Come by here.
Let the bride say: Come by here.

Instead of following this with a reference to the congregation ("he that heareth, let him say: Come"), he only allowed it to affirm the actions of the church ("God’s own people, Lord, shout Amen!")

African Americans would have maintained the AAAB formula and made that verse into three. At least, verse six used "Come by here" or "Cum-ba-ya!" as a refrain. Verse fifteen repeated verse six, but with "make us one" as the refrain.

"Cum-by-Yah" was placed in the Advent section. This altered the meaning of the word "come" from the request for contact with the Holy Spirit found in early versions of "Come by Here" to anticipation for Christ’s birth. Revelation includes references to the promised second coming, but with none of the immediacy of Premillennialists. It was all sometime in the distant future.

Performers
Vocal Soloist: single melodic line
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Accompaniment: guitar chords
Rhythm Accompaniment: none

Credits
Come by Here
Music: Black Spiritual
Text: "Come by here" is the original version

Cum-ba-Ya
Music: Black Spiritual
Text: "Cum-ba-ya" is a West Indian adaptation
Text of extra verses ©copyright 1966 by the NILES CAMPUS

Notes on Lyrics
Come by Here
Language: English
Pronunciation: not provided
Verses: come by here, crying, praying, singing, shouting, 1 other

Vocabulary
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: Lord, Lord Jesus, God
Special Terms: none

Cum-ba-Ya
Language: English
Pronunciation: not provided
Verses: cum-ba-ya, crying, praying, singing, shouting, 10 others

Vocabulary
Pronoun: someone, us
Term for Deity: Lord, Lord Jesus, God
Special Terms: none

Both
Basic Form: 6-verse song
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Ending: none
Unique Features: verses that connect it with Revelation 22

Notes on Music
Come by Here
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Time Signature: not provided, but 4/4
Tempo: not provided
Key Signature: two sharps
Guitar Chords: D G F#^m A⁷

Basic Structure: strophic repetition

Singing Style: one syllable to one note; final "Oh Lord" changed to "Lord Jesus"

Vocal-Accompaniment Dynamics: guitar chords change on "come" and "here"

Ending: guitar chords change on first and third beats

Cum-ba-Yah
Same music as "Come by Here"

Notes on Performance
Joseph Chirou, the music editor, did not indicate time signatures. Lawrence Heiman was told this was because "they would not be understood by the people in the pews and that their implications could best be provided for through the efforts of the organist and/or song leader." [11]

This wasn’t necessarily a return to the free meter of Gregorian chants, although the anthology set four texts to chants. Heiman complained it relied upon an 1854 transcription that used standard quarter notes. [12]

Time signature is nothing more than an indicator of rhythm. Many people who attended Roman Catholic churches in Chicago may not have listened to Elvis Presley when they were young. But, big band music was played for dancing, and anyone who was young in the 1930s or 1940s would understand an indicator of rhythm.

Notes on Performers
Gilligan’s biography begins when he was a student at Saint Mary of the Lake in 1963. [13] He may be the same Michel Gilligan who won a scholarship from Loyola College High School in Montréal in 1961 to the local Loyola College. [14] He did mention studying French at Laval University in the summer of 1962. [15]

Cirou was raised in the Byzantine-Belarusian Catholic Church in Chicago, but studied at Saint Mary of the Lake. [16] The Belarusian church is the only Eastern Orthodox denomination "in full union with the Catholic Church." [17] Three of the tunes used in The Johannine Hymnal were Ukranian.

Richard Wojcik was teaching music at Saint Mary of the Lake when Gilligan and Cirou were students. He was the first to incorporate the changes introduced by the Vatican Council in a demonstration mass, and was "very influential nationally after Vatican II." [18] Gilligan included five of his texts in The Johannine Hymnal.

Availability
Book: "Come by Here." The Johannine Hymnal. Edited by Michael Gilligan and Joseph Cirou. Chicago: American Catholic Press, 1970. 12.

Book: "Cum-ba-Yah." The Johannine Hymnal. Edited by Michael Gilligan and Joseph Cirou. Chicago: American Catholic Press, 1970. 13.

End Notes
1. Pope John XXIII called a conference of Roman Catholic leaders to "reformulate" the "certain and immutable doctrine, to which the faithful owe obedience," in "contemporary terms." [19] It met from 1962 to 1965. Among its recommendations was the use vernacular languages and music forms for the mass. The Johannine Hymnal was published "in memory of John F. Kennedy and John XXIII." [20]

2. Ray Repp. Mass For Young Americans. F. E. L. Records 810F-6403. 1966. [Discogs entry.]

3. Thirteen individuals or camps who responded to my 1976 survey of songs sung in summer resident camps mentioned "Here We Are" and five listed "Clap Your Hands." "Allelu, Allelu, Everybody Sing Allelu" from Repp’s next album [21] was known by six. For more on the survey, see Camp Songs, Folk Songs.

4. One reason none of the folk-mass materials was used may have been royalties. The publisher of Ray Repp’s material sued the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago in 1976 over royalty payments. [22] One assumes the issue had been simmering for some time. There was an earlier edition of The Johannine Hymnal [23] that I have not seen, that may have contained some of those songs.

Nearly everything in the 1970 edition was copyrighted before 1924, and was in the public domain. The exceptions were songs by men like Jack Miffleton, who were associated with the World Library of Sacred Music. [24] Omer Westendorf had founded the company after World War II to make available liturgical music he had found in the Netherlands. [25] He may have had an interpretation of Vatican II that was closer to that of Gilligan or he may have been more cooperative in allowing his music to be reproduced.

With the exception of "Kumbaya," almost everything in The Johannine Hymnal was copyrighted in 1970 by the American Catholic Press. The backside of the title page reminded individuals "it is a violation of the moral law (as well as U.S. copyright law) for any individual or organization, whether charitable, religious, or ‘not for proft,’ to reproduce in any form, including mimeograph, any portion of the copyrighted material in this book without written permission."

5. The Editors. "How To Use This Book." The Johannine Hymnal. Unpaged section.

6. Thomas E. Blackburn. "Ray Repp: He Knows Four Chords and How to Make People Sing ." National Catholic Reporter. 6 September 1967.

7. Wikipedia. "Ray Repp." He attended Kenrick Seminary, which was founded by followers of Saint Vincent de Paul. [26]

8. Wikipedia. "University of Saint Mary of the Lake."
9. His parents were Walter and Rita Kempf Repp. [27]
10. German singing traditions were discussed in the post for 21 April 2019.
11. Lawrence Heiman. Review of the hymnal for The Hymn 29:180–181:July 1978. 181.

12. Heiman. 181. It transcribed "traditional Gregorian chant melodies (‘Veni, Veni, Emmanuel’; Creator Alme Siderum) in quarter notes!" The credits for "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" indicated Thomas Helmore adapted the chant in 1854.

13. "Michael Gilligan." LinkedIn website.
14. Item. Loyola [Montréal] Alumnus 5:21:Summer 1961.
15. Gilligan, LinkedIn.
16. "Joseph Philip Cirou." Prabook website.
17. Wikipedia. "Belarusian Greek Catholic Church."

18. Linda Cerabona. Quoted by Michelle Martin. "Music Was His Prayer. Father Wojcik Taught Generations of Seminarians." Chicago Catholic website. 17 February 2013. This is the same Wojcik who was aboard the Andria Doria when in sank in 1956. He was returning from studying sacred music at Gregorian University of Rome. [28]

19. John XXIII. "Gaudet Mater Ecclesia." 11 October 1962. Quoted by Wikipedia. "Second Vatican Council."

20. The Johannine Hymnal. Title page.
21. Ray Repp. Allelu. F. E. L. Records S-032. 1966. [Discogs entry.]

22. William Grady. "Publisher Won’t End Battle over Hymns." Chicago Tribune website. 13 June 1990.

23. Michael Gilligan and Joseph Cirou. The Johannine Hymnal. Oak Park, Illinois: American Catholic Press, 1967. [WorldCat entry]

24. Discogs listed five albums produced by Miffleton with World Library Publications. He later became associated with the Oregon Catholic Press.

25. "Omer Westendorf." Pastoral Music 22:8:December-January 1998. Hymnary website brought this to my attention.

26. "History of the Kenrick-Glennon Seminary." Its website.
27. Wikipedia, Repp.

28. Pierette Domenica Simpson. Alive on the Andrea Doria! Garden City, New York: Morgan James, 2008. No page numbers in on-line edition.