Melvin Blake’s Early Life

Topic: CRS Version
People believe “Kumbaya” was brought to this county from Angola by a missionary.  Legends aren’t historical chronicles, but tales people construct to explain unknowns.  They often are accretions of details built around half-remembered facts. [1]

In 1959, the publisher of the song identified Melvin Blake as the source for his version. [2]  Since Blake, indeed, was a missionary assigned to Angola, he may be the nub of the tale.

Charles Melvin Blake was born in 1918 in Corydon in southern Indiana’s Harrison County.  His maternal grandfather’s immigrant ancestors were Swiss Mennonites fleeing persecution in Bern. [3]  After landing in Philadelphia, they made their way to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. [4]

Blake’s mother’s great-grandfather was the one who moved to Harrison County, [5] just across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky.  He provided land for the Hill Grove Church. [6]  In 1919 that congregation held an all-day meeting with three other area Christian churches where “these good people brought Song books and musical instruments and played and sang the good old songs that everybody knows.” [7]

Although Blake’s mother probably shared the musical traditions, she wouldn’t have attended the service.  Her father had converted to Methodism and become a lay preacher aligned with Perseverance Chapel. [8]  In 1904, that church held a Holiness meeting on a Saturday “with a large attendance and a good time.” [9]

Blake’s paternal great-great-grandfather moved from Person County, North Carolina, to Indiana by 1825. [10]  Blake’s grandfather, Reuben, married several times.  He named one of the sons by his last wife George Wesley Blake, suggesting a late interest in Methodism. [11]

Reuben died when Blake’s father, Lemmie, was seven year old.  It’s not known how they survived, but George [12] and Lemmie moved their young families to Eaton, Indiana, sometime after the end of World War I. [13]  Eaton had prospered when natural gas was discovered in the area in 1878.  Once the gas was depleted, people left the area, which probably made good farm land more affordable. [14]

Blake’s son recalls “the Methodist church was a center of activities in their little Indiana town, and THE center for his family.” [15]  In high school, he played trumpet in both the band and orchestra, and sang in the chorus and quartet, as well as in the church choir. [16]

In 1936, Blake entered Taylor University [17] where his older sister was a sophomore. [18]  The school then was an unaccredited institution [19] that drew its student body from the “plain people.” [20]  In 1931, the fathers of 78.5% of the students were farmers [21] like Lemmie.  Students worked on the school farm to subsidize their training. [22]

In his senior year, Blake said his life work was the Ministry. [23]   He had been converted when he was fourteen, and “became a ‘local preacher’ when he was a junior in high school.” [24] However, he did not major in religion at Taylor, but in English.  One professor had her PhD from Johns Hopkins; [25] the other earned hers at Cornell. [26]

The social life of Taylor revolved around the church.  Chapels were held daily, and Vespers on Sunday evenings.  Students attended local churches in the morning.  In addition, the Holiness League met on Friday evenings, and the Prayer Band on Wednesdays. [27]  Members of The Student Volunteer Band met twice a week and conducted “missionary services at local services.” [28]

Taylor wasn’t particularly doctrinaire in these years.  William Ringenberg noted that, while it “sympathized with Fundamentalist doctrine,” it gave “minimum attention to the theological conflict” then raging between critics of Darwinism and higher criticism and their liberal defenders.  The school “spent much less time in these years rationally defending its faith than it
did emotionally experiencing it.” [29]

The Holiness League was an indigenous organization that sporadically aligned with national groups.  In 1907, [30] it was part of the Young Men’s Holiness League, [31] which held a full-immersion baptism in Indianapolis in 1911. [32]  Between 1929 and 1933, it was affiliated with the Young People’s Gospel League, [33] which was organized in Chicago in 1928. [34]

The year Blake joined the group, the meetings of “eager, earnest youth” were “filled with fine singing, peppy testimonies, intense praying and short but mighty messages.”  The yearbook added the “presence of the Holy Spirit manifests Himself in the services.”  [35]

Music provided Blake’s more important religious experiences.  In his junior year, he joined the chorus.  Every December it performed Handel’s Messiah.  At Easter, it sang John Henry Maunder’s Olivet to Calvary. [36]   At Thanksgiving, he led the group singing for the student organized devotionals. [37]

In his senior year, Blake was selected for one of the traveling quartets.  The first was organized in the depression year of 1936 [38] to raise money for the chronically underfunded school.  Since it kept its tuition low, Taylor depended on contributions for much of its operating funds.  The quartet was expected to provide entertainment and testimonials that would encourage pledges and recruit students for the school. [39]

In 1938, it appeared at “revivals, week-end meetings, summer institutes, camp meetings, school programs, home-comings, business men’s luncheons, and street meetings.” [40]  When Blake was a member it made its annual appearance at the Cherry Run Camp Meeting near Oil City, Pennsylvania. [41]

Quartets had replaced soloists like Ira D. Sankey and Homer Rodeheaver as the musical partners in revivals.  As mentioned in the post for 3 December 2017, evangelists had begun their own radio programs that copied Rudy Vallée, who featured the African-American Mills Brothers.  In 1936, Lowell Wilson, the man who converted Blake, [42] invited the Cleveland Quintet to lead his Eaton Church revival. [43]  The five Black men were members of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. [44]

Graphic
1.  Base map: Locator map for Delaware County, Indiana, based on one produced for the National Atlas by the United States Department of the Interior, Geological Survey.  Uploaded to Wikimedia Commons on 12 February 2006 by David Benbennick.

2.  Photograph courtesy of Paul Blake.  The members were David Hoover, Ralph Cummings, Devee Brown, and Melvin Blake.

3.  Blake’s photograph appears on the Photos K tab.

End Notes
1.  My article in Voices explores the origins of the African genesis legend.  An abstract and ordering information appear on the Papers tab.  A copy that includes another photograph of Blake has been uploaded to the Academia.edu website.

2.  Lynn Rohrbough.  Letter to Shawnee Press.  16 February 1959.  Typed carbon.  My access to this letter and its current location are described in the post for 14 October 2020.

3.  The expulsion of Anabaptists from Bern is mentioned in the post for 19 January 2020 that discusses the subsequent founding of New Bern, North Carolina.  Their beliefs are described in the post for 26 January 2020.

4.  ; ).  “Ulrich Rhodes.”  Find a Grave website.  1 November 2011.  The father who was born in Bern, Switzerland.

Audrey.  “Rev John Hans Roads.”  Find a Grave website.  24 May 2007; last updated by ; ).  The son who was born in Zürich, Switzerland.

5.  Shirley McKim.  “Abraham ‘Squire’ Rhodes.”  Find a Grave website.  21 February 2009.

6.  Charles S. Rhodes.  Note added to McKim on 2 February 2012.

7.  Item.  The Corydon [Indiana] Democrat.  20 August 1919.  6.  In the tradition of camp meetings inspired by Cane Ridge, [45] “they also came prepared to administer the Lord’s supper which was done in a very Impressive manner.”

8.  Terry Bigler.  “Daniel J. Rhodes.”  Find a Grave website.  25 February 2008.

9.  Item.  Corydon [Indiana] Republican.  21 July 1904.  The Holiness movement is discussed in the post for 7 December 2017.

10.  Charles Arthur Chester. “William Marion Blake.”  Geni website.  1 December 2014.  His daughter Sarah was born in Harrison County in 1825.

11.  Robert Blake Reid.  “George Wesley Blake.”  Find a Grave website.  5 August 2009.

12.  Reid, George Wesley Blake.  His only reported daughter was born in Corydon in 1914. [46]

13.  Robert Blake Reid.  “Mary Cathern “Katie” Blake Reid.”  Find a Grave website.  4 February 2018.  She was Lemmie’s daugter and was born 11 April 1921 in Eaton, Indiana.

14.  Wikipedia.  “Eaton, Indiana.”  The population dropped 8.9% between 1910 and 1920, and another 15% between 1920 and 1930.

15.  Paul Blake.  Email.  12 November 2020.
16.  Paul Blake.

17.  “Freshmen.”  The Gem.  Taylor University yearbook edited by Clayton J. Steele.  1937.

18.  “Sophomores.”  The Gem.  1937.

19.  William C. Ringenberg.  Taylor University: The First 150 Years.  Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B . Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1996 edition.  83 and 113.

20.  Ringenberg.  119.

21.  John H.  Furbay.  The [Taylor University] Echo.  4 March 1931.  1.  Quoted by Ringenberg.  119.

22.  Ringenberg.  120.   The New York Times said Blake “worked his way through Taylor University.” [47]

23.  “Melvin Blake.”  24 in The Gem.  Taylor University yearbook edited by John Warner.  1940.

24.  Paul Blake.
25.  Profile for Edna M. Robinson.  14 in The Gem.  1940.
26.  Profile for Elisabeth Bentley.  15 in The Gem.  1940.
27.  Ringenberg.  127.
28.  “Student Volunteers.  66 in The Gem.  1940.
29.  Ringenberg.  114.

30.  Catalogue of Taylor University.  1907–1908.  13.  “The Prayer Band, the Volunteer Mission Band, the Young Men’s Holiness League, the Young Women’s Holiness League and regular Sabbath afternoon services furnish excellent opportunities for work and development.”

31.  The Young Men’s Holiness League apparently was founded in Indianapolis by Justin Bare sometime in or before 1903.  It announced some of its activities in publications of the Church of the Nazarene. [48]

32.  “Young Men’s Holiness League River Baptism~Antique Indianapolis Revival 1911.”  Postcard photograph offered for sale by pstcardman2014 on Ebay.

33.  Search for “Gospel League” on Taylor University website.

34.  “Convention Report.”  The [Taylor University] Echo.  21 November 1928.  3.  The meeting was sponsored by Ivy Durham Vennard’s Chicago Evangelistic Institute.  Her son William, a sophomore at Taylor, was named editor of the organization’s newsletter.  She was on Taylor’s board of trustees. [49]  He later modernized techniques used to train singers. [50]

35.  “Holiness League Officers.”  70 in The Gem.  Taylor University yearbook edited by Edith Persons.  1939.    Blake’s 1940 biography is used for his affiliation date.  He listed no extracurricular activities for his first two years.  Since his future wife also was a member, this may have provided an opportunity for courtship.

36.  John Henry Maunder.  Olivet to Calvary.  London: Novello, 1904.  The repertoire of the chorus drawn from The Gem, 1939, 76; The Gem, 1940, 72; and yearbooks from previous years.

37.  “Taylor Students Eat, Play, Sleep On Thanksgiving.”  ”  The [Taylor University] Echo.  2 Dec 1939.  1.

38.  “Male Quartet.”  The Gem.  Taylor University yearbook edited by Herbert Ayres.  1936.

39.  Ringenberg. 103–104.

40.  “First Quartet.”  72 in The Gem.  Taylor University yearbook edited by Carl Reppert.  1938.

41.  Item.  The Oil City [Pennsylvania] Derrick.  21 July 1939.  11.  It “will contribute gospel singing during the meetings.”  In 1938, the university president spent the summer at four camp meetings, including Cherry Run. [51]  In 1931, members of the Young People’s Gospel League spent “three weeks helping Rev. Lloyd Mohnkern conduct revival meetings in the Bradleytown church.” [52]

42.  Paul Blake.

43.  “Colored Quintet Provides Special Chapel Program.”  The [Taylor University] Echo.  7 March 1936.  1.

44.  “Cleveland Gospel Quintet.”  Christian and Missionary Alliance website.  The members were Floyd H. Lacy, J. W. Parker, Spurgeon Jones, Alexander E. Talbert, and H. D. Hodges.  Parker played mandolin.

45.  See the post for 8 November 2020 for more on the rituals of Cane Ridge.

46.  Jane.  “Lillian Ellen Blake Pursifull.”  Find a Grave website.  28 January 2012.  She was George’s daughter.

47.  “Charles Melvin Blake.”  Obituary.  The New York Times.  21 March 2011.

48.  Justin Bare.  “Y. M. H. L.”  Nazarene Messenger.  7 May 1908.  5.  This announced its fifth national convention for “enthusiastic young men, filled with the Holy Ghost.”  Bare identified himself as president.

49.  “President of C. E. I. Visits Among Us.”  The [Taylor University] Echo.  6 March 1929.  1.  The governing board then was the Legal Hundred.

50.  Wikipedia.  “William Vennard.”
51.  “Dr. Stuart’s Itinerary for the Summer.”  Taylor University Bulletin.  June 1938.
52.  Item.  The Oil City [Pennsylvania] Derrick.  20 July 1931.  11.

Gospel Rock - Kum-Ba-Yah (Come By Here)

Topic: Religious Folk Music Revival
The boundary between secular and religious music always has been more important to vocal spokesmen for denominations than it has been to singers and their audiences.  Dick Weissman recalled it took only one minister in Boston to destroy The Journeymen’s recording of “Kumbaya” in 1963 with a campaign to stop radio stations from playing it because they used the phrase “Oh Lordy.” [1]

Music company executives knew well the power of boycotts and negative publicity when Decca Records executives in London agreed in 1968 to record a cantata [2] by an unknown composer that had been commissioned for a school recital [3] and published by the education arm of a major music publisher. [4]  It helped that The Sunday Times described it as “making a breakthrough for pop.” [5]  Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat [6] got some good reviews, but not many sales. [7]

Still it provided an entrée for Andrew Lloyd Webber to pitch his idea for a rock opera to Decca’s American counterpart, MCA. [8]  By then, Word Records was making money from folk musicals by Kurt Kaiser and Ralph Carmichael. [9]  However, before MCA invested in an album, it decided to test the market with a release of a single record in 1969. [10]  “Superstar” entered the Billboard popular music chart, dropped, entered, dropped, and finally reentered to rise to 14th place. [11]  That was enough to justify studio time for an album. [12]

The response to the album, and subsequent staging of Jesus Christ Superstar, [13] exposed the chasm that had been deepening in this country since German scholars began using linguistic tools in the late nineteenth century to understand the Bible.  Fundamentalism had emerged in the 1920s to deny the implications of that research.  It produced an alternative narrative that asserted the Bible was the literal truth received directly from God. [14]

John Johnson claimed Lloyd Webber and his lyricist, Tim Rice, “had grown up attending the Church of England, but neither accepted the truth of the Bible, so they adopted the perspective of Judas Iscariot as the narrator.  The musical basically served as a sort of nihilistic passion play, ending with Christ dead, not resurrected.” [15]

Financial men, who are hesitant to gamble on an unknown artist, are more willing to promote imitators after the unknown has succeeded.  Thus, Angela Lansbury’s brother found a student production at the Carnegie Mellon University to bring to a small New York theater in 1971. [16] Godspell [17] was criticized for committing the same heresy as Superstar by men from the evangelical Westmont College. [18]

“Godspell is not a Christian opera.  It may indeed be a sincere attempt at modern theater, but the absence of any understanding of the divinity of Christ precludes Godspell’s classification, as some have assumed, as the avant-garde of a new Christian consciousness in contemporary musical drama.” [19]

It was not a denomination or a religious publisher that issued an anthology containing four songs from Godspell under the title Gospel Rock in 1974.  They not only would not have been able to get their boards to accept religious songs that used popular music, but they lacked the financial resources to pay for publication rights.

Screen Gems, the publisher of Gospel Rock, was owned by Columbia Pictures, [20] who distributed the film version of Godspell in 1973. [21]  It and its rivals contacted composers of every song that entered a Billboard chart to get rights to publish sheet music and folios. [22]  With very few exceptions, [23] every song in Gospel Rock had reached the top fifty, and most had reached the top twenty-five weekly best sellers in their genres.

The collection included a wide range of styles.  Of course, it had some by country-music artists, but it lacked some of the more popular like Kris Kristofferson’s “Why Me?” [24]  While this particular song was represented by a rival publisher, [25] there also may have been an aesthetic decision to avoid lyrics saturated with the theology of abasement and atonement.  George Jones’ “I Wonder How John Felt” [26] was closer to the philosophy of Superstar and Godspell.

Gospel Rock did include some actual rock arrangements, including Three Dog Night’s “Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog” [27] and the Doobie Brothers’ “Jesus Is Just Alright.” [28]

Contemporary African-American music was less represented.  The only Soul song was recorded in London by an Jamaican-born artist living in Germany. [29]  It may be that Barry Gordy [30] and other Black entrepreneurs were less willing to cede control of any of their material to outsiders, than were other copyright holders.

As compensation, Gospel Rock included some spirituals, but only those that had made the Billboard charts.  Jestor Hairson’s original arrangement for “Amen” [31] was used, as well as his “Elijah Rock” that was recorded by Mahalia Jackson. [32]  Hairston had sung in Hall Johnson’s chorus, and later worked with Dimitri Tiomkin in Hollywood. [33]

Many of the other African-American songs were arranged by Albert Gamse, discussed in the post for 12 January 2020.  These included “Just a Closer Walk with Thee,” [34] Edwin Hawkin’s “Oh, Happy Day,” [35] and the Highwaymen’s “Michael Row the Boat Ashore.” [36]  The version of “Kum-Ba-Ya” [37] was the one that used the pseudonym Bernardo Gasso.

It is ironic that the men who wrote the original musical productions for conservative churches were left behind by Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell.  Carmichael wanted to do something after he saw rehearsals for Brigadoon [38] at the auditorium owned by the Baptist church which employed him in Los Angeles. [39]  John Peterson was thinking about composing a Christian musical when Singspiration asked him to do a cantata instead. [40]  By the time Lloyd Webber was able to realize their vision, the musical style again had moved beyond the limits accepted by their audiences.

Performers
Same as post for 26 April 2020.

Credits
Same as post for 26 April 2020.

Notes on Lyrics
Same as post for 26 April 2020.

Notes on Music
Same as post for 26 April 2020.

Notes on Performance
The songbook cover featured a drawing of the Godspell cast done in wood-block style by Judith Ann Benedict.

Notes on Performers
Charles Hansen Music, discussed in the post for 12 January 2020, was the most important sheet music publisher in 1970. [41]  Screen Gems was established in 1971 in Miami, Florida, where Hansen had its production operations. [42]  Columbia Pictures sold the company to EMI in 1976. [43]

Screen Gem’s head, Frank Hackinson, [44] was recruited from Hansen. [45]  He stayed with the company through several transfers of ownership, but left just before it was sold to Sony in 1989. [46]  He then founded the FJH Music Company, which specialized in music for public school music programs. [47]

The editor of Gospel Rock seems to have been one of the many nearly anonymous technicians needed by publishing companies.  Bill Radics was described as a “business and creative production manager.” [48]  When Screen Gems was sold, he and Richard Bradley formed their own company, RBR Communications, to issue piano and organ arrangements. [49]

Availability
Book: Bernardo Gasso.  “Kum-Ba-Yah (Come By Here).  Gospel Rock.  Edited by Bill Radics.  Miami, Florida: Screen Gems-Columbia Productions, 1974.  20–21.

End Notes
Billboard sales information is from Wikipedia articles on the songs, unless otherwise noted.

1.  For more details, see the post for 13 October 2019.

2.  Andrew Lloyd Webber.  Unmasked.  New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2018.  96.  Decca was a British company that had separated from the American company of the same name in 1937. [50]

3.  Lloyd Webber.  79–80.
4.  Lloyd Webber.  92.  The publisher was Novello.
5.  Lloyd Webber.  96.

6.  The Joseph Consortium.  Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  KSKC 4973.  1968. [Discogs entry]  This was not the version that opened in New York City at the Royale Theatre on 27 January 1982.

7.  Lloyd Webber.  104–105.
8.  Lloyd Webber.  113.
9.  For more information, see the post for 13 December 2020.
10.  Murray Head.  “Superstar.”  MCA MKS 5019.  1969.  [Discogs entry.]
11.  Wikipedia.  “Superstar (Jesus Christ Superstar Song).”

12.  Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.  Jesus Christ Superstar - A Rock Opera.  Decca DXSA 7206.  1970.  Recorded in London.  [Discogs entry.]

13.  Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.  Jesus Christ Superstar.  Mark Hellinger Theatre, New York City.  12 October 1971–30 June 1973. [51]

14. Wikipedia.  “Historical Criticism” and “Christian Fundamentalism.”

15. John J. Thompson.  Raised by Wolves: The Story of Christian Rock & Roll.  Toronto: ECW Press, 2000.  26.  Thompson’s mother “became a Christian at the end of the Jesus Movement in 1973.” [52]

16.  Wikipedia.  “Godspell.”  Edgar Lansbury was the producer.

17.  Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak.  Godspell.  Cherry Lane Theater, New York City.  17 May 1971. [53]

18.  Westmont College is mentioned briefly in the post for 27 November 2017.

19.  Ronald M. Enroth, Edward E. Ericson, Jr., and C. Breckinridge Peters.  The Jesus People.  Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eermans Publishing Company, 1972.  154.

20.  Wikipedia.  “Screen Gems.”

21.  Godspell.  Directed by David Greene.  Columbia Pictures.  21 March 1973. [54]

22.  Russell Sanjek.  American Popular Music and Its Business: From 1900 to 1984.  New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.  541.

23.  The major exception was four songs composed by Gershon Kinglsey.  He was best known at the time for his work with the Moog synthesizer, but he also wrote Jewish liturgical music. [55]  One song, “Shepherd Me, Lord,” [56] later became a favorite of Southern Baptist convention choirs. [57]  I could find no evidence any had been recorded at the time.

24.  Kris Kristofferson.  “Why Me.”  Monument ZS7 8571.  45 rpm.  February 1973.  [Discogs entry.]

25.  Kris Kristofferson.  “Why me?”  Nashville, Tennessee: Resaca Music Publishing Company, 1972; distributed by Big 3.  [WorldCat entry.]

26.  George Jones.  “I Wonder How John Felt (When He Baptized Jesus).”  In A Gospel Way.  Epic KE 32562.  1974.  [Discogs entry.]

27.  Three Dog Night.  “Joy To The World.”  ABC/Dunhill Records.  45-D-4272.  45 rpm.  1971.  It reached #1 on popular chart.

28.  The Doobie Brothers.  “Jesus Is Just Alright.”  Toulouse Street.  Warner Brothers.  BS 2634.  1972.  It reached #35 on popular chart.

29.  Family Child.  “He.”  Anthem AN-203.  45 rpm.  1973.  [Discogs website.]  The album listed Tony Gregory and Family Child. [58]  “He” was described as a “million seller single” for Gregory. [59]  The reason it wasn’t mentioned by Wikipedia was that website was only reporting on Billboard charts for the most popular genres.  International reports rarely were mentioned.

30.  Barry Gordy owned Motown Records.
31.  See the post for 12 July 2020 for details.

32.  Mahalia Jackson.  “Elijah Rock.”  Columbia 4-41322.  45 rpm.  1958.  [Discogs entry.]  Hairston said he learned the key phrase when he and Johnson were collecting songs together. [60]

33.  Wikipedia.  “Jester Hairston.”

34.  “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” entered the popular repertoire after it was published by Kenneth Morris in 1940. [61]

35.  The Edwin Hawkins Singers.  “Oh Happy Day.”  Pavilion Records PBS 20,001.  45 rpm.  1969.  [Discogs entry.]  It was a version of Edward F. Rimbault’s revision [62] of a hymn published in 1755 by Philip Doddridge. [63]  It reached #4 on the popular, #22 on Easy Listening chart, and #2 on the Rhythm and Blues chart.

36.  “Michael” is discussed in the post for 13 October 2019.  It reached #1 on the popular and Easy Listening charts.

37.  Tommy Leonetti’s version reached #54 on the popular chart and #4 on the Easy Listening chart.  The Sandpiper’s version reached #9 on the popular chart and #3 on the Easy Listening chart.

38.  Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe.  Brigadoon.  Ziegfeld Theater, New York City.  13 March 1947–31 July 1948. [64]

39.  Ralph Carmichael.  He’s Everything to Me.  Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1986.  84.  Carmichael is discussed in the post for 15 December 2017.

40.  John W. Peterson.  The Miracle Goes On.  With Richard Engquist.  Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976.  170.  Peterson is discussed in the post for 2 August 2020.

41.  Sanjeck.  541.  “So dominant was Hansen’s market position that they once controlled the print rights for 99 of the 100 songs on Billboard’s Hot 100 Singles chart.” [65]

42.  Jim Melanson.  “Hansen, Screen Gems-Columbia Expand Their Publishing Influences.”  Billboard 86:F-6, F-12:23 March 1974.

43.  Herbert Koshetz.  “Columbia Pictures in Pact To Sell Music Unit to EMI.”  The New York Times.  24 June 1976.  45.

44.  Melanson.
45.  “Frank J. Hackinson.”  FJH Music Company website.
46.  Wikipedia, Screen Gems.
47.  FJH.
48.  “Bradley and Radics Bow New Print Co.”  Record World.  29 January 1977.  20.
49.  Item. [Decatur, Illinois] Herald and Review.  18 August 1984.  6.
50.  Wikipedia.  “Decca Records.”
51.  Wikipedia.  “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
52.  Thompson.  13.
53.  Wikipedia, Godspell.
54.  Wikipedia.  “Godspell (Film).”
55.  Wikipedia.  “Gershon Kingsley.”

56.  Samuel Rosenbaum and Gershon Kingsley.  “Shepherd Me, Lord.”  New York: Bourne Company, 1971.

57.  “Gershon Kingsley.”  Milken Archive of Jewish Music website.

58.  Tony Gregory and Family Child.  “He.”  One More Time.  Polydor 2396 104.  Recorded in London, 1973.  [Discogs entry.]

59.  Tony Gregory (Jamaica).  Ochos Rios Jazz Festival website.  2017.

60.  Notes for Rogue Community College, Grants Pass, Oregon, winter concert on 16 March 2014.

61.  Horace Clarence Boyer.  How Sweet the Sound.  Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1995. 75.  Morris is mentioned in the post for 14 February 2021.

62.  William McDonald.  Wesleyan Sacred Harp.  Boston: John P. Jewett and Company, 1854.  Cited by “[O happy day that fixed my choice] (Rimbault).”  Hymnary website.  Its source was William Jensen Reynolds.  Companion to Baptist Hymnal.  Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman Press, 1976.

63.  John Julian.  “Doddridge, Philip.”  Dictionary of Hymnology.  Edited by Julian.  London: John Murray, 1907 edition. 305–306.

64.  “Brigadoon.”  Internet Broadway Database (IBDB) website.
65.  FJH

Dick Bolks - Kum Ba Yah

Topic: Religious Folk Music Revival
Singspiration didn’t produce any new books or records containing “Kumbaya” in response to the Jesus Movement.  The closest was a 1973 Hymnal for Contemporary Christians [1] that contained Marsha Stevens “For Those Tears I Died.” [2]  The first song in the collection, Gil Moegerle’s “Alleluia,” [3] was headed “The Jesus People.”

Half the material selected by Norman Johnson and Don Wyrtzen was reprinted from the Folk Hymnal, discussed in the post for 2 August 2020.  Many of new compositions had been introduced in musicals [4] by Ralph Carmichael, [5] Kurt Kaiser, [6] Otis Skillings, [7] Jimmy Owen and Philip Landgrave.  John Walvoord and Wyrtzen had written some for the Grand Rapids, Michigan, company. [8]

One reason for the Singspiration’s lack of interest in Jesus Music may have been that 1971 Billy Graham book on The Jesus Generation mentioned in the post for 20 December 2020.  Even though its parent company, Zondervan, promoted it and received orders from a number of bookstores, returns “ran very high after a few months.”  The managers decided the Jesus Movement “had peaked.” [9]

Zondervan was more interested in another project.  It had purchased Harper’s Bible division in 1966, [10] and invested in the New York International Bible Society’s translation project in 1971.  The release of the New International Version of the New Testament in 1973 [11] was far more important, both to the company’s self-image and to its coffers.

One other factor may have contributed to Singspiration’s slow reaction.  Its head, John Peterson, had departed in February 1971 because Michigan’s polluted air had aggravated his asthma.  [12]  The men he left to run the division were good musicians, but lacked his breadth of experience in music publishing. [13]

The Folk Hymnal must still have continued to sell.  In 1972, Dick Bolks produced a sing-a-long companion album that could be played with just the vocals, just the instruments, or the two together. [14]

There was only one slow song on the record: the early nineteenth-century “Wondrous Love.” [15]  The songs that were written by contemporary composers were given standard folk-revival accompaniments, which featured acoustic guitars and basses.  They were sung at moderate tempos.

Several of the songs composed by Peterson were given jazzy, syncopated treatments with hand drums.  The score for “That’s the Way to Find Happiness” [16] alternated dotted quarter notes and eight notes, but “Higher Hands” [17] was almost all quarter and half notes.

Researchers from Santa Barbara’s Westmont College noted in California in 1972, that, within the Jesus Movement, “music styles have changed from the handclapping rhythms of hepped-up versions of “Do Lord” to a subtle, more sophisticated, reflective blues.” [145]

The Folk Hymnal was published in 1970, before Jesus Music had developed much.  Bolks used the songs from African-American and camp traditions to use instruments and rhythms that were shared with rock ’n’ roll.  The lyrics set to “Michael Row the Boat Ashore” were accompanied by tambourine, as well as acoustic guitar, bass, and keyboard. [19]

“Somebody Touched Me” [20] had antecedents in Black gospel [21] and Southern Bluegrass [22] music.  Bolks used actual drums with a piano, acoustic guitar, and bass.

“Kum Ba Yah” was identified as “African” on the record label.  It began with a harpsichord, much like that used by The Sidewalk Swingers in their 1964 album Folk Swingin’ Harpsichord. [23]  Then, before the third verse, Bolk changed the key and added a tambourine.

The recorded vocal parts generally were the same as those published, with unison and simple parallel harmonies that any group could sing.  In a few, including “Kumbaya,” men or women sang verses alone.  Only Johnson’s “Doxology” was more complex, and that was as it was published.

The most interesting aspect of “Kumbaya” was the tempo.  The songbook specified it should be sung “very slowly.”  Bolks used a quick pace, with no pauses between phrases or lines.  Almost noone ever sings the song quickly.

Performers
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: Dick Bolks Chorus
Vocal Director: Dick Bolks
Instrumental Accompaniment: harpsichord, guitar
Rhythm Accompaniment: tambourine

Credits
Trad.  African

Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: KUM by yah
Verses: kumbaya, crying, singing, praying

Vocabulary
Pronoun: Someone
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none

Basic Form: The songbook told singers to “repeat chorus after each stanza.”  Bolks skipped the repetition between verses two and three.

Verse Repetition Pattern: AxAxxA where A = Kumbaya

Ending: none
Unique Features: none

Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: quick

Basic Structure: strophic repetition with key change; men sang “singing” verse; everyone sang the rest

Singing Style: one syllable to one note except for final “Lord”

Vocal-Accompaniment Dynamics: instruments primarily heard at beginning and end; chords dominant when group singing

Ending: none
Unique Features: tempo, instrumentation

Notes on Performance
The album cover was the same as that of the songbook.

Notes on Performers
Dick Bolks was raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan, which is 50 miles south of Grand Rapids.  His family was in the Reformed Church, [24] rather than the stricter Christian Reformed Church of the Zondervans.  Both get called Dutch Reformed by outsiders.

He and his sister were active in Christian Endeavor, [25] the first successful youth group organized in this country. [26]  By the time he was a high school senior in 1951, [27] he was an accompanist for the group’s state and national conventions. [28]

Fred Bock [29] recalled Bolks was “bitten by the ‘choral bug’ when he first heard Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians” and that he sang their arrangements in high school. [30]

In 1959, Bolks was singing baritone and playing piano for the Gospelaires quartet.  He had met the other members in Christian Endeavor.  Their repertoire included “sacred classics, old hymn of the church, some of the newer gospel song, and Negro spiritual.” [31]  He was also a musician for hire. [32]

He moved to Los Angeles in 1961, where he joined the pool of ambitious young men who could perform, arrange, and conduct music.  He very quickly became the local accompanist for Ethel Waters. [33]  The African-American jazz singer had been saved at a Billy Graham crusade in 1957, and was performing religious music. [34]

His other activities prior to producing the Folk Hymnal album are obscure, in part because the names of support people rarely appeared in credits.  By 1969, he was doing arrangements for Bock at the Sacred Songs division of Word Records. [35]  In 1970, he played organ for the Dick Anthony Singers on a recording for Lillenas. [36]  Anthony was music director for Richard De Haan’s Day of Discovery television program, which was headquartered in Grand Rapids. [37]

Through his work with Anthony he met other people who worked as studio backup singers.  One assumes, they recommended one another because they knew the individuals understood the methods they used to rehearse and record. [38]  It’s likely he used some of these people in the group he used for the Folk Hymnal.

Through the 1970s, Bolks was busy as an arranger and conductor.  By 1980, he was music director for Day of Discovery. [39]  He continued to create publishable arrangements and direct choruses for recordings by Lillenas, [40] while doing free-lance work for artists like the Lennon Sisters. [41]  In 1990, he released a recording of his piano arrangements through CD Baby. [42]

In 2012, a friend of Bolks’ sister remembered the time he asked Bolks to introduce him to Lloyd Ogilvie at Hollywood Presbyterian church [43] because he knew Bolks was “his main music person” at the church. [44]

A few years later, one of the members of The Gospelaires asked him for some arrangements for his Fayetteville, Arkansas, church choir.  He told his parishioners Bolks had been “organist and choir director of Valley Presbyterian Church, and organist at Bel Air Presbyterian Church.” [45]

Availability
Album: Dick Bolk Singers.  Folk Hymnal In Sound For Sing-A Longs.  Singcord Corporation ZLP 834S.  1972. [46]

End Notes
1.  Hymnal for Contemporary Christians.  Compiled by Norman Johnson and Don Wyrtzen.  Grand Rapids: Singspiration Music, 1973; 1976 printing.  It included the same version of “Kum ba Yah” as the Folk Hymnal, along with the variant mentioned in the post for 27 September 2017.

2.  This is discussed in the post for 4 October 2020.

3.  Gil Moegerle.  “Alleluia.”  Copyrighted by the composer in 1971; assigned to John T. Benson Publishing Company in 1973.

4. Religious musicals using commercial folk-revival instruments are discussed in the post for 13 December 2020.

5.  Carmichael is discussed in the post for post for 15 December 2017.
6.  Kaiser is discussed in the post for 15 December 2017.
7.  Skillings is discussed in the post for 7 February 2021.

8.  Three songs in the collection were from the 1970 What’s Is All About, Anyhow? [47] and one was from the 1973 Breakthrough. [48]  John E. Walvoord  was the son of John F. Walvoord, president of Dallas Theological Seminary. [49]

9.  James E. Ruark.  The House of Zondervan.  Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2006.  72.

10.  Ruark.  119.
11.  Ruark.  152.

12.  John W. Peterson.  The Miracle Goes On.  With Richard Engquist.  Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976.  210.

13.  Another factor may have been age: they were too old to be part of the Jesus Movement, and too young to have adolescent children.  Wyrtzen was born in 1942, and was 31 in 1973. [50]  Johnson married in 1954, and later adopted two children. [51]  Peterson, on the other hand, said his three daughters “began to have an impact on my writing.  They listened patiently and critically to my new words, often offering good suggestions for changes.  With youngsters of my own, I made more of an effort to keep in touch with the tastes and preferences of their age group.” [52]

14.  As mentioned in the post for 13 December 2020, Word had used this technique in 1971.

15.  “Wondrous Love” is discussed in the post for 18 April 2021.  Kip Lornell said it was “universally sung at a slow, deliberate tempo.” [53]

16.  John W. Peterson.  “That’s the Way to Find Happiness.”  Folk Hymnal.  115.  Copyrighted in 1968 by Singspiration.

17.  John W. Peterson.  “Higher Hands.”  Folk Hymnal.  73.  Copyrighted in 1966 by Singspiration.

18.  Ronald M. Enroth, Edward E. Ericson, Jr., and C. Breckinridge Peters.  The Jesus People. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eermans Publishing Company, 1972.  145.

19.  “Come and Praise the Lord Our King.”  Folk Hymnal.  30.  The tune was identified as “Traditional.”

20.  “Somebody Touched Me.”  Folk Hymnal.  94.  Text by Lillian M. Bowles and Theodore R. Frye, arranged by Kenneth Morris.  Copyrighted by Bowles Music House in 1938.  [WorldCat entry.]  The refrain in Folk Hymnal was “O, O, O, O, somebody touched me.”

21.  Bowles hired Morris to transcribe tunes being sung in Chicago. [54]  That suggests the song already was in tradition in 1938.  She published it in 1939. [55]  The earliest reference I could find was a comment by Quincy Jones that his mother sang it when he was seven-years-old, which would have been 1940. [56]  He remembered it began “ohh, ohh, ohh, ohh-oh.”

22.  John Reedy recorded a version in 1949 [57] that became the standard bluegrass version.  He was from Harlan County, Kentucky. [60]  Doc Watson implied he had heard it sung in Holiness churches in western North Carolina. [61]  This version used “glory, glory, glory, glory, somebody touched me.”

23.  The Sidewalk Swingers.  Folk Swingin’ Harpsichord With 12 String Guitar.  Warner Bros. Records WS 1532.  1964.  This was a group of session musicians that included Leon Russell [62] on harpsichord and Glen Campbell on twelve-string guitar.  Harpsichords entered rock ’n’ roll with the Beatles’ 1965 recording of “In My Life” [63] because George Martin’s speeded up piano phrase sounded like a harpsichord. [64]

24.  Marilyn Joan Huyser.  Obituary.  Kalamazoo [Michigan] Gazette.  31 May 2016.
25.  Huyser.

26.  Mark Houston Senter III.  “The Youth for Christ Movement as an Educational Agency and Its Impact upon Protestant Churches, 1931-1979.”  PhD dissertation.  Loyola University of Chicago, March 1989.  17.

27.  Kalamazoo, Michigan, Central High School Class of 1951 entry.  Classmates website.

28.  Christian Endeavor Society.  1951 International Convention, Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Official Report.  30.

29.  Fred Bock is discussed in the posts for 12 July 2020 and 27 December 2020.
30.  “Dick Bolks.”  Fred Bock Music Company website.  2016.

31.  “Gospelaires Plan Concert For Sunday.”  Holland [Michigan] Evening Sentinel.  19 February 1960.  7.  There were some problems in the digital conversion; the quotation has not been corrected.

32.  Wedding notice.  Battle Creek [Michigan] Enquirer.  5 April 1959.  14.  Posted by bshay2502 on 10 July 2019.

33.  Item on appearance by Waters.  Holland City [Michigan] News 94:4:6 May 1965.  “Dick was her accompanist at the time she was forced to cancel an appearance in Holland Civic Center in 1961 because of illness.”

34.  Wikipedia.  “Ethel Waters.”

35.  He did the arrangement for “Fill My Cup Lord” that is mentioned in the post for 5 July 2020.

36.  Dick Anthony Singers.  To Tell the Untold.  Hosanna/Tempo Records L-202.  1970.
37.  Wikipedia.  “Dick Anthony (Musician).”  The program was broadcast from Florida.

38.  One example was Paul DeKorte, who had been in The Gospelairs.  He moved to Los Angeles in 1963, worked with Waters, [65] and was hired by Hanna-Barbara after he met William Hanna through a barbershop quartet. [66]  When he became music supervisor for the company, he hired Bolks to sing in the chorus for Yogi’s First Christmas in 1980. [67]

39.  “Concert Slated at Christ United Presbyterian Church.” [Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania] Citizens’ Voice.  29 April 1980.  42.  “Program title is ‘This Is Love’ by Dick Bolks, musical director for the TV program ‘Day of Discovery’ on Sunday mornings from Cypress Gardens, Fla.”

40.  His credits were assembled from searches of WorldCat, Discogs, and Amazon conducted on 24 June 2020.

41.  Lennon Sisters.  22 Songs of Faith and Inspiration.  Ranwood 7027-2.  1983.  WorldCat said: “All songs arr. by John Bahler and Dick Bolks.”

42.  Dick Bolks.  Blessed Assurance.  1990.  Amazon listed it as CD Baby.  YouTube associated it with Summit Sounds.

43.  Hollywood Presbyterian Church is mentioned in the posts for 4 October 2020 and 27 December 2020.  Ogilvie is mentioned in the one for 27 December 2020.

44.  Curry Pikkaart.  “It’s Who You Know.”  Sermon Central website.  10 April 2012.  He was pastor of Hope Reformed Church in South Haven, Michigan.

45.  Lee Mekkes.  “Choir News.”  Covenant Church PCA, Fayetteville, Arkansas, Covenant Chronicle.  December 2014.  2.  Bel Air Presbyterian is mentioned in the posts for 27 September 2020 and 27 December 2020.  Valley Presbyterian is in the North Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, north of Van Nuys.

46.  Discogs entry.  The copy I purchased was released in England as King KLPS 51.

47.  Don Wyrtzen.  What’s It All About, Anyhow?  Now Sounds ZLP-827 S.  1970. [Discogs entry.]

48.  Don Wyrtzen.  Breakthrough: A Musical About Prophecy.  Singcord ZLP 858S.  1973.  Discogs indicated Bolks sang bass and coordinated the choral work; Paul DeKorte sang tenor; John E. Walvoord worked on the lyrics.

49.  Geraldine L. Walvoord.  Obituary.  Dallas [Texas] Morning News.  7 September 2007.  She was John E.’s mother.

50.  “Donald John Wyrtzen.”  Hope Publishing website.
51.  Lois M. Johnson.  Obituary.  Grand Rapids [Michigan] Press.  11 June 2014.
52.  Peterson, Miracle.  185.

53.  Kip Lornell.  Exploring American Folk Music.  Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2012 edition.  122.

54.  Horace Clarence Boyer.  The Golden Age of Gospel.  Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2000.  73.

55.  Bowles Favorite Gospel & Spiritual Songs No. 2.  Chicago: Bowles Music House, 1939.  Copy in Indiana University’s Blondell Hill Gospel Music Collection.

56.  Quincy Jones.  Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones.  New York: Doubleday, 2001.  No pages in on-line edition.

 “Oprah Talks to Quincy Jones.”  O, The Oprah Magazine.  October 2011.  Reprinted on Oprah Winfrey’s website.

57.  John Reedy and His Stone Mountain Hillbillys.  “Somebody Touched Me.”  Twin-City 1021. [58]  March 1949.  Recorded in Bristol, Virginia. [59]

58.  Tammy Clemons and Timi Reedy.  “Remembering the Reedys: Appalachian Music, Migration, & Memory.”  Remembering Reedy website.  Reedy is John’s granddaughter.

59.  Lonnie Salyer.  “Twin-City Records, Bristol after The Big Bang.”  Birthplace of Country Music Museum website.  30 January 2018.

60.  Clemons.

61.  Doc Watson.  “Somebody Touched Me.”  Live At Club 47.  Yep Roc Records YEP-2499.  Recorded on 10 February 1963 at Club 47, 47 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts; released in 2018.  He was from Deep Gap, North Carolina, in Watauga County.

62.  Russell was listed as Russell Bridges.

63.  Beatles.  “In My Life.”  Rubber Soul.  Parlophone PCS 3075.  3 December 1965. [Discogs entry.]

64.  Wikipedia.  “In My Life” and “Baroque Pop.”

65.  Paul DeKorte.  Obituary.  The [Santa Clarita, California] Signal.  16 October 1985.  17.

66.  Jim Korkis.  “Animation Anecdotes #357.”  Cartoon Research website.  6 April 2018.

67.  Wikipedia.  “Yogi’s First Christmas.”  He was listed as John Richard Bolks.

The Re’Generation - Kum-by-ah

Topic: Religious Folk Music Revival
The Church of the Nazarene was organized as a Pentecostal alternative to the Assembly of God that spoke in tongues.  It reaffirmed its anti-glossolalia position in 1976 after the Charismatic Movement began spreading. [1]

Many Assembly of God churches remained open to popular music.  In 1971, Ralph Carmichael, who was raised in the church, said “as a Christian composer, I feel I must write in whatever idiom will be most effective for Jesus’ sake.”  He added: “our message stands the same, but the vernacular and communication tools must change in order to stay relevant.” [2]

Benson Publishing had thrived on Nazarenes’ willingness to buy songbooks. [3]  Thus, when Capitol Records couldn’t sell its copies of Larry Norman’s first album, it leased its rights to Benson’s Impact Records, where it became an “instant hit.” [4]

Benson was aware that the audience for its records was composed of groups with different tastes.  Some considered Frank Sinatra too popular, some thought that of Elvis Presley, and some so deemed Bill Gaither’s Trio.  It had established the Impact label in 1968 for the more modern Southern Gospel groups that used electric instruments and arrangements influenced by Nashville musicians. [5]

Still, On This Rock was a bit more than Impact could digest.  Norman said he did a “special re-mix” that he hoped would “soften the cultural blow by lessening the distortion and percussion in favour of the lyrics and harmonies.” [6]  Later, he said “I’m rather happy that the album sounded so benign instead of embodying the ferocious rock statement I wanted to make” because it “traveled well.” [7]

Thurlow Spurr’s parents had been evangelists in Fulton County, New York, [8] where they used drums in their services in the late 1940s. [9]  He organized a choral group in 1963 that staged high-school assemblies on drivers’ education for Chrysler.  In the evenings, the Spurlows presented a different program, the Splendor of Sacred Sounds, in local churches. [10]

Larnelle Harris played drums for the group between 1969 and 1971.  He described its program as “creating smooth harmonies in the Fred Waring tradition and playing modern arrangements.”  In particular, he remembered the subterfuges they used to smuggle his drums into churches so they could present them as a fiat accompli. [11]

The Chrysler program ended in 1971, and Spurr used his experience organizing tours to foster other groups, including one directed by Derric Johnson. [12]  As mentioned in the post for 8 March 2020, Johnson had released records by Skyline Methodist Church through the Nazarene’s Lillenas Publishing Company in 1968 and 1970.  Re’Generation’s 1971 album-songbook package was sold by Lilleanas’ Tempo Records. [13]

Re’generation made its first record for Impact in 1972. [14]  The same year an agent for DisneyWorld heard the group and hired it to perform at the Magic Kingdom in 1973. [15]

Johnson was still producing song collections for youth groups in 1974 that were marketed with accompanying albums.  One contained a version of “Kum-by-yah.”  The words were slightly different than his 1970 version: in keeping with the emphasis on personal salvation that was derived from the Jesus Movement, he changed “come by here” to “come by me” in the refrain of the third verse.

The choral parts were more demanding.  Re’Generation would strike a chord on a syllable and then, as a group, change chords, sometimes several times.  “Lord” and “ah” in the last line went through four modifications.  The last syllable was held for more than two measures (9 beats).

The most striking innovation was in instrumentation.  The New Sounds used a banjo, which someone in the group played.  Re’Generation was an a capella group.  Bob MacKenzie [16] provided the musicians. [17]

Benson had moved beyond the stereophonic technology used by Hope.  The liner notes, indicated track recording sessions were scheduled in South Carolina, while overdub and remix sessions occurred in Indiana and Tennessee.  

The choral group probably recorded the written arrangements with a pianist and possibly a drummer.  MacKenzie, then, could add other instruments in the pauses between lines and verses.  He used a banjo on “Young Believers” and jazz instruments on “Greater Is He That Is in Me.”  For “Kumbaya,” Henry Slaughter [18] created the sound of a blues harmonica with a clavietta. [19]

Churches who wished to perform “Kum-ba-yah” had two choices.  Their pianists could play the arrangements provided in the songbook, which were chords no different than were heard with hymns.  If they wanted something livelier, they could purchase the “pre-recorded orchestral accompaniment tape.” [20]

Performers
Book
Vocal Soloist: soprano
Vocal Group: soprano, alto, tenor, bass
Instrumental Accompaniment: piano
Rhythm Accompaniment: none

Album
Vocal Soloists: one woman, one man
Vocal Group: men and women
Vocal Director: Derric Johnson

Instrumental Accompaniment: piano; [21] clavietta played by Henry Slaughter; xylophone type instrument played by Farrell Morris

Rhythm Accompaniment: muted drums played by Buster Phillips

Credits
Book
Arranged by Derric Johnson
Arr. ©1974 by Dimension Music.

Album
Traditional
Arr. D. Johnson/Dimension SESAC

Notes on Lyrics
Both
Language: English
Pronunciation: not indicated
Verses: kumbaya, prayin’, singin’, happy

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

Book
Basic Form: verse-chorus
Ending: repeat refrains as a verse

Album
Basic Form: five-verse song
Ending: none

Both
Unique Features: refrain varies by verse: kum by ah, come by here, come by me

Notes on Music
Book
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: not specified
Key Signature: five flats; final chorus two sharps

Both
Basic Structure: strophic repetition
Ending: hold final note
Harmonic Structure: parallel octaves

Singing Style: several notes to one syllable for last syllable of “kumbaya” and final “Lord”; change notes as group in harmony

Solo-Group Dynamics: group echoes text of soloist; the New Sounds had repeated “kumbaya” as an echo

Album
Vocal-Accompaniment Dynamics: clavietta plays a counter melody; drums constant beat

Unique Features: use of clavietta

Notes on Performance
The cover for a 1971 Re’Generation songbook showed three young women with long, straight hair, and two older women with more formal hairstyles.  The hair of the five men was short; however, several had long forelocks like the Beatles.  The men were wearing colored, long-sleeve shirts with neckties, while the women were wearing brightly colored dresses or tops. [22]

Nine years later, at an appearance at Nashville’s Nazarene College, five man were wearing three piece suits and five women were in white pant suits.  The women’s hair was less formal, while the men’s was about the same, perhaps with shorter forelocks.  There were no signs of musical instruments on stage. [23]

Audience Perceptions
The Trevecca College yearbook described “their cherry smiles, stage personality, and smooth flowing music” as a “counter-statement” to the “the nightmares of the past.”  The group embodied “oneness in a strong heritage of faith and freedom, a musical unit that emphasizes positive attitudes and actions.” [24]

Notes on Performers
The style of Re’Generation became more middle-of-the-road, Easy Listening after Johnson became associated with Disney.  Its name was changed to Voices of Liberty when it began performing at Epcot Center in 1982. [25]

Johnson stayed with Disney as a consultant until he reached age 75 in 2005, [26] but had begun directing a choral group at the Quaker’s George Fox University [27] in 1994.  He taught there from 1996 [28] to 2005. [29]   He’s been a worship leader at Downtown Baptist Church in Orlando, Florida, since 2015. [30]

Alicia C. warned “this church isn’t for you if you like a praise group and a rock band.”  Instead, “this church is the way it used to be: good hymns sung by people who really care about each other.”  The congregation was described as older, with few members under age forty-five. [31]

Availability
Book: Derric Johnson.  “Kum-by-ah.” Fun ’n Easy, Volume 2.  Nashville: John T. Benson Company, 1974.  6–10.

Album: The Re’Generation.  “Kum-ba-yah.”  Fun ’n Easy, Volume 2.  Impact R3285 1974.  It also was available as a cassette (C9285) and an 8-track tape (T9285).

End Notes
1.  Charles L. Perabeau.  “The Church of the Nazarene in the U.S.: Race, Gender, and Class in the Struggle with Pentecostalism and Aspirations Toward Respectability, 1895-1985.”  PhD dissertation.  Drew University, May 2011.  45–63, especially 53.

2.  Ralph Carmichael.  Quoted by Mary Violet Burns.  “The New Sound.”  91–99 in Jesus People Come Alive.  Edited by Walker L. Knight.  Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House, 1971.  97.

3.  The history of the Benson companies is sketched in the post for 19 July 2020.

4.  Gregory Alan Thornbury.  Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?  New York: Convergent Books, 2018.  57.  He noted that Benson did not pay the required royalties on sales.  Norman was introduced in the post for 4 October 2020.

5.  Ivan M. Tribe.  “Heart Warming Records.”  183 in Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music.  Edited by W. K. McNeil.  New York: Routledge, 2005.

6.  Larry Norman.  “The Growth Of The Christian Music Industry.”  Cross Rhythms website.  11 October 2006.   Page 3.

7.  Thornbury.  57.  He gave no source for the 2002 quotation.
8.  Item.  The [Troy, New York] Times Record.  18 May 1950.  4.

9.  “Past President of the Gospel Music Association and 8-year Board Member - History.”  Thurlow Spurr’s website.

10.  Herb Wood.  “Spurrlows Spur Safety with Musical Message.”  Billboard.  3 December 1966.  60–61.

11.  Larnelle Harris.  Shaped Notes.  With Christine Schaub.  Nashville, Tennessee: Morgan James Faith, 2018.  Chapter 3.

12. [Decatur, Illinois] Herald and Review.  24 November 1971.  3.  Posted by HeraldReview.  18 May 2018.  “The Re’Generation, presented by the Spurlows, will perform at 7 p.m. today at Peoples Church of God [. . .] along with their evening concerts, the group is active during the day in special presentations for high schools, colleges, and service organizations.”

13.  Songbook: Derric Johnson.  Re’Generation Songs.  Kansas City, Missouri: Lillenas, 1971.  [WorldCat Entry.]

Album: The Re’Generation.  Tempo/Impact.  [World Cat entry.]

Album: The Re’Generation II.  Tempo/Impact.  [WorldCat entry.]

14.  Re’Generation.  Believe.     Nashville, Tennessee: Impact Records, 1972.  [WorldCat entry.]

15.  Bill Iadonisi.  “Interview with Derric Johnson-Founder of ‘Voices of Liberty’.”  Disney by the Numbers website.  2018.

16.  MacKenzie was profiled in the post for 26 July 2020.

17.  Johnson was not a trained musician.  As mentioned in the post for 8 March 2020, he learned by doing from Orval Butcher.  Otis Skilling did the orchestrations for the 1971 albums. [32]  He was probably the link between Spurr and Johnson.  He had worked as an arranger for the Spurlows, [33] at the same time he had a vocal group performing in San Bernadino [34] and Costa Mesa, California. [35]  He later worked on the music staff at Skyline. [36]

18.  Henry Slaughter was music director at Rex Humbard’s Cathedral of Tomorrow.  He later played piano for the Southern Gospel quartet, The Imperials, and then worked for Bill Gaither. [37]

19.  Claviettas were André Borel’s version of Hohner’s melodica.  It was a reed instrument with a 34-note keyboard that was played by blowing into it. [38]

20.  Item Y1029.
21.  The liner notes listed two pianists: Otis Forrest and Bill Purcell.

22.  Derric Johnson.  Re’Generation Songs, Book Two.  Kansas City, Missouri: Lillenas Publishing Company, 1971.  It was subtitled “as sung by The Spurrlows and Re’Generation.”

23.  “Nashville Based Re’Generation Performs in Gym.”  The Darda.  Trevecca Nazarene College yearbook, 1979 edition.  48.

24.  Darda.  48.
25.  Iadonisi.
26.  “Derric Johnson.”  LinkedIn website.

27.  The Portland, Oregon, school is affiliated with the Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends. [39]  It wasn’t clear if Johnson commuted from Orlando, Florida, or lived there.  His wife was raised in Portland. [40]

28.  Kari Godel.  “George Fox To Host Music Workshop Friday Evening.”  The [George Fox University] Crescent.  20 September 1996.  1.

29.  “Derric Johnson.”  His website.

30.  Carolyn Nichols.  “Jim Henry Breathes Life into Downtown Baptist.”  Baptist Press website.
16 February 2015.

31.  Alicia C.  “Downtown Baptist Church.”  Yelp website.  3 January 2016.
32.  World Cat entries cited in note 13 above.
33.  Harris.
34.  Item.  San Bernardino [California] Sun. 10 May 1969.  A9.

35.  “Pickens, DeRose Announce Entertainment for Banquet.” [Vanguard University] Clarion.  4 December 1969.  3.

36.  Item. The Pasadena [California] Star-News.  27 October 1973.  4.
37.  David Bruce Allen.  “Henry Slaughter.”  Southern Gospel History website.

38.  Wikipedia.  “Melodica.”

“Borel Clavietta.”  Melodica World website.

39.  Wikipedia.  “George Fox University.”
40.  “Debbie Johnson.”  Downtown Baptist Church, Orlando, Florida, website.