Topic: Early Versions
The Prelude-Denouement format of "Come by Here" was developing just as "Kumbaya" was beginning its slow journey into the camp song repertoire. As discussed in the post for 2 August 2017, the form was composed of two parts, a prelude that asked the Lord to come, and a denouement that dramatized his materialization.
Much of the meaning was conveyed by the progression of the music. The texts for the preludes usually had a set form, often with four lines that rhymed, either AABB or ABCB. They used the words "come by here" and "needs you."
Some singers became more specific in a transition that itemized the reasons the Lord’s presence was needed. This usually was done with sentences or phrases that might use incremental repetition or end rhyme, but did not adhere to a stanzaic format.
Once the Holy Spirit was present, the singer repeated lines, then phrases or words, in an improvised manner. Some performers included testimonials.
Not every artists included every part in a three-minute recording. The versions from 1953 emphasized the prelude and transition. The Hightower Brothers used a very short prelude, and a long denouement in 1958. Their performance was discussed in the post for 1 September 2017.
Five African-American men from Texas and Louisiana [1] recorded "Come by Here" in Los Angeles in 1953. The Chosen Gospel Singers began by repeating "come by here" six times. After coaxing Him with reminders they needed Him as a "guide" by their "side," they repeated "come by here."
Instead of a denouement that would have changed the pace of the music, they moved into the transition where they became more specific about their needs, repeating a commonplace expression twice: "sometimes I’m up, sometimes I’m down." They also repeated a warning to themselves that even if they were "worried," they should not be in a "hurry." [2]
Edna Gallmon Cooke, recorded a similar version the same year. Like the men, she began by repeating "come by here" and reminded Him she couldn’t get along without His Holy Spirit. In the transition she sang "somebody needs you," then "all of us needs you," and the more specific allusion to a wife waiting in tears. Her denouement testified she’d gone down on her knees in the wilderness and He had saved her with His grace. [3]
She grew up in Washington, DC, where her father preached in church formed by migrants from Edgefield, South Carolina. [4] The Blind Wonders of Washington, DC also recorded "Come by Here" in 1953, but so far I haven’t found a version of it. [5]
End Notes
These versions will be discussed in more detail in future posts.
1. Opal Louis Nations. "The Chosen Gospel Singers." RB April/Mary 1997:40-41.
2. Chosen Gospel Singers. "Come By Here." Specialty Records. Hollywood. 11 November 1953. Not issued.
3. Edna Gallmon Cooke. "Come by Here." Republic 7086. Nashville. 1953.
4. Donya Williams. "Two Cities, Two Churches, One Bond." Springfield Baptist Church E-Newsletter [Washington, DC]. February-March 2013
5. Blind Wonders of Washington DC. "Come By Here." Red Robin 3030. August 1953.
Showing posts with label Hightower Brothers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hightower Brothers. Show all posts
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Friday, September 1, 2017
Hightower Brothers - Come By Here
Topic: Seminal Versions
The Hightower Brothers recorded a version of "Come by Here" in 1958 that defined the melody for many who followed. It began with three notes on the base note of a chord, followed by three on the fifth. The repetition of the one tone with the rhythm of a three-syllable word "somebody" propelled the melody.
Nick Hightower formed the group with his three sons and a relative. [1] The soloist, Robert, was ten at the time. They did not create the tune. It already was in tradition in 1926 when H. Wylie sang it for Robert Gordon somewhere in coastal Georgia. [2]
Nick’s father, also Nick Hightower, founded the House of God in Saints in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1927 where he met resistence from the white community:
"Bishop Hightower established the church in an era of excessive brutality toward Blacks. He persevered despite being jailed and later thrown off his property for preaching the gospel to ‘the poor...to heal the brokenhearted and preach deliverance to the captives.’ Bishop Hightower’s persistence helped spread the word to Georgia, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania." [3]
He then established New Bethel in Douglas, Georgia, in 1938, and remained there until he died in 1971. [4] Douglas was then a tobacco market on the Georgia and Florida Railway line. [5]
Nick the son was living in Deland, Florida when his youngest boy, Robert, was born in 1948. Robert died in Goldsboro, North Carolina, in 2010. [6] His birth and death places laid just beyond the outer limits of the Gullah-speaking territory that included Wylie’s part of Georgia.
Their version, with its piano-driven rhythms and high-pitched voiceless syllables no doubt drew on the style of Little Richard. Rolling Stone said he was known for "pounding the piano, howling his lyrics and screaming in a wild falsetto." [7] Richard Penniman was from Macon, [8] on the Georgia fall line bordering the coastal plain. [9] The Hightowers combination of his style with the Wylie melody produced a regional version steeped in the traditions of their grandfather’s Pentecostal church.
Performers
Solo: Robert Hightower
Vocal Accompaniment: Nick Hightower; Willie James Hightower, second tenor; William Martin Hightower, Johnny Hightower, and Reco Hightower. [10]
Instrumental Accompaniment: organ [11]
Rhythm Accompaniment: piano, drum set, one person clapping hands
Credits
Volunteer Music, BMI. [12]
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: pronounced "come" tersely and emphasized "by"
Verse Phrases: come by here, need you, I’m singing
Vocabulary:
Pronoun: somebody, I
Term for Deity: Lord, Lordy
Lawyer: all the listed people who needed the Lord were family members except "my lawyer." I have no idea what significance that carried for a ten-year-old boy.
Theme:
Prelude: requested Lord to come
Transition: listed people who need Him
Denouement: continued to list people, then changed to define when the singer needed Him and ended with series of oh’s
Format: ritual prelude-denouement structure
Line Meter: iambic
Verse Form: repetitions of lines; number of repetitions varies
Line Meter: iambic
Prelude
Line Form: statement-refrain
Transition and Denouement
Rhetorical Devices: incremental repetition (listed members of family, then days of the week)
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-5
Tempo: up tempo
Basic Structure: soloist supported by group singing rhythm
Singing Style:
Solo: young male voice chants more than sings. His voice got raspier in the transition, and turned into high, voiceless sounds in parts of the denouement.
Group: chordal harmony; last word sustained and went lower in harmony.
Solo-Group Dynamics: group sang rhythm. In the prelude they began "come by here" after he started singing. In the transition, they repeated "Lordy I need You" without pause. They changed to repeating "I need you" in the denouement during the list of family members, then only at the beginning of the lines that listed days of the week. In the last part, one with a low voice sometimes sang a word to emphasize what the soloist had just sung.
Vocal-Rhythm Dynamics: piano played the downbeats and the handclap came after. Before they singing started, the piano alternated high and low notes with hand claps. The claps were widely spaced in the prelude, and constant in the denouement. The last phrase was a capella.
Influence: Some Hightower’s fans pointed to Julius Cheeks of the Sensational Nightingales, rather than Little Richard. One said:
"He is singing in the style of Julius Cheeks and pulling it off amazingly, no easy feat for any man let alone a young boy." [13]
Another also mentioned Archie Brownlee of the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi:
"little sugar was something else as a kid. can’t deny the brownlee-cheeks influence." [14]
Viewers’ Perceptions
Most who commented in YouTube remarked on Robert’s singing style. On woman said:
"Those brothers were such a Inspiration to whom ever they sung too, the Holy Ghost were on them everytime , sooo amazing just how awesome our God is , but we won’t know it all until we get to HEAVEN . God’s will was done thanks to their father who allow his sons to be led by the holy spirit." [15]
When someone in the comments complained about the boy’s screaming, another woman answered:
"This guy was not yelling at all he was feeling the Holy Spirit and plus, he was singing with the anointing. When you are singing with the anointing you can yell, I should know because I am a gospel singer myself." [16]
A second, agreed
"he got the holy spirt." [17]
One person mentioned the song:
"My grandfather’s favorite song he passed away singing this song 4/8/13." [18]
Availability
45 rpm: Gospel 1008. New York City, 13 October 1958.
Reissue: Screaming Gospel Holy Rollers Vol. 2. Menstrie, UK: VeeTone Records 2016. Compiled by Mark Lamarr.
Reissued as: "I Need You Lord." The Best of the Hightower Brothers. Nashboro NASH4004. 1995.
YouTube: uploaded by P Low, 13 February 2011.
End Notes
1. William Martin Hightower did not appear in the list of Robert’s living or dead siblings. He either died so young he was omitted or was a cousin. See #6 obituary below.
2. H. Wylie. "Somebody Needs You, Lord, Come by Here." Collected by Robert Winslow Gordon, near Darien, Georgia, 1926. Deposited in Archives of American Folk Song. A transcription by Jennifer Cutting appeared in Stephen Winick. "The World’s First ‘Kumbaya’ Moment: New Evidence about an Old Song." Folklife Center News 34(3-4): 3-10:2010.
3. Lighthouse Faith Ministry website.
4. Hightower Memorial Temple, Douglas, Georgia, website.
5. Wikipedia. "Douglas, Georgia."
6. "Services Announced for Robert "Sugar" Hightower of the Supreme Angels." Goldsboro [North Carolina] News-Argus. 30 August 2010.
7. "Little Richard Bio." Rolling Stone website.
8. Rolling Stone.
9. Wikipedia. "Macon, Georgia."
10. Doubting Thomas Lamarr. Liner notes, Screaming.
11. Doubting Thomas.
12. Doubting Thomas. The liner notes reproduced the record label.
13. Howling Moon Records. Comment posted to YouTube, 2013.
14. Brooks Danner. Comment posted to YouTube, 2015.
15. Deniece Samuels. Comment posted to YouTube, 2012.
16. Jasmine SeabronSeabron. Comment posted to YouTube, July 2015.
17. T. T Welch. Comment posted to YouTube, 2013.
18. jb Smith. Comment posted to YouTube, 2013.
The Hightower Brothers recorded a version of "Come by Here" in 1958 that defined the melody for many who followed. It began with three notes on the base note of a chord, followed by three on the fifth. The repetition of the one tone with the rhythm of a three-syllable word "somebody" propelled the melody.
Nick Hightower formed the group with his three sons and a relative. [1] The soloist, Robert, was ten at the time. They did not create the tune. It already was in tradition in 1926 when H. Wylie sang it for Robert Gordon somewhere in coastal Georgia. [2]
Nick’s father, also Nick Hightower, founded the House of God in Saints in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1927 where he met resistence from the white community:
"Bishop Hightower established the church in an era of excessive brutality toward Blacks. He persevered despite being jailed and later thrown off his property for preaching the gospel to ‘the poor...to heal the brokenhearted and preach deliverance to the captives.’ Bishop Hightower’s persistence helped spread the word to Georgia, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania." [3]
He then established New Bethel in Douglas, Georgia, in 1938, and remained there until he died in 1971. [4] Douglas was then a tobacco market on the Georgia and Florida Railway line. [5]
Nick the son was living in Deland, Florida when his youngest boy, Robert, was born in 1948. Robert died in Goldsboro, North Carolina, in 2010. [6] His birth and death places laid just beyond the outer limits of the Gullah-speaking territory that included Wylie’s part of Georgia.
Their version, with its piano-driven rhythms and high-pitched voiceless syllables no doubt drew on the style of Little Richard. Rolling Stone said he was known for "pounding the piano, howling his lyrics and screaming in a wild falsetto." [7] Richard Penniman was from Macon, [8] on the Georgia fall line bordering the coastal plain. [9] The Hightowers combination of his style with the Wylie melody produced a regional version steeped in the traditions of their grandfather’s Pentecostal church.
Performers
Solo: Robert Hightower
Vocal Accompaniment: Nick Hightower; Willie James Hightower, second tenor; William Martin Hightower, Johnny Hightower, and Reco Hightower. [10]
Instrumental Accompaniment: organ [11]
Rhythm Accompaniment: piano, drum set, one person clapping hands
Credits
Volunteer Music, BMI. [12]
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: pronounced "come" tersely and emphasized "by"
Verse Phrases: come by here, need you, I’m singing
Vocabulary:
Pronoun: somebody, I
Term for Deity: Lord, Lordy
Lawyer: all the listed people who needed the Lord were family members except "my lawyer." I have no idea what significance that carried for a ten-year-old boy.
Theme:
Prelude: requested Lord to come
Transition: listed people who need Him
Denouement: continued to list people, then changed to define when the singer needed Him and ended with series of oh’s
Format: ritual prelude-denouement structure
Line Meter: iambic
Verse Form: repetitions of lines; number of repetitions varies
Line Meter: iambic
Prelude
Line Form: statement-refrain
Transition and Denouement
Rhetorical Devices: incremental repetition (listed members of family, then days of the week)
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-5
Tempo: up tempo
Basic Structure: soloist supported by group singing rhythm
Singing Style:
Solo: young male voice chants more than sings. His voice got raspier in the transition, and turned into high, voiceless sounds in parts of the denouement.
Group: chordal harmony; last word sustained and went lower in harmony.
Solo-Group Dynamics: group sang rhythm. In the prelude they began "come by here" after he started singing. In the transition, they repeated "Lordy I need You" without pause. They changed to repeating "I need you" in the denouement during the list of family members, then only at the beginning of the lines that listed days of the week. In the last part, one with a low voice sometimes sang a word to emphasize what the soloist had just sung.
Vocal-Rhythm Dynamics: piano played the downbeats and the handclap came after. Before they singing started, the piano alternated high and low notes with hand claps. The claps were widely spaced in the prelude, and constant in the denouement. The last phrase was a capella.
Influence: Some Hightower’s fans pointed to Julius Cheeks of the Sensational Nightingales, rather than Little Richard. One said:
"He is singing in the style of Julius Cheeks and pulling it off amazingly, no easy feat for any man let alone a young boy." [13]
Another also mentioned Archie Brownlee of the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi:
"little sugar was something else as a kid. can’t deny the brownlee-cheeks influence." [14]
Viewers’ Perceptions
Most who commented in YouTube remarked on Robert’s singing style. On woman said:
"Those brothers were such a Inspiration to whom ever they sung too, the Holy Ghost were on them everytime , sooo amazing just how awesome our God is , but we won’t know it all until we get to HEAVEN . God’s will was done thanks to their father who allow his sons to be led by the holy spirit." [15]
When someone in the comments complained about the boy’s screaming, another woman answered:
"This guy was not yelling at all he was feeling the Holy Spirit and plus, he was singing with the anointing. When you are singing with the anointing you can yell, I should know because I am a gospel singer myself." [16]
A second, agreed
"he got the holy spirt." [17]
One person mentioned the song:
"My grandfather’s favorite song he passed away singing this song 4/8/13." [18]
Availability
45 rpm: Gospel 1008. New York City, 13 October 1958.
Reissue: Screaming Gospel Holy Rollers Vol. 2. Menstrie, UK: VeeTone Records 2016. Compiled by Mark Lamarr.
Reissued as: "I Need You Lord." The Best of the Hightower Brothers. Nashboro NASH4004. 1995.
YouTube: uploaded by P Low, 13 February 2011.
End Notes
1. William Martin Hightower did not appear in the list of Robert’s living or dead siblings. He either died so young he was omitted or was a cousin. See #6 obituary below.
2. H. Wylie. "Somebody Needs You, Lord, Come by Here." Collected by Robert Winslow Gordon, near Darien, Georgia, 1926. Deposited in Archives of American Folk Song. A transcription by Jennifer Cutting appeared in Stephen Winick. "The World’s First ‘Kumbaya’ Moment: New Evidence about an Old Song." Folklife Center News 34(3-4): 3-10:2010.
3. Lighthouse Faith Ministry website.
4. Hightower Memorial Temple, Douglas, Georgia, website.
5. Wikipedia. "Douglas, Georgia."
6. "Services Announced for Robert "Sugar" Hightower of the Supreme Angels." Goldsboro [North Carolina] News-Argus. 30 August 2010.
7. "Little Richard Bio." Rolling Stone website.
8. Rolling Stone.
9. Wikipedia. "Macon, Georgia."
10. Doubting Thomas Lamarr. Liner notes, Screaming.
11. Doubting Thomas.
12. Doubting Thomas. The liner notes reproduced the record label.
13. Howling Moon Records. Comment posted to YouTube, 2013.
14. Brooks Danner. Comment posted to YouTube, 2015.
15. Deniece Samuels. Comment posted to YouTube, 2012.
16. Jasmine SeabronSeabron. Comment posted to YouTube, July 2015.
17. T. T Welch. Comment posted to YouTube, 2013.
18. jb Smith. Comment posted to YouTube, 2013.
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