Topic: Seminal Versions
If time had stopped in 1970, there would be no question Joan Baez was responsible for introducing the slight melodic modification into the second line of "Kumbaya" heard in recent recordings on YouTube. In late December 2017, the eleven videos of her version on YouTube had been heard 739,056 times. In contrast, the eleven videos of the two recordings by The Seekers had been viewed 155,286 times.
But time did not stand still. The prodigal Seekers returned to Australia, and the three men began performing with different soloists. The two videos of a 1990 concert with Karen Knowles were seen 22,877 times. [1]
More important, in 1993 Judith Durhan returned to the group. By then, she had recovered from a serious automobile accident and her husband was seriously ill. [2] The six YouTube videos taken from the silver anniversary concert DVD were viewed 4,138,504 times. There were only about 6,663,000 people in Australia over the age of 55, and probably 15% of them were natives or immigrants from India, China, or elsewhere. [3]
Billboard reported by 1996 that 70,000 copies of the original concert CD had been purchased. Another 10,000 copies of the DVD were sold. In addition, a compilation of all their recordings issued when they performed again in England sold 35,000 copies. [4] Their 1990s popularity was not a regional phenomenon.
I think ultimately Baez and The Seekers attracted two different groups of singers. She invited individuals, who normally did not sing, to join her on the melody, so she could improvise a little against their chorale. [5] The relaxation of norms for proper public behavior lasted as long as people were in a situation where they felt safe singing along, but once they left festival time and returned to ordinary life they stopped.
The Seekers appealed to people who already had been exposed to music as children and were singing in groups like Athol Guy had done as a child. He told Tracey Korsten:
"I was chained to the piano when I was about six years old, by my dear grand-mother, and she and the family would sing along, doing amazing harmonizing. Then I became a choir boy, and when my two uncles came home from the war, they had a little jazz band, and they used to practice out on our back-verandah." [6]
The Seekers were a group and, after the first verse, the men joined the female solist. They were the ones who demonstrated how groups could sing harmony. Not everyone was a soprano like Baez or Judith Durham, but nearly everyone could find a voice in the group they could match. Guy, recently told another interviewer:
"Bruce sums it up beautifully this way, in a sense, he said we get our sound because of a real anomaly. He said the fact is he said Judith and Athol sing perfectly in tune, ah, he said, I sing a little flat and Keith sings a little sharp." [7]
It wasn’t simply the broad band of sound created by the timbres of their voices. As mentioned in the post for 21 December 2017, it mattered how individuals were trained to listen while they sang. Guy added, "when your ears hear harmony – any group can sing a harmony, anyone who knows music, you know, can sing a harmony." [8]
Graham Simpson noted the album abetted this musical enculturation in another way. He wrote:
"The surprising legacy of a video of the original group at last being made available for family use was that a whole legion of very young fans would emerge—toddlers as young as two and three years old would pester their parents by asking for the video to be played for hours each day!" [9]
Baez’s version, in the meantime, had been reduced to allusion by adolescents in this country who were playing video games like Grand Theft Auto. Diamon posted a session transcription to YouTube that played an excerpt from her recording of "Kumbaya" every time a player was hit by an automobile. He described it as a "Short Video and overused song, I still found it a little funny, what about you?" [10]
Performers
Vocal Soloist: Judith Durham
Vocal Group: Athol Guy, Keith Potger, Bruce Woodley
Instrumental Accompaniment: G. Thomas noted that in the concert in general
"the four accompanying musicians, mostly in the shadows add considerably to the presence of the music, In fact, Michael Christiano, the musical director plays a wide variety of instruments, often taking the familiar 12-string solos and riffs originally pioneered by Keith Potger, who takes it easy in this concert and just generally strums along on the front row, wearing his signature Maton FG150/12" guitar.
"Also Athol Guy is mostly just caressing his double-bass; the real bass-line is performed by the bass guitar in the background.
"Bruce Woodley seems to perform instrumentally throughout, though, on a number of instruments". [11]
Rhythm Accompaniment: Thomas added, during the entire concert, "the drum kit and subtle keyboard in the back row also add a superb depth and breadth which of course is on none of their sixties records." [12]
Credits
Durham introduced the song, saying: "This one’s a traditional one though from the early 60s. We believe it came from Africa."
Notes on Lyrics
Changes from 1963 version: they sang the same verses in a different order.
Notes on Music
Changes from 1964 version were detailed above. Guy described their vocal sound to an interviewer in 2016:
"Keith and I are really well, you know, really very, very good harmony singers. Ah, Bruce has a beaut lead baritone voice. Keith has that lovely top range, nearly tenor voice. He can sing up near the roof when he has to. Except his harmony sits basically under Judith’s in a way." [13]
Notes on Performance
Occasion: concert celebrating the 25th anniversary of the group’s last performance in 1968. [14]
Location: Melbourne Concert Hall, Australia, 1 January 1993.
Microphones: each had a floor mike
Clothing: the men wore lavender shirts and black slacks; Guy also wore a black vest. Durham wore a floor-length purple rose-purple dress with a darker purple overdress.
Notes on Movement
The men looked at one another and the audience. Durham, shifted her body between diagonals and let her arms swing to the music in the introduction. While she was singing, she raised her arms toward her shoulders on the statements, and lowered them wide on the refrains.
Audience Perceptions
Many of the comments made by YouTube listeners referred to the musical aspects of their performances. While many simply described their reactions to their singing, a few were more analytical.
One man said in September 2016: "What a glorious performance by the whole group!! Love those acoustic guitar introductions!! Judith’s vocals and the Guy’s harmonies sound like a 4- piece Heavenly choir!!" [15]
Another man added in November 2016: "The harmony, the change of key - unsurpassed and the precision and clarity of Judith’s voice make the Seekers eternally unique." [16]
A woman explained the importance of this particular concert performance in reviving the song. She wrote in 2011:
"as someone who has sung this at church youth retreats around a campfire, I was kind of tired of it, so I skipped it on their CD. Then one morning last week, I let it play and it was a revelation...the absolutely best arrangement of this song I have EVER heard. Pure spiritual beauty." [17]
Notes on Performers
The men were musicians who were aware of quality of their sound, and had discussed it at various times. Guy remembered:
"as Bruce points it, simplistically that it just locks it all in and ah you know through our ears it blends and it chimes and gives us that almost fifth voice that sits on top of it all, especially when you’re in a good concert hall with good acoustics. It’s a beautiful feeling and it brings the songs to life in a way that I don’t know that anybody else could." [18]
Availability
CD: The Silver Jubilee Album. EMI 7814084. 1993.
DVD: The Seekers ~ 25 Year Reunion Celebration. EMI Australia. 2003.
YouTube: several people uploaded versions taken from the DVD. The one with the spoken introduction was "The Seekers Kumbya (Live)." Uploaded by seekersarchive on 10 January 2010.
The video with the quoted comments was "The Seekers - Kumbaya." Uploaded by Judith Durham and The Seekers on 2 July 2009.
End Notes
1. "The Seekers at Christmas (with Karen Knowles)" uploaded to YouTube by rich963 on 12 December 2011 and "The Seekers (Karen knowles) Kumbaya (1991)" uploaded by Denny161853 on 15 July 2010.
2. Wikipedia. "Judith Durham."
3. According to Wikipedia, the estimated population of Australia for January 2018 was 24,770,600. The percent over age 55 in 2014 was 26.9. In 2016, 26% of the population was foreign-born. That reduced the number likely to have been in Australia when The Seekers were performing to the entire number of people who watched the video on YouTube. Since that was highly unlikely, the video statistics indicated people from other parts of the world were also watching it. ("Demography of Australia")
4. Glenn A. Baker. "Box Reignites Reunited Seekers." Billboard, 4 May 1996. 46, 47.
5. The audience can be heard best in a recently released recording of a concert broadcast by Hilversum Television in 1967. Joan Baez. Live in the Netherlands 1967. Elsendo Recordings. 31 August 2017.
6. Athol Guy. Quoted by Tracey Korsten. "Interview: Athol Guy." Glam Adelaide website. 6 May 2015.
7. Athol Guy. Quoted by Ian Horner. "Georgy Girl, The Musical: Celebrating The Seekers..." Hawksbury [Richmond, Australia] Gazette website. 28 April 2016.
8. Guy. Quoted by Horner.
9. Graham Simpson. Colours of My Life: The Judith Durham Story. Sydney: Random House Australia, 1994. 336.
10. "KUMBAYA MY LORD - Racoon & A Fox Part III." Uploaded to YouTube by Diamon Plays on 10 June 2017.
11. G. Thomas. Comments on Amazon UK website for the reunion concert DVD. Posted 25 September 2012. The concert videos concentrated on Durham. The two videos of the concert two years earlier with Knowles showed the musicians mentioned by Thomas.
12. Thomas.
13. Guy. Quoted by Horner.
14. Wikipedia. "25 Year Reunion Celebration."
15. Tim Lodle. September 2016. Comment posted on reunion concert video uploaded to YouTube on 2 July 2009.
16. Adrian Larkins. March 2016. Comment posted on reunion concert video uploaded to YouTube on 2 July 2009.
17. Jennifer McMullen. 2011. 7 Comment posted on reunion concert video uploaded to YouTube on 2 July 2009.
18. Guy. Quoted by Horner.
Showing posts with label Seekers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seekers. Show all posts
Friday, February 2, 2018
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
The Seekers - Kumbaya (1964)
Topic: Seminal Versions
Joan Baez and The Seekers were popular in the years between the assassinations of John Kennedy in 1963 and Martin Luther King in 1968, when it was still possible to believe the one was an anomaly. The first generation since the 1920s was affluent. All things seemed possible to children born in the years just after World War II.
The economy had recovered from war shortages, and automobile manufacturers were satisfying pent up demands. In England, car ownership increased from 40% to 60% of the population in the decade. [1] In Detroit, Lee Iacocca introduced the Mustang in 1964 as an inexpensive, stylish vehicle that could be individualized by unmarried women, like secretaries; young, small families, and larger ones that could afford second cars that gave the wives and older, adolescent drivers mobility. [2]
The popular music market was particularly broad in 1960. The same songs were heard by adolescents, their younger siblings, and their parents. The Seekers re-recorded "Kumbaya" in 1964 with orchestral backing. They replaced The Weavers’ instrumentation that relied on a banjo, with their own that used two guitars. And, for whatever reason, they dropped the one explicitly religious verse about praying.
The hegemony of the popular music market soon was disintegrating. When families began to accumulate a little money, they were able to buy transistor radios, and age-group taste preferences began to emerge. Each year, the oldest married and changed their spending habits. They were replaced by a new, younger group who had heard their music for as long they could remembere. [3] With the emergence of the Beatles, the young, screaming girls were recognized as a separate audience, the teeny boppers.
It wasn’t just the youngest who wanted their own music; the interests of the older ones matured. Symbolically, the Beatles replaced "I Want To Hold Your Hand" from 1963 with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967 as they too aged. Artists either changed or were replaced by new artists eager to extend or alter existing styles.
This natural evolution of cohorts unfolded against the political developments in the United States where politicians who had come of age in the Depression or one of the following wars thought the young should not be enjoying themselves, but serving in Vietnam.
At this point, the fundamental difference between Baez and The Seekers became obvious. She lived in the United States where the war meant death for many young men. They were living in England, which had freed young men from commitments to military service in 1960. [4]
There also was a deeper difference that went back to the stronger Calvinist strain in this country. Baez was heir to the tradition of Pete Seeger and earlier union organizers who used music as a tool to effect change. [5] Ultimately, it was utilitarian and serious.
Athol Guy, said the group deliberately did not emphasize political material, although they had included Bob Dylan’s "Blowin’ in the Wind" on the album that included the orchestral version of "Kumbaya." He told an interviewer:
"I think you either go out as a social-commentary group or you go out as an emotional commentary group, from that point of view, you know. Folk music can cut either way, can’t it. It either cuts to the heart or it cuts to the cerebral side and cuts when you want to go out and shout loudly, ah, and music never really wanted to shout. We found terrific musicality in all those Dylan songs and again the versatility of those songs lent themselves to certainly anger if you wanted to portray it that way but we wanted to portray the music in a sense that hits the spirit, hits the soul and moves people. I mean the main mission for us is to elevate the spirit." [6]
Durham made similar comments. She told her biographer:
"The importance of Bob Dylan’s lyrics never struck me at all. But then, I didn’t evaluate song lyrics much in those days. To me, the emotional content, melody and chord structure in the music was the most important thing and I didn’t take much notice of lyrics at all. Lyrics were a means of getting the notes out!" [7]
From an American perspective, Bruce Eder said, that aesthetic put them "on the wrong side of the musical divide" because "their upbeat pop sound seemed increasingly out of touch with the darkening mood in the United States." [8] From Down Under, Ian McFarlane concluded their concentration "on a bright, uptempo sound" made them "too pop to be considered strictly folk and too folk to be rock." [9]
Durham left The Seekers in 1968, while Baez’s contract with Vanguard Records ended in 1971. [10]
Performers
Vocal Soloist: Judith Durham
Vocal Group: Athol Guy, Keith Potger, Bruce Woodley
Instrumental Accompaniment: Woodley and Potger, guitars; Guy, string bass [11]; Bobby Richards and His Orchestra [12]
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
Arranged By [Orchestra] - Bobby Richards [13]
Arranged By [Seekers Arrangement] - The Seekers [14]
Notes on Lyrics
Changes from 1963 version: they dropped the praying verse, but otherwise kept the same verse order.
Notes on Music
Changes from 1963 version: they replaced the banjo with a guitar. The orchestra supplemented their sound, but did not change the solo-group or vocal-accompaniment dynamics.
Notes on Performance
They arrived in London just as the youth culture began to blossom. The men usually appeared in suits and ties, but Durham either wore short- or long-skirted dresses. The men kept their hair short, but she had long hair and bangs. Their public images signified the best of all that was available on Carnaby Street.
Audience Perceptions
A few made the comments on YouTube that one would expect from men who remembered themselves as adolescents. One wrote:
"i bought my first seekers album when i was 9 .im 41. i loved and lip synced kumbaya ..and morning town ...bruce judith atholl and the other one were great ....love the seekers.. get a feeling of wholeness." [15]
Another remembered in December 2016:
"Yes I remember well Judith’s back in the 60’s and as a young man I sure loved her singing and had a good teenage crush on her." [16]
Notes on Performers
Durham joined The Seekers in 1962 while she was working as a jazz singer in Melbourne. When the group was sailing to England in 1964 she said had "been a bit embarrassed about singing with The Seekers, at least in front of my jazz friends. I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t the image I necessarily wanted people to have of me." She never lost the image of herself as soloist. [17]
In the years immediately following the groups’ demise, the three men also stayed active as performers. Bruce Woodley first produced material for children, then moved to the States to compose music. [18] Anthol Guy worked as a variety-show host on Australian television, then, in 1971, was elected to the Victoria state legislature as a Liberal. [19]
Keith Potger formed another group, the New Seekers, which appealed to the new, younger audience. [20] Their most important recording was "I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing." [21] He later produced advertising jingles. [22]
Availability
Album: Hide and Seekers. W & G WG-B-2362. 1964.
Reissues: See the general Discogs entry for The Seekers.
YouTube: several people have uploaded tapes made from the album.
End Notes
1. "The UK Economy in the 1960s." Economics Help website. 6 April 2016.
2. Lee Iacocca. Speech to press at New York World’s Fair, 13 April 1964. Reprinted by Mustangs and Fords website. 22 April 2013.
3. ICSRUT wrote on 28 January 2012, "Age wise I was only in single figures in the 1960s but became a fan of The Seekers due to albums bought by my parents." Comment posted to Amazon UK website for a DVD, The Seekers ~ 25 Year Reunion Celebration.
4. Wikipedia. "Swinging London."
5. The political use of music was mentioned briefly in the posts for 3 October 2017 and 5 October 2017.
6. Athol Guy. Quoted by Ian Horner. "Georgy Girl, The Musical: Celebrating The Seekers..." Hawksbury [Richmond, Australia] Gazette website. 28 April 2016. I corrected some errors that appeared to have been introduced by digitization.
7. Judith Durham. Quoted by Graham Simpson. Colours of My Life: The Judith Durham Story. Sydney: Random House Australia, 1994. 85
8. Bruce Eder. "The Seekers." Pandora website.
9. Ian McFarlane. "The Seekers." Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. Sydney, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 1999.
10. Wikipedia. "Joan Baez."
11. I could not confirm the identity of the people playing the instruments I heard. This was based on their usual configuration in 1964.
12. "The Seekers - Hide And Seekers." Discogs website.
13. Discogs.
14. Discogs.
15. peter sommerville. 2011. Comments posted on YouTube video "Tribute To The Seekers ~ Kumbaya." It was uploaded by mrtibbs6912 on 2 December 2007.
16. Robert Shrewsbury. December 2016. Comments on version of the 1993 Reunion Concert. It was uploaded to YouTube as "The Seekers - Kumbaya" by Judith Durham and The Seekers on 2 July 2009.
17. Durham. Quoted by Simpson, 51.
18. Wikipedia. "Bruce Woodley."
19. Wikipedia. "Athol Guy."
20. Simpson, 215.
21. Wikipedia. "I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)."
22. Wikipedia. "Keith Potger."
Joan Baez and The Seekers were popular in the years between the assassinations of John Kennedy in 1963 and Martin Luther King in 1968, when it was still possible to believe the one was an anomaly. The first generation since the 1920s was affluent. All things seemed possible to children born in the years just after World War II.
The economy had recovered from war shortages, and automobile manufacturers were satisfying pent up demands. In England, car ownership increased from 40% to 60% of the population in the decade. [1] In Detroit, Lee Iacocca introduced the Mustang in 1964 as an inexpensive, stylish vehicle that could be individualized by unmarried women, like secretaries; young, small families, and larger ones that could afford second cars that gave the wives and older, adolescent drivers mobility. [2]
The popular music market was particularly broad in 1960. The same songs were heard by adolescents, their younger siblings, and their parents. The Seekers re-recorded "Kumbaya" in 1964 with orchestral backing. They replaced The Weavers’ instrumentation that relied on a banjo, with their own that used two guitars. And, for whatever reason, they dropped the one explicitly religious verse about praying.
The hegemony of the popular music market soon was disintegrating. When families began to accumulate a little money, they were able to buy transistor radios, and age-group taste preferences began to emerge. Each year, the oldest married and changed their spending habits. They were replaced by a new, younger group who had heard their music for as long they could remembere. [3] With the emergence of the Beatles, the young, screaming girls were recognized as a separate audience, the teeny boppers.
It wasn’t just the youngest who wanted their own music; the interests of the older ones matured. Symbolically, the Beatles replaced "I Want To Hold Your Hand" from 1963 with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967 as they too aged. Artists either changed or were replaced by new artists eager to extend or alter existing styles.
This natural evolution of cohorts unfolded against the political developments in the United States where politicians who had come of age in the Depression or one of the following wars thought the young should not be enjoying themselves, but serving in Vietnam.
At this point, the fundamental difference between Baez and The Seekers became obvious. She lived in the United States where the war meant death for many young men. They were living in England, which had freed young men from commitments to military service in 1960. [4]
There also was a deeper difference that went back to the stronger Calvinist strain in this country. Baez was heir to the tradition of Pete Seeger and earlier union organizers who used music as a tool to effect change. [5] Ultimately, it was utilitarian and serious.
Athol Guy, said the group deliberately did not emphasize political material, although they had included Bob Dylan’s "Blowin’ in the Wind" on the album that included the orchestral version of "Kumbaya." He told an interviewer:
"I think you either go out as a social-commentary group or you go out as an emotional commentary group, from that point of view, you know. Folk music can cut either way, can’t it. It either cuts to the heart or it cuts to the cerebral side and cuts when you want to go out and shout loudly, ah, and music never really wanted to shout. We found terrific musicality in all those Dylan songs and again the versatility of those songs lent themselves to certainly anger if you wanted to portray it that way but we wanted to portray the music in a sense that hits the spirit, hits the soul and moves people. I mean the main mission for us is to elevate the spirit." [6]
Durham made similar comments. She told her biographer:
"The importance of Bob Dylan’s lyrics never struck me at all. But then, I didn’t evaluate song lyrics much in those days. To me, the emotional content, melody and chord structure in the music was the most important thing and I didn’t take much notice of lyrics at all. Lyrics were a means of getting the notes out!" [7]
From an American perspective, Bruce Eder said, that aesthetic put them "on the wrong side of the musical divide" because "their upbeat pop sound seemed increasingly out of touch with the darkening mood in the United States." [8] From Down Under, Ian McFarlane concluded their concentration "on a bright, uptempo sound" made them "too pop to be considered strictly folk and too folk to be rock." [9]
Durham left The Seekers in 1968, while Baez’s contract with Vanguard Records ended in 1971. [10]
Performers
Vocal Soloist: Judith Durham
Vocal Group: Athol Guy, Keith Potger, Bruce Woodley
Instrumental Accompaniment: Woodley and Potger, guitars; Guy, string bass [11]; Bobby Richards and His Orchestra [12]
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
Arranged By [Orchestra] - Bobby Richards [13]
Arranged By [Seekers Arrangement] - The Seekers [14]
Notes on Lyrics
Changes from 1963 version: they dropped the praying verse, but otherwise kept the same verse order.
Notes on Music
Changes from 1963 version: they replaced the banjo with a guitar. The orchestra supplemented their sound, but did not change the solo-group or vocal-accompaniment dynamics.
Notes on Performance
They arrived in London just as the youth culture began to blossom. The men usually appeared in suits and ties, but Durham either wore short- or long-skirted dresses. The men kept their hair short, but she had long hair and bangs. Their public images signified the best of all that was available on Carnaby Street.
Audience Perceptions
A few made the comments on YouTube that one would expect from men who remembered themselves as adolescents. One wrote:
"i bought my first seekers album when i was 9 .im 41. i loved and lip synced kumbaya ..and morning town ...bruce judith atholl and the other one were great ....love the seekers.. get a feeling of wholeness." [15]
Another remembered in December 2016:
"Yes I remember well Judith’s back in the 60’s and as a young man I sure loved her singing and had a good teenage crush on her." [16]
Notes on Performers
Durham joined The Seekers in 1962 while she was working as a jazz singer in Melbourne. When the group was sailing to England in 1964 she said had "been a bit embarrassed about singing with The Seekers, at least in front of my jazz friends. I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t the image I necessarily wanted people to have of me." She never lost the image of herself as soloist. [17]
In the years immediately following the groups’ demise, the three men also stayed active as performers. Bruce Woodley first produced material for children, then moved to the States to compose music. [18] Anthol Guy worked as a variety-show host on Australian television, then, in 1971, was elected to the Victoria state legislature as a Liberal. [19]
Keith Potger formed another group, the New Seekers, which appealed to the new, younger audience. [20] Their most important recording was "I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing." [21] He later produced advertising jingles. [22]
Availability
Album: Hide and Seekers. W & G WG-B-2362. 1964.
Reissues: See the general Discogs entry for The Seekers.
YouTube: several people have uploaded tapes made from the album.
End Notes
1. "The UK Economy in the 1960s." Economics Help website. 6 April 2016.
2. Lee Iacocca. Speech to press at New York World’s Fair, 13 April 1964. Reprinted by Mustangs and Fords website. 22 April 2013.
3. ICSRUT wrote on 28 January 2012, "Age wise I was only in single figures in the 1960s but became a fan of The Seekers due to albums bought by my parents." Comment posted to Amazon UK website for a DVD, The Seekers ~ 25 Year Reunion Celebration.
4. Wikipedia. "Swinging London."
5. The political use of music was mentioned briefly in the posts for 3 October 2017 and 5 October 2017.
6. Athol Guy. Quoted by Ian Horner. "Georgy Girl, The Musical: Celebrating The Seekers..." Hawksbury [Richmond, Australia] Gazette website. 28 April 2016. I corrected some errors that appeared to have been introduced by digitization.
7. Judith Durham. Quoted by Graham Simpson. Colours of My Life: The Judith Durham Story. Sydney: Random House Australia, 1994. 85
8. Bruce Eder. "The Seekers." Pandora website.
9. Ian McFarlane. "The Seekers." Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. Sydney, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 1999.
10. Wikipedia. "Joan Baez."
11. I could not confirm the identity of the people playing the instruments I heard. This was based on their usual configuration in 1964.
12. "The Seekers - Hide And Seekers." Discogs website.
13. Discogs.
14. Discogs.
15. peter sommerville. 2011. Comments posted on YouTube video "Tribute To The Seekers ~ Kumbaya." It was uploaded by mrtibbs6912 on 2 December 2007.
16. Robert Shrewsbury. December 2016. Comments on version of the 1993 Reunion Concert. It was uploaded to YouTube as "The Seekers - Kumbaya" by Judith Durham and The Seekers on 2 July 2009.
17. Durham. Quoted by Simpson, 51.
18. Wikipedia. "Bruce Woodley."
19. Wikipedia. "Athol Guy."
20. Simpson, 215.
21. Wikipedia. "I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)."
22. Wikipedia. "Keith Potger."
Monday, January 29, 2018
The Seekers - Kumbaya (1963)
Topic: Seminal Versions
Joan Baez altered the melody to "Kumbaya" in her 1962 In Concert recording. [1] The published melody used exactly the same triad of notes for the statement in each of the first three lines. The refrain of the second line descended, while it went a note higher on the other two lines.
Baez began on E, rather than middle C, which fit her soprano voice. On the first "yah" of the first and third lines she sang the note then raised it slightly. On the second line she did not go as high, creating a smaller, more minor interval.
The Seekers recorded her melody in Australia in 1963, but used the standard lyrics. [2] The minor interval was more obvious during the refrain played by a banjo and guitar in the introduction, and when the group sang together, than when Judith Durham sang alone. She introduced more variations in her treatment of "Lord" in the third line, and did not sing the final "Lord" with two tones. Instead she held it.
Which version was responsible for the song entering the European choral repertoire is more difficult to determine. The two performers appealed to different segments of the commercial folk-music revival that had begun in 1958 when The Kingston Trio’s recorded "Tom Dooley." [3] They recast folk songs as a form of popular music, separate from the older, niche genre represented by Pete Seeger, The Weavers, and the Newport Folk Festival where they performed.
From the beginning, Baez recorded her own, unique repertoire, and accompanied herself with an acoustic guitar. The Seekers recorded "Kumbaya" twice: in 1963 with acoustic instruments, and in 1964 with additional orchestral strings. Their two albums drew primarily from the existing commercial repertoire: the first included Peter, Paul and Mary’s "The Hammer Song," the Weavers "Lonesome Traveller," and Baez’s "All My Trials." [4]
The Seekers did not develop their own repertoire until they went to England in 1964 and met songwriter Tom Springfield. [5] They became famous with his "I’ll Never Find Another You." He wrote their other popular hits, including "Georgy Girl," which was used in a 1966 film. [6] They may not then have sung "Kumbaya" in their concerts, but fans who collected their earlier records would have heard it.
The discographies of the two performers reflected the difference between the purist Baez and the popular Seekers. Baez signed with Vanguard, a specialty jazz label that had international distribution agreements. Discogs reported the In Concert album existed in 57 versions in December 2017. [7] Twenty-six of those were released between 1962 and 1969, and, of those, 13 were released in Europe. Another 20 albums carried no date; many of the 10 European versions may have come from that decade.
The Seekers did not work for a major label until "Another You." Their earlier records were for an Australian company, while the World Record Club [8] originally signed them in England. [9] The combined number of releases of The Seekers two versions was at least 56, with 34 in the 1960s, and 21 on undated albums. Sixteen of the dated issues were in Europe, and 10 of the undated ones. [10]
The number of individual releases of "Kumbaya" were roughly the same for Baez and The Seekers, but Baez probably had more recorded sales. As mentioned in the post for 23 January 2018, statistics in those years were drawn from major record companies, and did not include discount or record club labels. Their importance was suggested by one fan who remembered:
"First stumbled upon the Seekers when I forgot to send my record club card back in the 60’s and this song made me a fan forever." [11]
Baez was part of the more traditional group whose fans also were singers. She supplemented her album with a songbook in 1964. The version of "Kumbaya" showed her key, with a note on differences between the published chords and her performance. It did not transcribed her melodic change in the second line. [12]
The Seekers were part of the popular stream within the revival. Decca released "Kumbaya" in the United Kingdom in 1965 as the B side of the single "Chilly Winds," [13] which registered on the Billboard charts in this country. [14] A German label paired it with "This Train." [15] Their version might not have been seen as a potential hit record, but was recognized as popular enough to support sales.
The chart before the End Notes shows when and where the different albums containing "Kumbaya" by Baez and The Seekers were released in the 1960s. It does not signify sales, but decisions by marketing specialists that enough interest existed to justify the expense of printing new labels and album covers to assemble a different product.
The difference in record company philosophies may have distorted the pattern a little since Baez’s album never went out of print and may always have been available to distributors. With that caveat, the table shows a cultural division: Baez’s album was the only one issued in countries that historically were Roman Catholic, while the Seekers’ albums were released in countries with large Protestant populations.
The map at the far right, which is updated with new posts, suggests the actual distribution of versions of "Kumbaya" sung by European performers.
Performers
Vocal Soloist: Judith Durham
Vocal Group: Athol Guy, Keith Potger, Bruce Woodley
Instrumental Accompaniment: Woodley, guitar; Potger, banjo; Guy, string bass [16]
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
None on original album. [17]
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: Durham did not pronounce the /d/ in Lord
Verses: kumbaya, crying, singing, praying
Vocabulary
Pronoun: one
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: three-verse song framed by kumbaya verses at start and end
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Ending: none
Unique Features: none
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: quick
Basic Structure: instrumental introduction, followed by repetitions that varied little once a pattern was set.
Singing Style: unadorned, with one syllable to one note.
Solo-Group Dynamics: Durham sang the first verse alone. The three men echoed the final line, while she began the next verse. They joined her on the second line and continued through the end, when the interverse echo was repeated.
Vocal-Accompaniment Dynamics: a guitar played the melody in chords in the introduction with the banjo playing arpeggios. While the group was singing the men played an accompaniment that was soft when Durham was singing, and louder when they joined her.
Notes on Performers
The four members of the group were all interested in music in high school, but did not begin performing professionally until after they graduated. Then, they found jobs on the periphery of the industry: Athol Guy worked for local television outlets before going to work for an advertizing agency; [18] Keith Potger was a producer for Australian Broadcasting radio; [19] Bruce Woodley worked in a restaurant where they were able to perform. [20]
Potger and Guy merged their groups into the Escorts, an all-male quartet that moved from doo-wop to folk-revival music. [21] When their lead tenor left, Guy remembered telling "the boys we really want to get a girl like Ronnie, that you know, sings a bit like Ronnie Gilbert with The Weavers, with Pete Seeger’s band." [22]
Durham had considered being a pianist and studied at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium. By the time she started work as a secretary at Guy’s advertizing agency, she was singing with a jazz group that had made a record with a local company, W & G. [23] She apparently knew he as looking for singer when she introduced herself; that night she joined them at the club where they were performing. Guy remembered:
"Bruce brought her to sing with us that night and when we got into When the Stars Begin to Fall the harmonies just dropped straight into place and not just the harmonies but the blend and when you get a blend you almost get a fifth voice, you get real chume about you’re trying to produce." [24]
Potger used his contacts to make the demo tape they sent to the record company were Durham already was known. [25] They began doing backup work for other artists. After their album was released they were hired as the house band for a cruise ship going to England, where they played folk music in the afternoons and rock in the evenings. [26] They sent copies ahead to a potential agent, who marketed them as "a genuine true-blue Aussie band" [27] who sang "Waltzing Matilda" [28] for the British folk-revival audience.
Availability
Single: "This Train" and "Kumbaya." W & G. June 1963. [29]
Album: Introducing The Seekers. W & G WG-B-1655. 1963.
Reissues: See the general Discogs entry for The Seekers.
YouTube: several people have uploaded tapes made from the album.
Table
Based on data reported by Discogs for individual albums. B = album by Joan Baez. S = album by The Seekers. Both = albums by both Baez and The Seekers were available.
End Notes
1. Baez and this version were discussed in the post for 9 October 2017.
2. The fact they knew the standard lyrics, and sang the verses in the same order, meant they learned the words from a songbook.
3. Kingston Trio. "Tom Dooley." The Kingston Trio. Capitol Records T-996. 1958.
4. "The Seekers - Introducing The Seekers." Discogs website.
5. Springfield was the brother of Dusty Springfield and had produced material for her group before she left as a soloist.
6. Georgy Girl starred Lynn Redgrave and Alan Bates. Silvio Narizzano directed the film. Springfield wrote the music for Jim Dale’s lyrics. (Wikipedia. "Georgy Girl.")
7. "Joan Baez - In Concert." Discogs website.
8. After The Seekers were successful their record company, EMI, took over World Record Club in 1965. ("World Record Club." Discogs website.)
9. Wikipedia. "The Seekers."
10. Discogs website posts for Introducing The Seekers (1963), Hide And Seekers (1964), The Seekers (1967), and Introducing The Seekers Big Hits (1967).
11. Ed Tobin1 comment posted to YouTube in December 2016 on "The Seekers - Kumbaya." It was uploaded by The Seekers - Kumbaya on 2 July 2009.
12. The Joan Baez Songbook. Edited by Maynard Solomon. New York: Ryerson Music Publishers, 1964. 130-131.
13. "The Seekers - Chilly Winds / Kumbaya." Discogs website.
14. Wikipedia. "The Seekers Discography."
15. Ariola 18 686 AT, no date given. "The Seekers - Kumbaya / This Train." Discogs website. This may have been a reissue of the original Australian single which was not mentioned by Discogs.
16. I could not confirm the identity of the people playing the instruments I heard. This was based on their usual configuration in 1963.
17. Discogs, Introducing The Seekers.
18. Wikipedia. "Athol Guy."
19. Wikipedia, Seekers.
20. Wikipedia. "Bruce Woodley."
21. Wikipedia, Seekers.
22. Athol Guy. Quoted by Ian Horner. "Georgy Girl, The Musical: Celebrating The Seekers..." Hawksbury [Richmond, Australia] Gazette website. 28 April 2016. I corrected some errors that appeared to have been introduced by digitization.
23. Wikipedia. "Judith Durham."
24. Guy. Quoted by Horner.
25. Wikipedia, Durham.
26. Gary James. "Interview With Athol Guy of The Seekers." Classic Bands website
27. Guy. Quoted by Horner.
28. Wikipedia, Seekers. "Their debut single was the traditional historic Australian bush ballad from 1894, ‘Waltzing Matilda’."
29. George Hilder. "Festival Distrib for A & M Label." Billboard, 29 June 1963. 48.
Joan Baez altered the melody to "Kumbaya" in her 1962 In Concert recording. [1] The published melody used exactly the same triad of notes for the statement in each of the first three lines. The refrain of the second line descended, while it went a note higher on the other two lines.
Baez began on E, rather than middle C, which fit her soprano voice. On the first "yah" of the first and third lines she sang the note then raised it slightly. On the second line she did not go as high, creating a smaller, more minor interval.
The Seekers recorded her melody in Australia in 1963, but used the standard lyrics. [2] The minor interval was more obvious during the refrain played by a banjo and guitar in the introduction, and when the group sang together, than when Judith Durham sang alone. She introduced more variations in her treatment of "Lord" in the third line, and did not sing the final "Lord" with two tones. Instead she held it.
Which version was responsible for the song entering the European choral repertoire is more difficult to determine. The two performers appealed to different segments of the commercial folk-music revival that had begun in 1958 when The Kingston Trio’s recorded "Tom Dooley." [3] They recast folk songs as a form of popular music, separate from the older, niche genre represented by Pete Seeger, The Weavers, and the Newport Folk Festival where they performed.
From the beginning, Baez recorded her own, unique repertoire, and accompanied herself with an acoustic guitar. The Seekers recorded "Kumbaya" twice: in 1963 with acoustic instruments, and in 1964 with additional orchestral strings. Their two albums drew primarily from the existing commercial repertoire: the first included Peter, Paul and Mary’s "The Hammer Song," the Weavers "Lonesome Traveller," and Baez’s "All My Trials." [4]
The Seekers did not develop their own repertoire until they went to England in 1964 and met songwriter Tom Springfield. [5] They became famous with his "I’ll Never Find Another You." He wrote their other popular hits, including "Georgy Girl," which was used in a 1966 film. [6] They may not then have sung "Kumbaya" in their concerts, but fans who collected their earlier records would have heard it.
The discographies of the two performers reflected the difference between the purist Baez and the popular Seekers. Baez signed with Vanguard, a specialty jazz label that had international distribution agreements. Discogs reported the In Concert album existed in 57 versions in December 2017. [7] Twenty-six of those were released between 1962 and 1969, and, of those, 13 were released in Europe. Another 20 albums carried no date; many of the 10 European versions may have come from that decade.
The Seekers did not work for a major label until "Another You." Their earlier records were for an Australian company, while the World Record Club [8] originally signed them in England. [9] The combined number of releases of The Seekers two versions was at least 56, with 34 in the 1960s, and 21 on undated albums. Sixteen of the dated issues were in Europe, and 10 of the undated ones. [10]
The number of individual releases of "Kumbaya" were roughly the same for Baez and The Seekers, but Baez probably had more recorded sales. As mentioned in the post for 23 January 2018, statistics in those years were drawn from major record companies, and did not include discount or record club labels. Their importance was suggested by one fan who remembered:
"First stumbled upon the Seekers when I forgot to send my record club card back in the 60’s and this song made me a fan forever." [11]
Baez was part of the more traditional group whose fans also were singers. She supplemented her album with a songbook in 1964. The version of "Kumbaya" showed her key, with a note on differences between the published chords and her performance. It did not transcribed her melodic change in the second line. [12]
The Seekers were part of the popular stream within the revival. Decca released "Kumbaya" in the United Kingdom in 1965 as the B side of the single "Chilly Winds," [13] which registered on the Billboard charts in this country. [14] A German label paired it with "This Train." [15] Their version might not have been seen as a potential hit record, but was recognized as popular enough to support sales.
The chart before the End Notes shows when and where the different albums containing "Kumbaya" by Baez and The Seekers were released in the 1960s. It does not signify sales, but decisions by marketing specialists that enough interest existed to justify the expense of printing new labels and album covers to assemble a different product.
The difference in record company philosophies may have distorted the pattern a little since Baez’s album never went out of print and may always have been available to distributors. With that caveat, the table shows a cultural division: Baez’s album was the only one issued in countries that historically were Roman Catholic, while the Seekers’ albums were released in countries with large Protestant populations.
The map at the far right, which is updated with new posts, suggests the actual distribution of versions of "Kumbaya" sung by European performers.
Performers
Vocal Soloist: Judith Durham
Vocal Group: Athol Guy, Keith Potger, Bruce Woodley
Instrumental Accompaniment: Woodley, guitar; Potger, banjo; Guy, string bass [16]
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
None on original album. [17]
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: Durham did not pronounce the /d/ in Lord
Verses: kumbaya, crying, singing, praying
Vocabulary
Pronoun: one
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: three-verse song framed by kumbaya verses at start and end
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Ending: none
Unique Features: none
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: quick
Basic Structure: instrumental introduction, followed by repetitions that varied little once a pattern was set.
Singing Style: unadorned, with one syllable to one note.
Solo-Group Dynamics: Durham sang the first verse alone. The three men echoed the final line, while she began the next verse. They joined her on the second line and continued through the end, when the interverse echo was repeated.
Vocal-Accompaniment Dynamics: a guitar played the melody in chords in the introduction with the banjo playing arpeggios. While the group was singing the men played an accompaniment that was soft when Durham was singing, and louder when they joined her.
Notes on Performers
The four members of the group were all interested in music in high school, but did not begin performing professionally until after they graduated. Then, they found jobs on the periphery of the industry: Athol Guy worked for local television outlets before going to work for an advertizing agency; [18] Keith Potger was a producer for Australian Broadcasting radio; [19] Bruce Woodley worked in a restaurant where they were able to perform. [20]
Potger and Guy merged their groups into the Escorts, an all-male quartet that moved from doo-wop to folk-revival music. [21] When their lead tenor left, Guy remembered telling "the boys we really want to get a girl like Ronnie, that you know, sings a bit like Ronnie Gilbert with The Weavers, with Pete Seeger’s band." [22]
Durham had considered being a pianist and studied at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium. By the time she started work as a secretary at Guy’s advertizing agency, she was singing with a jazz group that had made a record with a local company, W & G. [23] She apparently knew he as looking for singer when she introduced herself; that night she joined them at the club where they were performing. Guy remembered:
"Bruce brought her to sing with us that night and when we got into When the Stars Begin to Fall the harmonies just dropped straight into place and not just the harmonies but the blend and when you get a blend you almost get a fifth voice, you get real chume about you’re trying to produce." [24]
Potger used his contacts to make the demo tape they sent to the record company were Durham already was known. [25] They began doing backup work for other artists. After their album was released they were hired as the house band for a cruise ship going to England, where they played folk music in the afternoons and rock in the evenings. [26] They sent copies ahead to a potential agent, who marketed them as "a genuine true-blue Aussie band" [27] who sang "Waltzing Matilda" [28] for the British folk-revival audience.
Availability
Single: "This Train" and "Kumbaya." W & G. June 1963. [29]
Album: Introducing The Seekers. W & G WG-B-1655. 1963.
Reissues: See the general Discogs entry for The Seekers.
YouTube: several people have uploaded tapes made from the album.
Table
| 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | Unknown | |
| UK |
B
|
S
|
S
|
S
|
S
|
||||
| France |
B
|
B
|
|||||||
| Germany |
B
|
S
|
S
|
Both
|
|||||
| Denmark |
S
|
S
|
|||||||
| Holland |
S
|
||||||||
| Italy |
B
|
B
|
|||||||
| Austria |
B
|
||||||||
| Greece |
B
|
||||||||
| Portugal |
B
|
||||||||
| Spain |
B
|
Based on data reported by Discogs for individual albums. B = album by Joan Baez. S = album by The Seekers. Both = albums by both Baez and The Seekers were available.
End Notes
1. Baez and this version were discussed in the post for 9 October 2017.
2. The fact they knew the standard lyrics, and sang the verses in the same order, meant they learned the words from a songbook.
3. Kingston Trio. "Tom Dooley." The Kingston Trio. Capitol Records T-996. 1958.
4. "The Seekers - Introducing The Seekers." Discogs website.
5. Springfield was the brother of Dusty Springfield and had produced material for her group before she left as a soloist.
6. Georgy Girl starred Lynn Redgrave and Alan Bates. Silvio Narizzano directed the film. Springfield wrote the music for Jim Dale’s lyrics. (Wikipedia. "Georgy Girl.")
7. "Joan Baez - In Concert." Discogs website.
8. After The Seekers were successful their record company, EMI, took over World Record Club in 1965. ("World Record Club." Discogs website.)
9. Wikipedia. "The Seekers."
10. Discogs website posts for Introducing The Seekers (1963), Hide And Seekers (1964), The Seekers (1967), and Introducing The Seekers Big Hits (1967).
11. Ed Tobin1 comment posted to YouTube in December 2016 on "The Seekers - Kumbaya." It was uploaded by The Seekers - Kumbaya on 2 July 2009.
12. The Joan Baez Songbook. Edited by Maynard Solomon. New York: Ryerson Music Publishers, 1964. 130-131.
13. "The Seekers - Chilly Winds / Kumbaya." Discogs website.
14. Wikipedia. "The Seekers Discography."
15. Ariola 18 686 AT, no date given. "The Seekers - Kumbaya / This Train." Discogs website. This may have been a reissue of the original Australian single which was not mentioned by Discogs.
16. I could not confirm the identity of the people playing the instruments I heard. This was based on their usual configuration in 1963.
17. Discogs, Introducing The Seekers.
18. Wikipedia. "Athol Guy."
19. Wikipedia, Seekers.
20. Wikipedia. "Bruce Woodley."
21. Wikipedia, Seekers.
22. Athol Guy. Quoted by Ian Horner. "Georgy Girl, The Musical: Celebrating The Seekers..." Hawksbury [Richmond, Australia] Gazette website. 28 April 2016. I corrected some errors that appeared to have been introduced by digitization.
23. Wikipedia. "Judith Durham."
24. Guy. Quoted by Horner.
25. Wikipedia, Durham.
26. Gary James. "Interview With Athol Guy of The Seekers." Classic Bands website
27. Guy. Quoted by Horner.
28. Wikipedia, Seekers. "Their debut single was the traditional historic Australian bush ballad from 1894, ‘Waltzing Matilda’."
29. George Hilder. "Festival Distrib for A & M Label." Billboard, 29 June 1963. 48.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)