Composer: Kumb Bah Yah

Subject: Composer: Kumb Bah Yah
From:
Date: 20 Jul 98 - 10:26 AM

I am trying to find the history of the song that was so popular in the 60's called "Kum Bah Yah". I am not sure of the spelling of the title, but the lyrics go something like this: "Someone's crying Lord, Kum Bah Yah Someone's crying Lord, Kum Bah Yah Someone's crying Lord, Kum Bah Yah Oh Lord, Kum Bah Yah." I haven't had any luck searching the databases, possibly because I have it spelled wrong.

Thank you for your help. janet

Subject: RE: Composer: Kumb Bah Yah
From: Roger Himler
Date: 20 Jul 98 - 11:48 AM

Janet,

The book Rise Up Singing list one Martin V. Frey as the author with African (Angolan)translation. Copyrights of 1957, 1958, 1977 and 1985. Kumbaya is dialect for "Come by Here." Frey wrote the gospel chorus "Come by Here" in the '50's. A missionary couple learned the song and used it in their work in Angola. when the song returned to the US, its original source had been lost.

It give an address for Martin V. Frey c/o The Croton Press, PO Box B, Croton-on-Hudson, NY, 10520.

Hope this is helpful.

Lyrics and chords are in Rise Up Singing. They are:

Kumbaya, my Lord, kumbaya (3X)
Oh Lord, kumbaya

Someone's sleeping, Lord, kumbaya (3X)
Oh Lord, kumbaya.

Then substitute any verb: suggestions are singing, dreaming, crying, laughing, etc. The last verse substitutes Come by here, for kumbaya.

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: Composer: Kumb Bah Yah
From: GUEST,marc
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 02:27 PM

I am editing a book by the poet Nikki Giovanni that introduces the lyrics of many spirituals to younger readers. But there are a number of songs I have not been able to track down either to a "tradition" or a specific author. If anyone can help me resolve these questions, or point to good sources (I'm using the African American Heritage Hymnal, and the Book of American Negro Spirituals) that would be great. The songs are
Fare You Well
Water Boy (I know, a prison song)
Going Up to Glory (Is Andre Thomas the author, or the arranger?)
Hush, Hush
Been in the Storm So Long
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
Honor, Honor
Didn't It Rain
I'm Glad Man Didn't Make Me.

Thanks for any thoughts or leads.

Marc Aronson

Subject: RE: Composer: Kumb Bah Yah
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 03:26 PM

Hi, Marc - This thread talks of a song called "Hush, Hush, Hush," which may be traditional. Hush Hush (time to be sleeping) [officially knowen as "Smile In Your Sleep"] is by Jim McLean, who sometimes posts here.
If you can give us distinctive key phrases from each of the songs, it may helop us more than just the song titles.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Composer: Kumb Bah Yah (& other spirituals)
From: wysiwyg
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 04:02 PM

Marc,

Or did you mean "Hush, hush, somebody's calling my name"?

I have heard "Honor, Honor" and "Fare You Well" done as concert spirituals, meaning it's best known (and copyrighted) as an arranged piece. Pieces like that usually sprang from a specific artist or arranger's memory of a song from tradition, that they worked up into what then became a frozen example of a fluid genre-- creating "right" versions for songs that were intended to express the moment, in endless variation.

If this is not a form of music with which you are familiar, may I suggest you consult our African-American Spirituals Permathread, where most if not all spirituals posted at Mudcat are indexed, along with a wealth of other resources. The posts there are a bit out of order date-wise due to a Mudcat tech issue, but if you display it in the "Printer Friendly" mode the thread will appear all sorted out.

We do try to keep song discussions together, in their respective threads. So if you can find existing threads that include any of the above, it would be helpful to the project as well as to your search, to post either info you have or a question you need answered in the existing thread.

Also, if you join Mudcat (free) as a member, you can PM Mudcat member Masato Sakurai, who has quite a lot of reference material at his disposal.

Two songs on your list interest me particularly-- "Going Up to Glory" and "I'm Glad Man Didn't Make Me." I don't think I have ever run across these on a recording. Were they from the source books you mentioned? Can you post the words? (Right here would be fine.)

Welcome to Mudcat.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Composer: Kumb Bah Yah (& other spirituals)
From: GUEST,marc
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 04:25 PM

thanks for the initial responses, I will check the thread mentioned -- and join up. I have to get the ms. back from copyediting to give you the lyrics as Nikki quoted them. Hush, Hush is not the version from the sheet music.

Subject: RE: Going Up to Glory
From: march
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 11:59 AM

Here is Going Up to Glory

Goin up to Glory
Sun up to sundown picking that cotton;
Sun up to sundown work for the master;
Sun up to sundown chains and shackles;
No more auction block for me.

Going up to Glory
Going up to meet my Lord
Going up to Glory
Going up to meet my Lord
Saints and Sinners
Will you go
See that heavenly light


I reached Dr. Andre Thomas, who says that, "Goin Up to Glory is a combination of a Field Holler and with a
reference to the Spiritual Goin UP and additional text by me. You can
find a reference to Going Up in the "Spirituals A folk Anthology" by
Cynthia Hickman. In all honesty, I did not know about this reference at
the time I arranged the piece. The tune for those words is totally
mine. I was just calling upon childhood experience with the words. The
beginning of the piece is a Field Holler Sun Up to Sun Down. I believe
that Fredrick Douglas gives a reference for that text." This is much as Susan said. I am still hunting for the text for I'm Glad Man Didn't Make Me.

Subject: RE: Composer: Kumb Bah Yah (& other spirituals)
From: wysiwyg
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 12:11 PM

Gosh, Marc, welcome to Mudcat! You ARE a gem!

~Susan

Subject: RE: Going Up to Glory
From: march
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 12:45 PM

Thanks,

Dr. Thomas is also checking into the other songs, so perhaps I learn more.

Here is the text for Hush, Hush -- which is, in fact, called Somebody's Calling My Name

Hush, hush, somebody's calling my name

Hush, hush, somebody's calling my name

Hush, hush, somebody's calling my name

Oh my Lord, Oh my Lord, What shall I do?

Subject: RE: Composer: Kumb Bah Yah (& other spirituals)
From: wysiwyg
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 01:13 PM

That one I know from blues gospel. I believe Josh White, Jr. had a great version. I have also heard concert choral versions.

~S~

Subject: RE: Composer: Kumb Bah Yah (& other spirituals)
From: march
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 01:19 PM

I just have to track down the origins -- to some extent this is good and useful backmatter for Nikki's book, but to some degree it is also a matter of reassuring copy editing that we are not violating copyright by printing the lyrics. As in the case of Going Up to Glory, that is not always a clearcut question.

Subject: RE: Composer: Kumb Bah Yah (& other spirituals)
From: wysiwyg
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 01:22 PM

Yes, that is precisely the nature of the genre.

Here's the lyric for Fare Ye Well as listed at Allen:

O fare you well, my brudder,
fare you well by de grace of God,
For I'se gwinen home;
I'se gwinen home, my Lord,
I'se gwinen home.
Massa Jesus gib me a little broom,
For to sweep my heart clean;
Sweep 'em clean by de grace of God,
An' glory in my soul.

But I think I have heard a different song called by the same name-- also common with this genre.

~S~

Subject: RE: Composer: Kumb Bah Yah (& other spirituals)
From: wysiwyg
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 01:23 PM

Fare Ye Well is shown here:
SLAVE SONGS OF THE UNITED STATES (Allen)

You may find others on your list in there as well-- it's considered a key resource.

Subject: RE: Composer: Kumb Bah Yah (& other spirituals)
From: wysiwyg
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 01:25 PM

Marc,

Have you checked the Cleveland Index of Spirituals in Print? Have you tried Googling on the song titles to see if they pop up in a publisher's site?

~Susan

Subject: RE: Composer: Kumb Bah Yah (& other spirituals)
From: wysiwyg
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 01:41 PM

Marc, again I have to stress, if this is not a genre with which you are familiar, you're sort of in quicksand. My index shows the following; but you see, there is no guarantee that the songs you want are the same as the songs below; there can be many songs of the same name with different versions or as totally different songs.

========================================================

Fare Ye Well        Negro Spirituals (Higginson, Atlantic Monthly)
Fare ye well        SLAVE SONGS
Fare Ye Well    Undine Smith Moore (CHORAL SHEET MUSIC)
Fare ye well.        Allen, Slave songs of the United States, p. 47
Fare ye well.        See also Farewell, my brother.
Fare You Well        Newman, GO DOWN, MOSES

FAREWELL MY DEAR BROTHERN        SINGA HIPSY DOODLE
Farewell, My Brother        Newman, GO DOWN, MOSES
Farewell, My Brother        Newman, GO DOWN, MOSES
Farewell, my brother.        Jubilee and plantation songs, p. 22

Hush, Hush, Somebody's Callin' Mah Name         Songs of Zion (Nix)
HUSH, HUSH, SOMEBODY'S CALLIN' MY NAME         LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING
Hush, hush.        Johnson, Utica jubilee singers spirituals, p. 47
HUSH, SOMEBODY CALLIN' MY NAME        ROLLING ALONG IN SONG
Hush, Somebody's Callin' My Name, Brazeal W. Dennard, arr., MCMLXXXVI, Shawnee Press; ref: A-1802; Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania 18327        (CHORAL SHEET MUSIC)

Sometimes I Feel Like a Moanin' Dove         Songs of Zion (Nix)
Sometimes I feel like a moanin' dove.        See also Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.
Sometimes I feel like a moanin' dove.        Dann, Fifty-eight spirituals for choral use, p. 7
SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A MOTHERLESS CHILD        AMERICAN FAVORITE BALLADS
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child        American Memory, Lomax 1939 Southern States
SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A MOTHERLESS CHILD        BEST LOVED SONGS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A MOTHERLESS CHILD        BEST LOVED SONGS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A MOTHERLESS CHILD        JERRY SILVERMAN'S FOLK SONG ENCYCLOPEDIA, V.2
SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A MOTHERLESS CHILD        LET'S ALL SING
SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A MOTHERLESS CHILD        SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child        Newman, GO DOWN, MOSES
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child, Jester Hairston, arr., copyright 1952; Bourne Co., New York, NY        (CHORAL SHEET MUSIC)
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.        Wier, Scribner radio music library, vol. 7, p. 205
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.        Fenner, Religious folk songs of the negro, p. 115
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.        Dett, Religious folk-songs of the negro, p. 172
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.        Johnson, Second book of negro spirituals, p. 30
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.        Fisher, Ten negro spirituals, p. 30
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.        Frey, Collection of 25 selected famous negro spirituals, p. 6
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.        White, Forty negro spirituals, p. 48 (Sometimes I feel like a motherless chile}
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Chile         Songs of Zion (Nix)
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Chile         AMERICAN NEGRO SONGS
SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A MOTHERLESS CHILE 169        LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING
Sometimes I feel like I gotta no h~e.        See Wring my hands and cry.
Sometimes I feel like I wanna go home.        Fisher, Seventy negro spirituals, p. 162
Sometimes I feel like I wanna go home.        See also Sometimes I feel like a motherless child; Wring my hands and cry.
Sometimes I Feel Like My Time Ain't Long        American Memory, Lomax 1939 Southern States
Sometimes I Feel, arr. Shaw/Parker, G. Schirmer, Inc., #51112        (CHORAL SHEET MUSIC)

DIDN'T IT RAIN        FOLK SONGS OF NORTH AMERICA
DIDN'T IT RAIN        JERRY SILVERMAN'S FOLK SONG ENCYCLOPEDIA, V.2
Didn't It Rain!        Newman, GO DOWN, MOSES
Didn't It Rain!        Newman, GO DOWN, MOSES

========================================================

And it's entirely possible that the songs you wanted that I did NOT find may be in my index under a different title.

You may have to bounce the onus back onto the author-- what sources were drawn from? Or seek an acceptable legal statement that it is believed that the songs spring from traditional sources.

Good luck!

~Susan

Subject: RE: Composer: Kumb Bah Yah (& other spirituals)
From: march
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 02:14 PM

Susan:

Thank you again, this is terrific. I will forward all of this to copy editing and sort it out with them. I have done a tiny of bit of research in this area, but only as a fascinated outsider. I'd love to credit you in the book. What would like me to say?

Marc

Subject: RE: Composer: Kumb Bah Yah (& other spirituals)
From: wysiwyg
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 03:54 PM

Thanks, Marc, but I'm just a fascinated student of it all myself, and anything I know has come as a result of the work of a lot of other Mudcatters. So mentioning the Mudcat (maybe the Permathread) would be right.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Composer: Kumb Bah Yah (& other spirituals)
From: march
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 04:07 PM

done

Subject: RE: Composer: Kumb Bah Yah (& other spirituals)
From: wysiwyg
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 04:57 PM

And of course posting any lyrics we don't already have posted here is ALWAYS appreciated. I'll add 'em into the index of Posted Spirituals, too.

~Susan