Back in the mid 1950s, when I was a young man with a banjo living in Chicago, I used to go to parties in my Hyde Park neighborhood at the home of Ed Gourfain, whose son Pete was a close friend of mine. Ed and his wife knwe a lot of interesting people and invited them to their parties -- Studs Terkel was one of them. So was Big Bill Broonzy. One of the more exciting memories of my youth was jamming with Big Bill in the living room after everybody else had gone to bed, gone home or passed out. One of the songs we did which worked well with guitar and banjo was called "Ananias." At the time, I had no idea who Ananias was, but I've since learned he was an early Christian who the Lord sent to help Saul at the time of Saul's conversion. From that point on, Saul, who'd been a persecutor of early Christians, became one of them and was known as Paul. All I can remember is Broonzy's powerful voice singing, "Ananias, Ananias, tell me what kind of man Jesus is." I'm quite sure Broonzy had recorded this song earlier. Does anybody know the rest of the lyrics.
|