Hurry Down Sunshine, Sister Morgan

Subject: RE: Hurry Down Sunshine, Sister Morgan
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Jul 13 - 09:50 PM

You can listen to this track on Spotify. It has similarities to the recording of "Betty and Dupree" on the 1965 Peter Paul & Mary See What Tomorrow Brings album. Most recordings of "Betty and Dupree" are similar to the one found in the Digital Tradition, which does not have a chorus. The PP&M song has similar verses, but this chorus:

Lie down Betty, see what tomorrow brings
Lie down Betty, see what tomorrow brings
May bring you sunshine, may bring you diamond rings,
but if you lose your man it won't bring you anything.

I wonder if PP&M took their chorus from this song. Spotify has recordings of "Hurry Down Sunshine" by a number of artists some are even closer to the PP&M song's chorus, notably the recording by Sing Miller.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Hurry Down Sunshine, Sister Morgan
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Jul 13 - 08:17 PM

Hi there,
Thank you for that great list of songs (Guest)! I do think the Morgan Sisters (track 34) are definitely different from Sister Morgan of track 35, but check out Sister Gertrude Morgan (track 56, for example). Doesn't it at least seem possible that this is an older version of the same singer as in track 35? And according to what's known about Sister Gertrude Morgan, she didn't "get religion" till she was in her late 30s, so could have been singing a song such as this in her late 20s.

In any case, whether or not they are the same, I am really curious to find out more about the Sister Morgan who sings Hurry Down Sunshine. There's a version by Leroy Carr on youtube, but it is completely different from the one Sister Morgan sings, both lyrically and rhythmically. I can't find any information about her!

Heather

Subject: RE: Hurry Down Sunshine, Sister Morgan
From: GUEST,999
Date: 10 Mar 13 - 01:17 PM

Hurry Down, Sunshine, and See What Tomorrow Bring/Brings

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=ntt_srch_drd_B001GKPE22?ie=UTF8&field-keywords=Sister%20Morgan&index=digital-music&search-type=ss

Check cuts 34 and 35.

Subject: RE: Hurry Down Sunshine, Sister Morgan
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Mar 13 - 11:42 AM

I found a date for the "Hurry Down Sunshine" Sister Morgan recording (1927), and Wikipedia states that Sister Gertrude Morgan married Will Morgan in 1928 (Though not what her birth surname was), so if those are both correct, then presumably the "Hurry Down Sunshine" Sister Morgan and Sister Gertrude Morgan are indeed different people.

Subject: RE: Hurry Down Sunshine, Sister Morgan
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Mar 13 - 10:45 AM

Thank you both! I had thought that Sister Morgan might have sung the blues as a young woman (she would have been in her twenties and early thirties when Leroy Carr was active) and taken up street preaching in later life. I have not read Godrich & Dixon, thanks for bringing that to my attention!
Heather

Subject: RE: Hurry Down Sunshine, Sister Morgan
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Dec 12 - 02:07 PM

I'm pretty sure that Azizi is correct in saying that Sister Gertrude Morgan and Sister Morgan are 2 different people; they are listed separately in Godrich & Dixon (comprehensive prewar blues discography)
Suzy T

Subject: RE: Hurry Down Sunshine, Sister Morgan
From: GUEST,Azizi
Date: 10 Dec 12 - 03:54 AM

Greetings, hsempl.

I wasn't aware of Sister Gertrude Morgan until I read your query. Thanks for prompting me to seek our information about her.

I don't think that the Sister Morgan who sang on the Friends Of Leroy Carr CD is the same person as Sister Gertrude Morgan.

As you are aware, "Leroy Carr (March 27, 1905 – April 29, 1935)[1] was an American blues singer, songwriter and pianist".

"Sister Gertrude Morgan (1900-1980) was a preacher, missionary, artist, musician, and poet who worked in New Orleans in the 1960s and '70s, notable primarily for her folk art."

[Both of those biographical statements are from Wikipedia]

There's no documentation of Sister Gertrude Morgan singing the Blues, or even ever being in Memphis. And the lyrics of that version of "Hurry Down Sunshine" particularly the mention of "rider" and "daddy" [both meaning the woman's lover] are antithetical to the music ministry of Sister Gertrude Morgan.

Of course, both of these Sisters could be the same woman, but I don't think so.

**
I found a sound file of Sister Gertrude Morgan singing & playing a tambourine for two of her songs and featured that sound file and my transcriptions of those songs in this post on my cultural blog:

http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/12/sister-gertrude-morgan-he-wrote.html

Sister Gertrude Morgan - He Wrote The Revelation & If You Live Like Jesus Told You (Lyrics)

Thanks again, hsempl, for alerting me & others to Sister Gertrude Morgan. Assuming that these weren't the same person, I hope that you find more information about the Sister Morgan who sung that Blues song.

Subject: ADD: Hurry Down Sunshine (Sister Morgan)
From: hsempl
Date: 09 Dec 12 - 09:03 PM

Does anyone know about the Sister Morgan who sings Hurry Down Sunshine (track compiled on the Friends of Leroy Carr CD)? Is this the same person as Sister Gertrude Morgan? That seems at least possible. But I don't know...I'm also curious about the lyrics in her version; I presume the song is written by Leroy Carr, but her lyrics are rather different at least from the version of his that I can find online. The lyrics Sister Morgan sings are (as best I can make out; one phrase I can't get and give below as [?]):

Hurry Down Sunshine

Hurry down sunshine see what tomorrow brings, well it might bring rain and it might bring snow;
and it's hurry down sunshine, see what tomorrow brings- and it might bring rain, and again it might bring snow.

Well my mama told me and my papa too said your good times now but [?] after awhile
And my mama told me and my papa too, said your good times now but [?] after awhile;

Well if I had of listened to what my dying mother said lord I would not have such a race to run,
if I had of listened to what my poor dying mother said, lord I would not have such a old race to run;

Well I'm going away daddy, worry you off my mind cause you keep me worried lord about all the time,
and I'm going away daddy, worry you off my mind, cause you keeps me worried, bout all the time;

But I wonder what do my rider ever think of me, no he must not think else he'd be my kin,
well I wonder do my rider ever think of me, lord he must not think else he would be my kin;

If tomorrow was Sunday what would the next day be next day be Monday be my leaving day,
lord if tomorrow was Sunday, what would the next day be? next day be Monday be my leaving day;

And I'm going up the country, lord I can't carry you, ain't nothing up the country that you can do,
I'm going up the country, I can't carry you, there ain't nothing up the country that you can do-


Sister Morgan singing in Memphis with Will Shade (according to the notes for the Friends of Leroy Carr CD)