Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood

Subject: Add: Are You Washed in the Blood ^^
From: toadfrog
Date: 30 Jun 01 - 07:35 PM

This is another great hymn which should be on DT, and isn't. There seems to be a certain squeamishness about hymns around. No one even calls them hymns, they say "gospel songs" (which to me means a much narrower category - 20th Century Black church music, usually with an organ accompaniment. like Aretha Franklin songs or "The Reason Why I Sing") How come?

BLOOD OF THE LAMB

Elisha A Hoffman, 1878

Have you been to Jesus for the friendly power?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His greatness hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Are you washed (Are you washed)
In the blood (In the blood)
In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Are you walking daily by the Savior's side?
Do you rest each moment in the Crucified?

When the Bridegroom cometh will your robes be white?
Will your soul be ready for the mansions bright?

Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin,
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb;
There's a fountain flowing for the soul unclean,
Oh be washed in the Blood of the Lamb!

Recorded by Ernest V. Stoneman and his Dixie Mountaineers, July 25, 1927, for the Victor label, and available on "The Bristol Sessions" (CMF Records).
^^

Subject: Add: Are You Washed in the Blood ^^
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 30 Jun 01 - 07:51 PM

Toadfrog, the version we have is slightly different wording. This is from Bluegrass Favorites No. 2, a Joe Morrell book (1980), and is listed as "traditional":

Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing pow'r?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

CHORUS:

Are you washed (are you washed)
in the blood (in the blood)
In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless?
Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Are you walking daily by the Saviour's side?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Do you rest each moment in the Crucified?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

CHORUS

When the Bridegroom cometh will your robes be white?
Pure and white in the blood of the Lamb?
Will your soul be ready for the mansion bright?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

CHORUS

Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin,
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb,
There's a fountain flowing for the soul unclean,
Oh be washed in the blood of the Lamb.

_______________
I don't think the DT discriminates against old hymns~I've found lots of them there. Keep looking; sometimes the name of the tune is different depending on which hymnbook they come out of (seriously).

Lin ^^

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: Banjer
Date: 30 Jun 01 - 07:54 PM

Mr. Toadfrog, I too wonder sometimes why gospel music is so ignored or readily passed over. To me, gospel music is broken into categories. unlike your definition of it.

20th Century Black church music, usually with an organ accompaniment.

Your definition certainly covers one of my 'categories'. This particular song and the other you added, Standing By The Promises, fall into a 'Country Gospel' category. The type of songs you would have heard in the old country church, back before religion became a million dollar industry. Thank you for bringing them to our attention!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: toadfrog
Date: 30 Jun 01 - 08:49 PM

Banjer: I am not sure whether we agree or disagree. Probably we agree. In any case, I guess "Gospel" is a good short word for "Protestant Christian Church music," and so yield the point.

Lin in Kansas: You raise 2 points:

1. Are you saying the song is already on DT? I searched for it earlier, using several different selections from the lyrics as well as the title. Searched for it this minute, using "lay aside the garments," "stained with sin," and "friendly power." Nothing. Earlier, tried "soul cleansing blood." Nothing. Perhaps we have access to different Digitrads.

2. I certainly did not mean to suggest that the individuals who select songs for DT are biased against religious music. I an quite sure they aren't. I think such a bias pervades many of the social groups from which the overall folk-music subculture (incuding me) is drawn, so that people do not submit hymns for inclusion in DT.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Jun 01 - 11:18 PM

The problem is that Gospel, like Bluegrass, is also a 'specialty' genré and has entire web sites devoted to it, so there is not the need to get 'everything' in the DT. But there are songs which are NOWHERE else but the DT, so when Dick & Susan sit down to type, other things get looked at first...but now you have done YOUR part, so a search of Mudact will find it!

as an example, look at this site where "Standing on the Promises" plays when you go there.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: Oversoul
Date: 30 Jun 01 - 11:24 PM

I prefer the designation "sacred" to reference this type of beautiful song. At the risk of seeming old-fashioned, I enjoy peaceful religious tunes. And this is an example of the best. One of my favorite versions was recorded by "The New Dixie Entertainers." Goosebumps, are you with me? And hell, I am an atheist!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: toadfrog
Date: 30 Jun 01 - 11:29 PM

Davecoje, you are a man after my own heart! And I am probably an "atheist" as well, although I sort of prefer "existentialist."

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: rangeroger
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 12:16 AM

The New Tradtion bluegrass group does an outstanding version of this song.Great vocal harmonies and outstanding musicianship.

Hair standing on end,chills up and down the spine.

rr

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: Stewie
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 12:48 AM

Toadfrog, the Stoneman version at the Bristol sessions does not quite accord with what you have posted. It accords with the version posted by Lin, except that Stoneman and his troops definitely sing 'Are you fully trusting in His great desire?' as the third line of the first stanza, whatever the original may or may not have been.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: wysiwyg
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 02:28 AM

Toadfrog, there's room for the stuff you like, just post it... I do!

Never mind the categories within gospel music-- we can't even agree around here on what constitutes folk music! *G*

I think you may find Mudcat searches more effective if you search by a phrase that is unique to the piece you are looking for. See FAQ, or write me.

~Susan

[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: Joe Offer
Date: 01 Jul 01 - 07:19 PM

I'd call it "White Gospel" or "Southern Gospel" - it has a swing to it, and "hymns" don't. I suppose I'm wrong, too - what I refer to as "hymns" are probably actually "anthems."

I suppose I do pass a number of hymns by when I'm harvesting - but Susan of DT or Jim Dixon might think differently and harvest it. There are some people who post one hymn after another with no background information and no tune, and no indication why the song is significant. I'm a church musician and I've got fifty hymnals in my house, but I don't post every hymn in every hymnal. It would be very unlikely that I would post any of the Catholic hymns I sing in church. Even though I like them, it's unlikely I'd sing them at a folk gathering. "Are You Washed in the Blood" is an old-time gospel standard, and it should be included in the Digital Tradition.
I know a lot of people post lyrics and don't have the ability to post tunes. If you include source information in your post, it makes it easier for us to find and transcribe the tune. Check the FAQ/Newcomer's Guide for guides to posting lyrics and tunes.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: English Jon
Date: 02 Jul 01 - 07:16 AM

Tune please! What a belter of a lyric!

EJ

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: wysiwyg
Date: 02 Jul 01 - 11:10 AM

And a gospel hoot of a backbeat.

Haveyou BEEN (BAMM!) TO (BAMM!) JEsus...

It will be on a lot of favorite-hymns compilations, if you can't find a clickable version to hear.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: M.Ted
Date: 02 Jul 01 - 02:06 PM

As a general thing, "Gospel" is a word that was used in connection with the old tent revival meetings, and "Gospel Singers" and "Gospel Songs" were used to describe the performers and the songs that they used. These sort of "revival" meetings are a long standing rural tradition, going back before the beginning of the 19th century--oddly enough, they were often regarded, at least by the mainstream religious community, as to be wanton, orgiastic, revels--What with the singing, speaking in tongues, faith-healing and all, by torchlight on hot summer nights, they tended to be a lot like rock concerts--

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: Banjer
Date: 02 Jul 01 - 07:31 PM

My mother was full German so I was brought up in the Lutheran Church. It didn't take all that long for me to realize that the majority of the Lutheran Hymnal was a book of what sounded like funeral dirges. A friend of mine who lived near us and was the same age as I invited me to go to his church one evening. I believe it was a non-denominational type of church. Boy...did they ever know how to sing!!! That is where I was first introduced to what I now know (or think of) as Gospel Music. Their songs had a good beat, nice rhythm and just try to keep your feet still! I was about nine years old then and can still remember that night. It was the beginning of the end of my Lutheran affiliation. I of course had to continue going to our 'family church' until I was confirmed, but my heart was never really in it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: Burke
Date: 02 Jul 01 - 08:01 PM

Banjer, I know your feeling. I blame it on the organists rather than the music itself. Those old German chorales in The Lutheran Hymnal are really wonderful, they were just killed by organists who could not play well & dragged along. Try them some time unaccompanied & with a brisker pace.

I don't like a steady diet of either. Gospel music can get kind of boring after a while too. Mix all your styles up & that's fun!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: Burke
Date: 02 Jul 01 - 08:04 PM

Forgot to check! Music & midi for are you washed is at Cyberhymnal.

Subject: Gospel Music in Church?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Jul 01 - 08:36 PM

Wanton, orgiastic, revels???

No wonder I love gospel music - and no wonder I won't sing it in church. It really is fun music to sing, but it's full of catchy but empty slogans and vivid images like blood and battles. It's the kind of stuff that's very effective in selling cosmetics or used cars or pyramid schemes - but I'm afraid it lacks depth.

Now, "spirituals" are a different matter - there's depth and richness and wisdom there, along with good music.
It's tough to find music that's good to use in church. the stuff that's musically interesting is often theologically trite - and vice-versa.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: toadfrog
Date: 02 Jul 01 - 11:29 PM

English Jon: You will find the tune at THIS CLICKIEMy ABC skills are equal only to the simplest tunes. The Cyberhymnal MIDI is a bit uninspiring, compared to what I have heard people do.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: M.Ted
Date: 03 Jul 01 - 12:38 AM

Joe--I am afraid I follow the music and let the theology fall where it may, most of the time-- there are as many different kinds of religious music as there are kinds of religious experience, and I love them all--The more music, the happier I am--There was a little Baptist church around the corner from my old apt in Philly where the service lasted all afternoon, but it was nearly all music, and the time just flew! If you ever get a chance, though, the Roumanian Orthodox Church has the most wonderful two part singing--

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: Sorcha
Date: 03 Jul 01 - 02:04 AM

No, I am not washed in the blood--sounds rather gruesome to me. Not sure I want to be "washed in blood" even though I know it is a metaphor. Why are so many (religous/spiritual/gospel/whatever)lyrics so gruesome? Isn't Christianity about Love and Life? I also detest those (mostly)Roman Catholic icons of the Sacred Heart.....talk about bad dreams.

I think that G-d probably weeps when S/He sees what has happened to this world and His/Her message.......

I don't mean to be trollish/snotty/hateful here, but this is just one of the reasons I left Christianity. There are many more.....

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: wysiwyg
Date: 03 Jul 01 - 02:34 AM

Sorcha, I had been missing you and wondering how you been doing, all evening. Had thought about sending you a PM, but then *saw* you here.

You asked a question but I doubt you actually want an answer; I think you were venting. If I am wrong we can have lots of lovely nice chats.

But I was stretching to reach your way and failing, in my heart, so I moseyed on over to e-mail to see what was new there, and take some time to think.

One arm reaching your way... and another, as a result of e-mail, suddenly reaching as far in the other direction. I may need to emulate Silly Putty to make the span, if I want to stay connected. *G*

Anyway here is the answer I gave in my e-mail, and the loveliness that evoked it appears below, as I received it.

~S~

---

I wrote:

John, I needed that. I answer you so:

One friend afar grieves sorely the heart;
Another as far next shall bless it.
One friend afar is a soul deep in pain;
Another spins joy just to share it.

We choose the bitter, or we choose the sweet--
Our choices to others we show.
We choose the wind, at our face or our back,
That shall blow us where e'er we may go.

~S~

---

What I had received was:

Here is another for your collection Susan.

The Beatitudes of Jesus in Scots English

Syne he gaed round the haill of Galilee, teachin in their meetinhousses, an preachin the Kíngdom, an hailin ilka sickness an ilka complènt amang the fowk. His fame gaed outowre aa Sýria, an aa at wis oniegate ailin wis brocht til him--fowk dreein aa kinkind o ills an pyne, fowk pestit wi ill spirits, fowk afflickit wi the faain-síckness or the pairls--an he hailed them aa; an frae Galilee an the Ten Touns, frae Jerusalem an Judaea an ayont Jordan, muckle thrangs cam an fallowt him about. Seein hou monie there wis o them, he spealed the brae, an whan he hed sitten doun, an his disciples hed gethert about him, he set tae the teachin, an this is what he said tae them:

"Hou happie the puir at is hummle afore God,
for theirs is the Kíngdom o heiven!
Hou happie the dowff an dowie,
for they will be comfortit!
Hou happie the douce an cannie,
for they will faa the yird!
Hou happie them at yaups an thrists for richteousness,
for they will get their sairin!
Hou happie the mercifu,
for they will win mercie!
Hou happie the clean of hairt,
for they will see God!
Hou happie the redders of strow an strife,
for they will be caa'd the childer o God!
Hou happie them at hes dree'd misgydin for richteousness' sake,
for theirs is the Kíngdom of Heiven!
Hou happie ye, whan they tash an misgyde ye an say aaithing ill o ye, líein on ye, for my sake!
Blythe be ye an mirkie, for gryte is the rewaird bidin ye in heiven; it wis een sae they misgydit the Prophets afore ye."

Matthew 4:23-5:12 excerpted from Lorimer, William Laughton (translator), The New Testament in Scots. Edinburgh: Southside (Publishers) Ltd., 1983.

---

---

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: Nathan in Texas
Date: 03 Jul 01 - 11:02 AM

Sorcha, A reasonable question. I think the answer is that, for those for whom the lyrics are an expression of faith rather than a cultural curiosity, what "sounds rather gruesome" is indeed a celebration of Love and Life. That the Son of God would offer His blood to save us from the guilt and consequences of sin is the ultimate expression of love. Christ's blood as that which cleanses is a theme that runs throughout the New Testament. Two passages alluded to in the hymn are Revelation 7:14 "…they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb," and I John 1:7 "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Jul 01 - 12:55 PM

...and in the human condition, we have a gradation from those who would take most of the metaphors literally clicka click2 to those who 'interpret' the metaphors while still believing in the basis, to those who simply shrug and assume it's all complex poetry.

The point is, 'belief' is the operative word, and if YOUR personality is wired for these things, then you will accept some aspect of them.....but none of these things are true (or NOT true) by virtue of majority rule or by the beauty and complexity of the story/metaphor.

With so many competing versions of 'truth' being waved about, I can see NO course for me other than just waiting and seeing...(and Pascal's Wager is silly!)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: M.Ted
Date: 03 Jul 01 - 01:40 PM

Well, the deal is, BillB, that nothing that anyone else tells you matters, and nothing that anyone else tries to get you to agree with, or to disagree with, matters. It is all dependent on the relationship that you create (or don't create)--Everyone has their own view, but every one has their own life to live, as well. There is an old saying--"If you know who you are, you can go where you want." It seems to me that the people who are unable to accept with anything but their own, very narrow, sense of the world, are the ones who are really lost, no matter what they tell you--

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Jul 01 - 02:09 PM

yup...and there ain't no law agin' bein' lost in your own wilderness, but PLEASE don't bother me on my mountain top trying to get me to join you...(ooohhhh MORE metaphors! *grin)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Washed in the Blood
From: wysiwyg
Date: 03 Jul 01 - 02:14 PM

Ezzackly.

~S~