Lyr Req/Add: There's a Meeting Here Tonight

Subject: There is a Meetin Here Tonight
From: Vinny
Date: 16 Jul 02 - 11:40 PM

Subject: Lyr Add: THERE'S A MEETING HERE TONIGHT
From: masato sakurai
Date: 17 Jul 02 - 01:03 AM

Are you looking for this spiritual?

THERE'S A MEETING HERE TO-NIGHT (from Allen et al., Slave Songs of the United States, p. 9; with music):

1. I take my text in Mattew, and by de Revelation,
I know you by your garment,
Dere's a meeting here to-night.
Dere's a meeting here to-night,
Oh!/(Brudder Tony,) Dere's a meeting here to-night,
Oh!/(Sister Rina,) Dere's a meeting here to-night,
I hope to meet again.

2 Brudder John was a writer, he write de laws of God;
Sister Mary say to brudder John, "Brudder John, don't write no more."
Dere's a meeting here to-night, Oh! (Brudder Sandy,)(bis)
Dere's a meeting here to-night,
I hope to meet again.

[Mrs. Bowen gives us the following beautiful variation, as sung in Charleston:]

I see brudder Moses yonder,
And I think I ought to know him,
For I know him by his garment,
He's a blessing here to-night;
He's a blessing here to-night,
He's a blessing here to-night,
And I think I ought to know him,
He's a blessing here tonight.

The following may be a more popular version:

THERE'S A MEETING HERE TONIGHT.

CHORUS: Get you ready, there's a meeting here tonight
Come along, there's a meeting here tonight
I know you by your daily walk,
There's a meeting here tonight

1. Camp meeting in the wilderness
There's a meeting here tonight
I know it's among the Methodist
There's a meeting here tonight

2. My father says it is the best
There's a meeting here tonight
To live and die a Methodist
There's a meeting here tonight

3. There's fire in the East, there's fire in the West
There's a meeting here tonight
I know it's among the Methodist
There's a meeting here tonight

~Masato

Subject: RE: There is a Meetin Here Tonight
From: rich-joy
Date: 17 Jul 02 - 05:40 AM

There was an up-tempo gospel number on the Top-40 in the 60's - by Joe and Eddie I THINK - and the refrain went :

"Well, there's a meetin' here tonight
There's a meetin' here tonight
I can tell by your friendly(?) face
There's a meetin' here tonight"

sorry, can't recall too much of the rest ...
Cheers! R-J

Subject: RE: There is a Meetin Here Tonight
From: Jeanie
Date: 17 Jul 02 - 07:56 AM

And Wally Whyton pinched it for the signature tune to "Willum's Tea Party" on children's TV (Pussy Cat Willum, Ollie Beak, Fred Barker):

"There's a party here today

There's a party here today

I can tell it by your smiling face

There's a party here today"

Remember ?? I still hum it to myself regularly ! I had no idea til now that it came from somewhere else.

- jeanie

- jeanie

Subject: RE: There is a Meetin Here Tonight
From: masato sakurai
Date: 17 Jul 02 - 08:01 AM

"There's A Meetin' Here Tonight" by Joe & Eddie (only the first verse and chorus is HERE) is:

Breakin' up big rocks on the chain gang,
Breakin' rocks and soothin' my time.
Breakin' up big rocks on the chain gang,
Oh Lord I committed a crime.
Hold it steady right there while I hit it
I reckon that ought to get it.
Been workin', I been workin',
And I still got so terrible long to go.

Bob Gibson's "There's a Meeting Here Tonight" can be heard HERE.

Sheet music for "Dar's a meeting here tonight" by Pete Devonear (Boston: John F. Perry & Co., 1875):

First Line: If I had a wife and a little baby, Dar's a meeting here tonight
First Line of Chorus: Git yer ready, Dar's a meeting here tonight

is at Levy (Click here); and also at Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, 1870-1885 (Library of Congress).

~Masato

Subject: RE: There is a Meetin Here Tonight
From: masato sakurai
Date: 17 Jul 02 - 08:04 AM

Sorry, "Breakin' up big rocks on the chain gang" isn't it.

Subject: RE: There is a Meetin Here Tonight
From: Art Thieme
Date: 17 Jul 02 - 01:49 PM

Gibson opened most shows with his version of "Meetin' Here Tonight" back in the late 1950s --at the Gate Of Horn (Chicago).

Masato---That song you quoted from is by Oscar Brown jr. and the word you've got as "soothin'" should be "serving".

Art

Subject: RE: There is a Meetin Here Tonight
From: Wesley S
Date: 17 Jul 02 - 02:11 PM

I've got all of the lyrics to the version rich-joy was talking about. If anyone wants them let me know. I have them at home and I post at work.

Subject: RE: There is a Meetin Here Tonight
From: rich-joy
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 03:40 AM

Thanks Wesley S - I'd actually be interested in the rest of them!!!

Cheers! R-J

Subject: RE: There is a Meetin Here Tonight
From: Wesley S
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 11:03 AM

Dang it - I left them at home again. I'll try to remember to bring them tomorrow. PM me if I keep forgetting. I remember most of them but I'd reather have them in front of me and get it right.

Subject: ADD: There's a Meeting Here Tonight
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 12:37 PM

THERE'S A MEETING HERE TO-NIGHT (Fisk Jubilee Singers Version)

Refrain:
Get you ready, there's a meeting here to-night,
Come along, there's a meeting here to-night;
I know you by your daily walk,
There's a meeting here tonight.
1.
Camp-meeting down in the wilderness,
There's a meeting here to-night;
I know it's among the Methodists,
There's a meeting here to-night.
2.
Those angels wings are tipped with gold,
There's a meeting here tonight;
That brought glad tidings to my soul,
There's a meeting here tonight.
3.
My father says it is the best, etc.
To live and die a Methodist, etc.
4.
I'm a Methodist bred and a Methodist born, etc.
And when I'm dead there's a Methodist gone, etc.

Similar to the second version posted by Masato.
With music, No. 65, p. 84, Marsh, J. B. T., 1880's, "The Story of the Jubilee Singers; with Their Songs." Revised, seventy-fifth thousand. Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: There's a Meeting Here Tonight
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 20 Oct 13 - 08:01 PM

I remember the Limelighters singing this in the '50s.

Lyr. Add: THERE'S A MEETIN' HERE TONIGHT
Limelighters

Some come to dance
Some come to play
Some merely come to pass the time away
Some come to laugh
Their voices do ring
But as for me, I come for to sing.

'Cause there's a meetin' here tonight
There's a meetin' here tonight
I know by your friendly face
There's a meetin' here tonight.

Refrain-
There's a meetin' here tonight
There's a meetin' here tonight
I know you by your friendly face
There's a meetin' here tonight.

There's a meetin' here tonight, Great God
I'm glad you came along
Hope all the brothers and sisters here
Will help me sing this song.

Refrain

There's a grin on every upturned face
And a smile in every eye
Brothers and sisters let me hear you shout
Let me hear your joyful cry.

Refrain

Repetitions

lyrics.wikia.com

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: There's a Meeting Here Tonight
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Oct 13 - 09:14 AM

Spelling: The Limeliters.