Favorite gospels part 3
Here's a fun one I picked up at a 4th of July Celebration in Turkey, Texas, 2007:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZtwxc423jg
This version is quite good. The country guitar captures the ethereal, superstitious quality a song like this is supposed to have. The version I heard, live, was sung by a woman in her late 80's or early 90's, but with a voice like Judy Garland. She also did something that really stuck with me, and I've yet to hear any other version do this: when she got to the words "long black train," she dropped into minor key.
That was cool.
It added to the mysterious atmosphere of the song, making it even more impactful.
By now you've noticed that I like a little country in my gospels. I suspect that country is inextricable from the gospels I grew up with, because I grew up in a very Southern Protestant tradition. A lot of the songs we heard or sang were from the same background as country music.
You're also probably asking, "Didn't you say the Church of Christ didn't believe in using instruments? these last three posts have all been songs with instruments."
You would be correct to observe that. I would argue that what you're seeing here is two things: first, these three songs were not songs we really sang in Church (with the possible exception of One Day At a Time), but were popular music. As such, they were not bound by the doctrinal requirement. Second, let's face it: whenever the soul of art goes up against doctrine, doctrine is going to lose, every time.
However, we are about to switch gears. Let's see what's next.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZtwxc423jg
This version is quite good. The country guitar captures the ethereal, superstitious quality a song like this is supposed to have. The version I heard, live, was sung by a woman in her late 80's or early 90's, but with a voice like Judy Garland. She also did something that really stuck with me, and I've yet to hear any other version do this: when she got to the words "long black train," she dropped into minor key.
That was cool.
It added to the mysterious atmosphere of the song, making it even more impactful.
By now you've noticed that I like a little country in my gospels. I suspect that country is inextricable from the gospels I grew up with, because I grew up in a very Southern Protestant tradition. A lot of the songs we heard or sang were from the same background as country music.
You're also probably asking, "Didn't you say the Church of Christ didn't believe in using instruments? these last three posts have all been songs with instruments."
You would be correct to observe that. I would argue that what you're seeing here is two things: first, these three songs were not songs we really sang in Church (with the possible exception of One Day At a Time), but were popular music. As such, they were not bound by the doctrinal requirement. Second, let's face it: whenever the soul of art goes up against doctrine, doctrine is going to lose, every time.
However, we are about to switch gears. Let's see what's next.