Lyrics and References for the Music for Celebrating Black History: Blessings from the Interfaith Community
Sunday, February 26 (3-5 pm); Hosted by Shiloh Baptist Chuch, One Holton Street, Medford, MA
Sponsored by the City of Medford & Medford Interfaith Clergy Association.
Somethin’ Bout the Spirit of Jesus
Link to S-Factor Recording
Well I feel good, good
Well I feel good
Oh yes, my lord
because there’s something ’bout the spirit of Jesus
That makes me feel good, good, good, good
Well I can love, love love
Well I can love, oh yes my lord
Because there’s something ’bout the spirit of Jesus
that makes me love good, good good, good
Well I’ve got joy, joy, joy
Well I’ve got joy down in my soul
Because there’s something ’bout the spirit of Jesus
That brings me such joy, joy joy, joy
Well we can sing, sing sing
well we can sing, oh yes my lord
Because there’s something ’bout the spirit of Jesus
that makes me sing good, good good, good
Well I can serve, serve serve
Well I can serve, oh yes my lord
Because there’s something ’bout the spirit of Jesus
That makes me serve good, good good, good
If you feel good, good good
If you feel good, then clap your hands
Because there’s something ’bout the spirit of Jesus
that makes me feel good, good good
Well I feel good, good good
Well I feel good, oh yes my lord
Because there’s something ’bout the spirit of Jesus
That makes me feel good, good good
Because there’s something ’bout the spirit of Jesus
That makes me feel good, good good, good (3x)
Ride On
Link to S-Factor Recording
Ride On King Jesus!
No man canna hinnn-derrr theeee.
Ride On King Jesus!
No man canna T1 Hinda T2 Hinda Bass Hinda Thee!
Ride On King Jesus! Ride On No man canna Hinder thee
No man canna hinder thee
Ride On King Jesus!
No man canna T1 Hinda T2 Hinda Bass Hinda Thee!
Ride on King Jesus Ride on
No man canna hinder The X 4
No
Solo 1 No weapon
No
Solo 2 Formed against me shall prosper
No
Solo 3 It will never prosper
No
Solo 4 It won’t work
No man canna hinder thee
No man canna hinder thee
T1 In that grey getting up morning Fair thee well
All: Fair thee well
T2 In that grey getting up morning Fair thee well
All: Fair thee well
B1 In that grey getting up morning Fair thee well
All: Fair thee well
All: In that grey getting up morning Fair thee well
Fair thee weeeeeeeeellllllll
When I get to Heaven gonna wear a robe
No man canna hinder me
When I get to Heaven gonna wear a robe
No man canna hinder me
Gonna walk all over those streets of gold
No man canna hinder me
Goin to a place where ill never grow old
No man canna hinder me X4
Ooo ooo oooo ooooo ooo X2 soft
Ooo ooo oooo ooooo ooo X2 Growing into hmmm
HMMM Hmmmm HMMM HMMM X4
Ride on King Jesus!
No man canna T1 Hinda T2 Hinda Bass Hinder
Thee!
Ride On King Jesus!
Wade in the Water
Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children,
Wade in the water
God’s a-going to trouble the water
Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children,
Wade in the water
God’s a-going to trouble the water
See that host all dressed in white
God’s a-going to trouble the water
The leader looks like the Israelite
God’s a-going to trouble the water
Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children,
Wade in the water
God’s a-going to trouble the water
Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children,
Wade in the water
God’s a-going to trouble the water
See that band all dressed in red
God’s a-going to trouble the water
Looks like the band that Moses led
God’s a-going to trouble the water
Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children,
Wade in the water
God’s a-going to trouble the water
Freedoms
Link to S-Factor Recording
Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea
Stony the road we trod
Bitter the chastening rod
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died
Yet with a steady beat
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
God of our weary years
God of our silent tears
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way
Thou who has by Thy might Led us into the light
Keep us forever in the path, we pray
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee
Shadowed beneath Thy hand
May we forever stand
True to our God
True to our native land
Our native land
B1
Oooo freedom oooo freeedom
Oooo OOo Freedom over meee
And before Id be a slave
I’d be buried in my grave
And go home to my lord and be free
And before id be a slave id be buried in my grave
And go home
To my lord and be free
And before id be a slave id be buried in my grave
Keep us forever in thy path we pray
Lest our feat straight from the places our god where we met thee
Lest our hearts
Drunk with the wine of the world we for
Getttt theeee
And before id be a slave id be buried in my grave
And go home
To my lord and be free
Be free and be free X however many conductor wants
T2
I don’t feel no ways tied
I’ve come to far from where I started from
Nobody told me that the road would be easy
I don’t believe
He brought me this far
To Leave me
Nobody told me that the road would be easy
Keep us forever in thy path we pray
Lest our feat straight from the places our god where we met thee
Lest our hearts
Drunk with the wine of the world we for
Getttt theeee
Nobody told me that the road would be easy
I don’t believe
He brought me this far
To Leave me
T1/T0
We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome Someday
Deep In my Heart
I do believe
Keep us forever in thy path
We pray
Lest our feet
Stray from the places our god where we met thee
Lest our heart
Drunk with the wine of the world we forget thee
Deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall overcome someday
Someday
Someday
Someday
Ken Y’hi Ratzon
(May it be God’s will)
by Elana Arian
May [I/ you/ we] be safe
May [I/ you/ we] be free
May [I/ you/ we] find space
Space to just be
(2x) Ken y’hi ratzon, ken y’hi ratzon
May [I/ you/ we] find [my/ your/ our] way back home.
About Robert Nathaniel Dett
Barcarolle and Juba from “In The Bottoms” Suite
Keywords: Americana, Tradition, Character Pieces
Composed in 1913
Robert Nathaniel Dett, born in Canada and later living in the United States, was an esteemed musician, scholar and choir director. He received his bachelor’s degree and an honorary doctorate from Oberlin as well as a master’s degree from Eastman, where the Sibley Library preserves many of his manuscripts. He also studied at Harvard University and at the American Conservatory with pedagogue Nadia Boulanger.
In 1926, he became the music director at the Hampton Institute in Virginia, and as conductor, he skyrocketed the choir to national prestige with critically acclaimed performances at New York’s Carnegie Hall and Boston’s Symphony Hall, among others. In 1930, the Hampton Choir toured seven countries and performed for President Hoover at the White House.
In addition to composing vocal and keyboard works, Dett was a skilled arranger of music and created two collections of “Negro Spirituals.” Furthermore, Dett wrote extensively on the history of African-American music and its modern performance, for which he received numerous awards from major universities.
His set of character pieces from 1913, entitled “In the Bottoms,” are “impressions of moods or scenes” from slave life in the river bottoms in the South. The term barcarolle refers to a morning river boat ride and juba, as Dett describes, refers to slaves “stamping on the ground with the foot and following it with two staccato pats of the hands in two-four time.”
We have this wonderful store of folk music—the melodies of an enslaved people… But this store will be of no value unless we utilize it, unless we treat it in such manner that it can be presented in choral form, in lyric and operatic works, in concertos and suites and salon music—unless our musical architects take the rough timber of Negro themes and fashion from it music which will prove that we, too, have national feelings and characteristics, as have the European peoples whose forms we have zealously followed for so long. — R. Nathaniel Dett
Robert Nathaniel Dett’s contributions to composition and commitment to ethnomusicology prove him to be one of the most important and forward looking 20th century American voices.
Text of Prayer:
Blessed Are You Who Bear the Light
Blessed are you
who bear the light
in unbearable times,
who testify
to its endurance
amid the unendurable,
who bear witness
to its persistence
when everything seems
in shadow
and grief.
Blessed are you
in whom
the light lives,
in whom
the brightness blazes—
your heart
a chapel,
an altar where
in the deepest night
can be seen
the fire that
shines forth in you
in unaccountable faith,
in stubborn hope,
in love that illumines
every broken thing
it finds.
© Jan Richardson from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons.
How Great is Our God
The splendour of a King
Clothed in Majesty
Let all the earth rejoice
All the earth rejoice
He wraps Himself in light
And darkness tries to hide
And trembles at His voice
Trembles at His voice
How great is our God
Sing with me, how great is our God
And all will see how great
How great is our God
Age to age, He stands
And time is in His hands
Beginning and the end
Beginning and the end
The Godhead, three in one
Father, Spirit, Son
The Lion and the Lamb
Lion and the Lamb
How great is our God
Sing with me, how great is our God
And all will see how great
How great is our God
Name above all names
Worthy of all praise
My heart will sing, how great is our God
You’re the name above all names (all name)
You are worthy of all praise (all praise)
And my heart will sing, how great is our God
How great is our God
Sing with me, how great is our God
And all will see how great
How great is our God
How great is our God
How great is our God
How great, how great is our God
The whole world say it
The whole world say it
How great is our God
How great is our God
How great, how great is our God
Lift Every Voice and Sing
Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and Heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise,
High as The list’ning skies,
let it resound loud as the Rolling sea
Sing a song
full of faith that the Dark past has taught us,
Sing a song
full of The hope that the present has brought Us;
Facing the rising sun
of our new day Begun,
Let us march on till victory is Won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the Chast’ning rod,
Felt in the day that hope
Unborn had died;
Yet with a steady Beat,
Have not our weary feet,
Come to the Place on which our fathers sighed?
We have Come
over a way that with tears has been Watered,
We have come,
treading our path Through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from The gloomy past,
till now we stand at Last
Where the white gleam
of our star is Cast.
God of our weary years,
God of Our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus
Far on the way;
Thou who has by thy Might,
Led us into the light,
Keep us Forever in the path, we pray
Lest our feet
Stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
Shadowed beneath the Hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land
One More Time
Link to S-Factor Recording
One More Time One More Time
He Allowed us to come together one more time X4
Same Rhythm and notes in: Oooos X2
While Solo goes
Behold how good and how pleasant it is
For Brethren to dwell together in unity X2
One More Time One More Time
He Allowed us to Pray together one more time X2
Same Rhythm and notes in: Oooos X2
While solo Goes
One More Time One More Time
He Allowed us to Sing together one more time X2
Same Rhythm and notes in: Oooos X2
When I get weak it’s like I can’t go on
It’s like all of my hopes and all my joy is gone
I remember what he said to me and how he peace mind
He allowed us to come together one more átime
One More Time One More Time
He Allowed us to Come together one more time X2
Behold
How good
And how pleasant it ispp
For Brethren to dwell together in unity
Behold
How good
And how pleasant it is
For Brethren to dwell together in unity
Soloist does ad libs/ call and response with each phrase
