Re: Argument

2008-3-19 18:15:00

JJ:

Great word of the day Dan. This belongs in the archives.

Dan:

I'd gladly sing Kumbaya (Aramaic: Qum bi haya, Eli - 'Rise with Life, oh my Lord'!).

JJ:

Here's an interesting story from Wikipedia:

"Not to be confused with Cumbay, a town in Ecuador. 'Kumbaya' (also spelled Kum Ba Yah) is a song claimed to have been composed by Reverend Marvin V. Frey (1918-1992) in the 1930s in Portland, Oregon.

"Originally titled 'Come By Here,' it was first collected by Robert Winslow Gordon in 1936. It appeared in 'Revival Choruses of Marvin V. Frey,' a lyric sheet printed in Portland in 1939. In 1946, the song returned from Africa with a missionary family, who toured America singing the song with the text 'Kum Ba Yah.'

"There is debate about the truth of Frey's authorship claim;[1] recent research has found that sometime between 1922 and 1931, members of an organization called the Society for the Preservation of Spirituals collected a song from the South Carolina coast. Come By Yuh, as they called it, was sung in Gullah, the Creole dialect spoken by the former slaves living on the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia. In Gullah, 'Kumbaya' means 'Come by here,' so the lyric could be translated as "Come by here, my lord, come by here."[2] Another version was preserved on a wax cylinder in May 1936 by Robert Winslow Gordon, founder of what became the American Folklife Center. Gordon discovered a woman named Ethel Best singing Come By Here with a group in Raiford, Florida.

"An intriguing etymology is that Kumbaya is derived from an Aramaic phrase, Qum bi haya, Eli--'Rise with Life, oh my Lord!'

"Joe Hickerson, one of the Folksmiths, recorded the song in 1957, as did Pete Seeger in 1958. Joe Hickerson later succeeded Gordon at the American Folklife Center. The song enjoyed newfound popularity during the folk revival of the 1960s, largely due to Joan Baez's 1962 recording of the song, and became associated with the Civil Rights Movement of that decade. It is a standard campfire song in Scouting, YMCA, the Indian Guides, and others. It was also commonly used in Catholic 'folk' masses of the 1970s."

Lyrics

"Kumbaya, my Lord, kumbaya
Kumbaya, my Lord, kumbaya
Kumbaya, my Lord, kumbaya
O Lord, kumbaya

"Someone's laughing, Lord, kumbaya
Someone's laughing, Lord, kumbaya
Someone's laughing, Lord, kumbaya
O Lord, kumbaya

"Someone's crying, Lord, kumbaya
Someone's crying, Lord, kumbaya
Someone's crying, Lord, kumbaya
O Lord, kumbaya

"Someone's praying, Lord, kumbaya
Someone's praying, Lord, kumbaya
Someone's praying, Lord, kumbaya
O Lord, kumbaya

"Someone's singing, Lord, kumbaya
Someone's singing, Lord, kumbaya
Someone's singing, Lord, kumbaya
O Lord, kumbaya

"Kumbaya, my Lord, kumbaya
Kumbaya, my Lord, kumbaya
Kumbaya, my Lord, kumbaya
O Lord, kumbaya

Another version of the song:

"Kum ba yah, my Lord, kum ba yah
Kum ba yah, my Lord, kum ba yah
Kum ba yah, my Lord, kum ba yah
Oh Lord, kum ba yah

"Hear me crying, Lord, kum ba yah
Hear me crying, Lord, kum ba yah
Hear me crying, Lord, kum ba yah
Oh Lord, kum ba yah

"Hear me singing, Lord, kum ba yah
Hear me singing, Lord, kum ba yah
Hear me singing, Lord, kum ba yah
Oh Lord, kum ba yah

"Hear me praying, Lord, kum ba yah
Hear me praying, Lord, kum ba yah
Hear me praying, Lord, kum ba yah
Oh Lord, kum ba yah

"Oh I need you, Lord, kum ba yah
Oh I need you, Lord, kum ba yah
Oh I need you, Lord, kum ba yah
Oh Lord, kum ba yah"