Jubilee Quartet Videos -"God Told Nicodemus" & "Noah"

Edited by Azizi Powell

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"God Told Nicodemus" (1941)- The Golden Gate Quartet



Uploaded by JayEm86 on Feb 6, 2009

Old, jubilee style quartet singing from these legends.

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Jubalaires Gospel - Noah



1940's Black Gospel & Pop Vocal Quartet

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EDITOR'S COMMENTS
"God Told Nicodemus" and "Noah" are Gospel songs that are performed by quartets in the African American Jubilee style. In these performances, "God Told Nicodemus" and "Noah" have the same tune and are performed in the same tempo. As to which song came first, from the uploader notes to another video on the Golden Gate Quartet ["Golden Gate Quartet" - Early Songs at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT3Ly_-o28k -"Noah" is listed as being recorded by that quartet in 1939. The video for "God Told Nicodemus" gives the date 1941 for that song.]

The Wikipedia page for the Golden Gate Quartet indicates that that quartet "was founded as the Golden Gate Jubilee Singers in 1934, by four students at the Booker T. Washington College in Norfolk, Virginia" and that one of its founding members, Willie Johnson, "left in 1948 to form The Jubalaires". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate_Quartet
However, The Jubalaire's Wikipedia page - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jubalaires - indicates that "The Jubalaires were an American gospel group active during the 1940s and 1950s. They were playing as the Royal Harmony Singers in Florida as far back as 1936, and under that name reached #10 on the R&B charts on November 14, 1942 with "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition", a song adapted from the speech of a naval chaplain in response to the attack on Pearl Harbor the previous year". The uploader comment for the Jubalaires' rendition of "Noah" provides the information that The Jubalaires were a "1940's Black Gospel & Pop Vocal Quartet".

All of this to say that although I'm not completely sure, it seems most likely that "God Told Nicodemus" uses the tune of "Noah" and not vice versa. Furthermore, it seems likely that the song Noah was first recorded by The Golden Gate Quartet and not by The Jubalaires.

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LYRICS: NOAH
(as sung by The Jubaliares)

Chorus:
Well it's oh Noah
Oh oh Noah
Oh oh! Noah
God's gonna ride on the wind & tide.
Oh Noah
Oh oh Noah
Oh oh! Noah
God's gonna ride on the wind & tide.

Soloist - Brother Noah
Group - God's gonna ride on the wind & tide.
Soloist- My God's talking.
Group - God's gonna ride on the wind & tide.
Soloist - Say you'll ride on the wind & tide.

Narrative by one singer; the rest of the group quietly hums in response to each line:

Hey, to*, stop, (be) still, and listen to me.
God walked down to the briny sea.
He declared that evil had descended to man.
And then He decided to destroy the land.
He spoke to Noah and Noah stopped.
He said "Noah, I want you to build an ark".
I want you to build it three cubics long.
I want you to build it big and strong.
I want you to build it fifty high and fifty wide.
So it will withstand the wind and tide.

Chorus:
So it's oh Noah etc
Well it's oh Noah etc
(repeat chorus one time)
Soloist (Humming) Mmmm Mmmm
Group - God's gonna ride on the wind & tide.
Soloist (Humming) Mmmm Mmmm
Group - God's gonna ride on the wind & tide.
Soloist- Brother Noah. Brother Noah,my God's talking.
Group - God's gonna ride on the wind & tide
Soloist - Said He would ride
Group - God's gonna ride on the wind & tide.
Soloist- on the wind and the tide.

Narrative by one singer; the rest of the group quietly hums in response to each line:

Well after the foundation was laid.
Then Brother Noah began to hew and build.
The ringing of the hammer that judgement.
The hewing of the saw that [said we] repent.
One hundred years he hammered and sawed.
Building the ark by the grace of God.
When the ark was built God's voice was heard.
He said "Now, Noah let me tell you what to do.
I want you to call in the animals two by two.
So he called them in the ark two by two.
[Bears], the oxford, and the kangaroo.
Then he called in [Japeth], and Ham, and Shem.
Then God began to flood the land.
He raised His hands to heaven on high.
Shook the stars and they moved from the sky.
Shook the mountains, He troubled the sea.
[Hist] the wind, His chariot decree.
He stood on land and stood on the shore.
And declared that time there wouldn't be no more.

Chorus:
Well it's oh Noah
Oh oh Noah
Oh oh! Noah
God's gonna ride on the wind & tide

[Transcription by Ms. Azizi Powell, 12/7/2010
from the video]

* The words that I'm unsure about are placed in brackets. The word that is assumed by listeners is placed in parenthesis, For instance, in the line "Hey to stop, (be) still, and listen to me", I believe that "to" in that line means "got to" and I believe that "be still" is meant, although "be" isn't sung

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LYRICS

GOD TOLD NICODEMUS
(As performed by The Golden Gate Quartet)

Chorus:
God told Nicodemus, God told Nicodemus
God, oh yes He did, He told Nicodemus a man he must-a be born again
Well-a God told Nicodemus, God told Nicodemus
God, oh yes He did, He told Nicodemus a man he must-a be born again
Well there was a man among the Pharisees
By the name of Nicodemus who did not believe
Same Nicodemus came to God by night
Talkin' 'bout religion from the human sight
He brought along his silver, diamonds, and gold
Wanted to buy his way to Heaven and save his soul

Repeat Chorus

Well the same Nicodemus came a runnin' hard
Said "Has anybody here done seen the Lord?
I want to buy some 'ligion, but what will it cost
To get myself to Heaven 'fore my soul be lost?
Then my God spoke, He spoke so sweet
Sounded like the shuffle of angels feet
He said "Marvel thou man, if you want to be wise
You got to believe and be baptized"

Repeat Chorus

Then old Nicodemus was taken back
Cause God done told him 'bout the natural fact
He said "Marvel thou man, if you want to be wise
You got to believe and be baptized"
Old Nicodemus was taken back
Cause God done told him 'bout the natural fact
He said "I don't understand! I want to know
How can be born when he's old?"
Then my God spoke, His voice did ring
Sounded like the shuffle of angels wings
He said, "Marvel thou man, if you want to be wise
You got to believe and be baptized"

Repeat Chorus (x2)

Well-a God told Nicodemus, God told Nicodemus
God, oh yes He did, He told Nicodemus a man he must-a be born again
I said man you must-a be born again
We know that man you must-a be born again

From http://lyrics.astraweb.com/display/406/hymns..unknown..god_told_nicodemus.html

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RELATED LINK
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/06/biblical-references-in-african-american.html Biblical References In African American Religious Songs (Part I - New Testament) The link for Part I of that series is found in that post.

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