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Friday, November 30, 2018

The Golden Gate Quartet - "Shadrach" (information, lyrics, & comments)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of the four part pancocojams series on the song Gospel, Pop, and Jazz song "Shadrach". This song is also known as "Shadrack" and as "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendego".

Part II provides information about the song "Shadrack". This post also showcases a YouTube sound file of this song as performed by The Golden Gate Quartet.

Lyrics for this song (as sung by The Golden Gate Quartet) and selected comments from one of the discussion threads of these YouTube examples are also included in this post.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/11/shadrach-shadrach-meshack-and-abendego.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. Part I provides information about Robert MacGimsey, the White American composer of the songs "Shadrach" (Shadrach, Meshack, And Abendego), "Sweet Little Jesus Boy" and some other songs.

A sound file of "Shadrach" as performed by Louis Armstrong and a video of "Sweet Little Jesus Boy" as performed by Mahalia Jackson are also included in Part I of this series. The arrangements and some of the lyrics for these renditions may differ from Robert MacGimsey's compositions.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-larks-black-gospel-group-on-ed.html for Part III of this series. Part III showcases a YouTube video of a 1952 clip of the Gospel group The Larks performing "Shadrach" on the Ed Sullivan show.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/12/louis-armstrong-shadrach-and-brook.html for Part IV of this series. Part IV showcases a video of Louis Armstrong performing "Shadrach".

The content of this post is presented for cultural, religious, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Robert MacGimsey, the original composer of the song "Shadrach". Thanks also to The Golden Gate Quartet for their musical legacy and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. In addition, thanks to the publisher of this example on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE GOLDEN GATE QUARTET
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate_Quartet [retrieved on November 30, 2018]
The Golden Gate Quartet (a.k.a. The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet) is an American vocal group. It was formed in 1931 and, with changes in membership, remains active. It is the most successful of all of the African-American gospel music groups who sang in the jubilee quartet style.

The group was founded as the Golden Gate Jubilee Singers in 1934, by four students at Booker T. Washington High School in Norfolk, Virginia.

[...]

From 1935, the group sang in churches and on local radio, gaining a regular spot on radio station WIS in Columbia, South Carolina in 1936.[2][6] They began as a traditional jubilee quartet, combining the clever arrangements associated with barbershop quartets with rhythms borrowed from the blues and jazz like scat singing. They developed a broad repertoire of styles – from Owens' mournful, understated approach in songs such as "Anyhow" or "Hush, Somebody's Calling My Name", to the group's highly syncopated arrangements in "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego"...

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "SHADRACK"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadrack_(Robert_MacGimsey_song)
"Shadrack" (aka "Shadrach" or "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego") is a popular song written by Robert MacGimsey in the 1930s and performed by Louis Armstrong and others. In 1962 the song was a hit single for Brook Benton, peaking at #19 in Billboard's Hot 100 chart during the week of February 17, 1962.[1]

The song is featured on pop, soul, Gospel and jazz recordings by The Ames Brothers, The Golden Gate Quartet, The Fairfield Four, The Larks, Benny Goodman, Grant Green, Bill Holman, Sonny Rollins, Bobby Scott, Phil Harris, Kay Starr, Louis Prima and several others.[2][3] In the 1951 film The Strip, the song is performed by a band featuring Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden, among others.

The lyrics refer to the biblical account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace.

[...]

Music

...1962: "Shadrack," a song written by Robert MacGimsey and recorded by him in 1931, was a top 20 hit for Brook Benton. The song had previously been performed by The Golden Gate Quartet (1947), The Larks (1952), Phil Harris and The Sportsmen Quartet (1952), Bobby Scott (1955), Louis Armstrong (1958), The Wanderers (under the title "Shadrach Meshack and Abednego") (1959), and others"....
-snip-
Here's an exchange in a discussion thread for a video of The Larks performing this son on the Ed Sullivan (American television series).*
yugojazz, 2015
"This is the Golden Gate Quartet's arrangement. They sang it in 1948 and it became a big hit."
-snip-
*Part III of this pancocojams series on Shadrach showcases a video of The Larks singing that song in 1952 on the Ed Sullivan television show.
REPLY
Austin Casey, 2015
"@yugojazz Good to know! I thought this was The Larks own. So many groups did this same arrangement."
-snip-
Part III of this pancocojams series on the song "Shadrach" showcases that film clip of The Larks and includes this exchange and other selected comments from that YouTube video's discussion thread.

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LYRICS
(as recorded by the Golden Gate Quartet)*
Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo
(Da-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo)
(Da-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo)
(Da-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo)
(Da-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo)
(Da-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo)
Now , there were three children from the land of Israel
(Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego)
They took a little trip into the land of Babylon
(Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego)
Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon
(Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego)
they took a lot of gold and they made him an idol
(Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego)

Well, they told ev'rybody when they heard the music of the cornet (Oh yeah)
Oh, they told ev'rybody when they heard the music of the flute (Ooh-ooh)
Well they told ev'rybody when they heard the music of the horn
Great God says you got to bow down and worship the idol
(Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego)
But the children of Israel would not bow down
(Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego)
You couldn't fool them with a golden idol
(Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego)
I said you couldn't fool them with a golden idol
(Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego)
So the king put the children in the fiery furnace
(Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego)
Great God, he heaped on coal and red-hot brimstone
(Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego)
Made it seven times hotter, hotter than it ought to be
(Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego)
And the Good Book says that it even burned up the soldiers the king had put there
(Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego)

Oh , Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, woo!

Then the Lord God sent him an angel
And he gave him a couple of wings
But he came on down to the middle the furnace
And he began to cool the flames
Them children go so happy
They went struttin' right through the fire
Just laughin' and singin' 'bout the power of the Gospel
(Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego)

Ohl, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, woo!

Then old Nebuchadnezzar said "Hey there"
When he saw the power of the Lord
They had a big time in the land of Babylon
(Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego)

Oh, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego!
-snip-
*This is my transcription of the lyrics for this song. This transcription corrects a few lyrics that are given on https://www.flashlyrics.com/lyrics/louis-prima/shadrack-19
-snip-
That same page includes lyrics for this song "as performed by [Italian American singer] Louis Prima". However, the transcription for Louis Prima's rendition of that song [also] isn't completely accurate.

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SHOWCASE EXAMPLES - Golden Gate Quartet - Shadrack, 1955



SyberkaPL, Published on Oct 14, 2010

Frank Todd (solo), Orlandus Wilson, Clyde Riddick, Clyde Wright

Original released EP 45rpm record from 1955 with songs recorded in the same year. This is first session of GGQ in Europe, in Paris.
-snip-
Here are a few comments from this sound file's discussion thread(with numbers assigned for referencing purposes only)
1. tuporstar, 2013
"Elvis is on record saying this was his favourite childhood group... and you can hear it- he's basically lifted his whole vocal style from them, I'm stunned."

**
2. xMiStyleZ, 2013
"pitbull has a song sound like that..i guess he just stole chorus...."

**
3. Evan Howard, 2016
"Caravan Palace took this song and cut it up like crazy for their song Clash."

**
4. kirby gamez, 2017
"1:59 is the part Caravan Palace used in Clash. You're welcome."

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This concludes Part II of this pancocojams series on the song "Shadrach".

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