The Soul Stirrers (Sam Cooke, soloist) - "Jesus Be A Fence All Around Me" (information, sound file, & lyrics)

Kazu H, Oct, 18, 2010 

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents information about the Soul Stirrers and showcases their now classic 1961 Gospel song "Jesus Be A Fence".

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the Soul Stirrers for their musical legacy, and thanks to Sam Cooke for his musical legacy with the Soul Stirrers and apart from that group. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/10/fred-hammond-radical-for-christ-jesus.html for a pancocojams post that showcases Fred Hammond & Radical For Christ's 1999 rendition of "Jesus Be A Fence".

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SOUL STIRRERS
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soul_Stirrers
"The Soul Stirrers were an American gospel music group, whose career spans over eighty years. The group was a pioneer in the development of the quartet style of gospel, and a major influence on soul, doo wop, and motown, some of the secular music that owed much to gospel.

Biography
The group was formed by (Silas) Roy Crain, launching his first quartet who sang in a jubilee style, in 1926 in Trinity, Texas. In the early 1930s, after Crain moved to Houston, he joined an existing group on the condition that it change its name to "the Soul Stirrers". The name "Soul Stirrers" yields from the description of one of Roy Crain's earlier quartets as "soul-stirring." Among the members of that group was R.H. (Rebert) Harris, who soon became its musical leader. The Soul Stirrers, formed as a jubilee quartet, transformed their sound, influenced by hard gospel singers such as Mahalia Jackson and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

Rebert Harris, also from Trinity, Texas, brought several changes to the Soul Stirrers that affected gospel quartet singing generally. He used a falsetto style that had its antecedents in African music, but which was new to the popular jubilee singing style of the time. He pioneered the "swing lead"---in which two singers would share the job of leading the song, allowing virtuoso singers to increase the emotional intensity of the song as the lead passed between them without disturbing the four part harmony. That innovation led the Soul Stirrers, while still called a quartet, to acquire five members.

The Soul Stirrers made other important changes in those years: ad-libbing lyrics, singing in delayed time, and repeating words in the background as both a rhythmic and emotional support for the lead singers. The Soul Stirrers along with other quartet performers, dropped the "flatfooted" style of jubilee quartets before them and expanded their repertoire from spirituals and traditional hymns to the newer gospel compositions. The group also loosened the rigid arrangements that jubilee quartets had favored to permit individual singers within the group more space for individual development.

In 1936, Alan Lomax recorded the Soul Stirrers for the Library of Congress's American music project, and those four unissued recordings are in the American Folklife Center collection today. They later moved to Chicago, where they broadcast a weekly radio show (WIND) with other famous groups including Golden Gate Quartet and The Famous Blue Jay Singers. As the gospel quartet style of singing became more popular, groups would perform in competitions called "song battles" to further increase the genre's popularity.

As World War II began, it became more difficult for many gospel quartet groups to make a living. It resulted in some quartets supplementing their income by doing live performances at churches, schools, and neighborhood centers. Despite the economic situation, throughout the 1940s and leading into the 1950s, many gospel quartet groups were able to pursue their careers successfully. The Soul Stirrer's nationwide touring gained them an even larger audience.

The Soul Stirrers signed with Specialty Records, where they recorded a number of tracks, including "By and By" and "In That Awful Hour". Harris quit in late 1950 to form a new group, citing dissatisfaction with what he viewed as the crookedness of the business and immoral behavior by musicians he saw on the "Gospel Highway" touring circuit. He was briefly replaced on lead by Paul Foster, then by Sam Cooke. Cooke joined the group at 19 and served as lead vocalist from 1950 to 1956.[1]

One of the early singles with Cooke was "Jesus Gave Me Water", a major hit that brought the Soul Stirrers acclaim. Thomas L. Breuster was replaced by Bob King and, briefly, Julius Cheeks. When Cooke left in 1957 to pursue a career in pop music, the Soul Stirrers' preeminence in gospel was essentially over, though a brief period of success with Johnnie Taylor sustained the group for a time. Various line-ups continued touring and recording throughout the last half of the century to a small and devoted following. The group — and all of its members — was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 as one of rock's Early Influences, and into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2000.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed The Soul Stirrers among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.[2]

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LYRICS: JESUS BE A FENCE ALL AROUND ME*
(The Soul Stirrers)

[Soloist]
I wonder
Is there anybody here
who late at midnight
sheds briny tears
all because you didn't have
no one to help you
along the way
and oh Lord

And if there is anyone
Lord, let me tell you,
let me tell you what I've done
I've ask Jesus
to be a fence around me
and protect me everyday

I told Him

[Chorus]
Jesus be a fence all around me
Jesus to protect me
as I travel on my way

Jesus be a fence all around me
Jesus to protect me
as I travel on my way

Soloist: Oh, sometimes it will hurt to your heart
to see loved one, to see loved one to depart
But oh children, death, death is no stranger
to anyone
and oh Lord

But just the Lord as you stay in the fold
you never have to worry
when death knocks on your door
Just ask Jesus to be a fence around you
and you never have to worry anymore
Just bow down
So oh...

[Chorus]
Jesus be a fence all around me
Jesus to protect me
as I travel on my way

Jesus be a fence all around me
Jesus to protect me
as I travel on my way
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*I transcribed the basic lyrics for this song from the above sound file without most of the soloist's embellishments. Additions and corrections are welcome.

Note that http://www.allgospellyrics.com/?sec=listing&lyricid=290 indicates that Sam Cooke wrote "Jesus Be A Fence", but the lyrics that website gives for this song aren't the same ones that are sung in the sound file that's embedded in this post. That leads me to ask "Was Sam Cooke really the composer of "Jesus Be A Fence? And, if not, who was the composer of that now classic Gospel song? If you know the answers to these questions, please share them in the comment section below. Thanks!

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Here's a quote from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Cooke
..."The Soul Stirrers

In 1950, Cooke replaced gospel tenor R. H. Harris as lead singer of the gospel group the Soul Stirrers, founded by Harris, who had signed with Specialty Records on behalf of the group.[19] Their first recording under Cooke's leadership was the song "Jesus Gave Me Water" in 1951. They also recorded the gospel songs "Peace in the Valley", "How Far Am I from Canaan?", "Jesus Paid the Debt" and "One More River", among many others, some of which he wrote.[1] Cooke was often credited for bringing gospel music to the attention of a younger crowd of listeners, mainly girls who would rush to the stage when the Soul Stirrers hit the stage just to get a glimpse of Cooke.[20]

Crossover pop success
Cooke had 30 U.S. top 40 hits between 1957 and 1964, plus three more posthumously. Major hits like "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Cupid", "Chain Gang", "Wonderful World", "Another Saturday Night", and "Twistin' the Night Away" are some of his most popular songs."...

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