Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post provides information about the word "jubilee" that was used to refer to African American religious songs and religious singing groups.
In addition, this post showcases two YouTube examples of late 19th century recordings of the African American early Gospel "Old Time Religion" by The Fisk Jubilee Singers and by Pace Jubilee Singers.
In comparison, the Addendum of this post showcases a mid 20th century rendition of "Old Time Religion" by the Golden Gospel Singers, an African American music group.
The content of this post is presented for religious, cultural, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and all those who are featured in this post for their cultural legacies.
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Click and for these pancocojams post that showcases The Golden Gate Quartet's 1937 version and the Jubalaires' 1947 version of "The Preacher And The Bear". Those renditions of that once very popular song feature "Old Time Religion" as the chorus.
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INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORD "JUBILEE" THAT WAS USED IN REFERENCE TO BLACK AMERICAN RELIGIOUS SONGS AND RELIGIOUS SINGING GROUPS
Excerpt #1:
From https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jubilee
[...]
3. often capitalized : a year of emancipation and restoration provided by ancient Hebrew law to be kept every 50 years by the emancipation of Hebrew slaves, restoration of alienated lands to their former owners, and omission of all cultivation of the land
[...]
5: a religious song of African Americans usually referring to a time of future happiness"
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Excerpt #2:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisk_Jubilee_Singers
..."the Jewish year of Jubilee."... was a reference to Jubilee described in the book of Leviticus in the Bible. Each fiftieth Pentecost was followed by a "year of jubilee" in which all slaves would be set free.[3] Since most of the students at Fisk University and their families were newly freed slaves,[5] the name "Jubilee Singers" seemed fitting."...
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Excerpt #3
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_quartet
" "Jubilee quartets were popular African-American religious musical groups in the first half of the 20th century. The name derives from the Fisk Jubilee Singers, a group of singers organized by George L. White at Fisk University in 1871 to sing Negro spirituals. The members of the original Fisk Jubilee Quartet (1909-1916) were Alfred G. King (first bass), James A. Myers (second tenor), Noah W. Ryder (second bass), and John W. Work II (first tenor).[1] Students at other historically black schools, such as Hampton Institute, Tuskegee Institute and Wilberforce University, followed suit.
The early jubilee quartets featured close harmonies, formal arrangements and a "flatfooted" style of singing that emphasized restrained musical expression and technique derived from Western musical traditions. Early quartets reinforced their respectable image by adopting uniforms that a university glee club might wear and discouraging improvisation.
In time, however, the popularity of the jubilee style spread from the universities to black churches, where quartets, singing before audiences with a tradition of enthusiastic response, began to absorb much of the energy and freedom of Gospel music coming out of Holiness churches. Groups such as the Golden Gate Quartet—originally named the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet—infused their performances of spirituals with the rhythmic beat of blues and jazz and gradually began including gospel standards written by Thomas A. Dorsey and others in their repertoire. The Gates and other jubilee quartets gained nationwide popularity through radio broadcasts, records and touring in the 1930s and 1940s.
Other groups, such as the Dixie Hummingbirds and the Original Five Blind Boys of Alabama (formally known as the Happyland Jubilee Singers) that had begun singing in the conventional jubilee style went further, creating the more improvisational and fervent style of quartet singing known as "hard Gospel". That new style largely eclipsed jubilee singing by the 1950s."...
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This excerpt is quoted in the 2018 pancocojams post entitled "The Influence Of Black American Jubilee Singers On South Africa's Isicathamiya Music (article excerpts with video examples)" http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-influence-of-black-american-jubilee.html
Here's another quote that was included in that pancocojams post:
From https://www.coursehero.com/file/p1366g1/Virginia-Jubilee-Singers-an-African-American-minstrel-troupe-toured-South/
"Introduction to World Music-...
Course: MUSIC 009
School: Pennsylvania State University
..."Virginia Jubilee Singers, an African-American minstrel troupe, toured South Africa in 1890, performing in concert halls for white South Africans and in churches and community halls for black South Africans. While on tour the Virginia Jubilee Singers sang spirituals such as "Steal Away" and "The Gospel Train" along with traditional minstrel songs such as "The Old Folks at Home" and "Old Black Joe." Both white and black South Africans were extremely impressed with the American minstrel performances, but the music, particularly the spirituals, appealed especially to the black South African people, who could relate to the longing for freedom and justice communicated in the songs. Soon black South Africans began forming their own minstrel troupes. The music of the minstrel troupes was typically a four-part singing style. Gradually the South African minstrel music, known as isikhunzi (lit. "coon" style), incorporated more traditional South African dances and songs."...
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INFORMATION ABOUT THE GOSPEL SONG "OLD TIME RELIGION"
Excerpt #1:
"("Give Me That") "Old-Time Religion" (and similar spellings) is a traditional Gospel song dating from 1873, when it was included in a list of Jubilee songs[1]."....
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[citation] 1. "Pike, The Jubilee Singers, Item 198
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The insert in that article shows a portion of the Fisk Jubilee Singers' musical score for "Old Time Religion".
The beginning of that Wikipedia article includes dubious theories that "Some scholars, such as Forrest Mason McCann, have asserted the possibility of an earlier stage of evolution of the song, in that "the tune may go back to English folk origins"[2] (later dying out in the white repertoire but staying alive in the work songs of African Americans)." end of quote.
Asserting that this and other African American Spirituals and early Gospel songs* may have had come from White Europeans is an attempt to give White people credit for African American cultural products.
*"Old Time Religion" has been a Spiritual or an early Gospel song. I usually refer to it as an early Gospel song because no documentation of the song has been found before 1873 and Spirituals are usually considered to be those African American religious songs that were sung during slavery in the United States (i.e.prior to the end of the American Civil War -1865).
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Excerpt #2:
From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=99510
Subject: Lyr Add: Old Time Religion (Old Gospel)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 Mar 07 - 09:41 PM
Lyr. Add: OLD TIME RELIGION
^^ Arr. Charles Davis Tillman
Refrain:
'Tis the old time religion, (3x)
And it's good enough for me.
2.
It was good for our mothers. (3x)
And it's good enough for me.
3.
Makes me love everybody. (3x)
And it's good enough for me.
4.
It has saved our fathers. (3x)
And it's good enough for me.
5.
It will do when I am dying. (3x)
And it's good enough for me.
6.
It will take us all to heaven (3x)
And it's good enough for me.
Heard by Charles Tillman (1861-1943) at an 1889 Black camp meeting in Lexington, SC, titled "My Old Time Religion." Tillman arranged and published it with other gospel songs in one of his Songbooks, 1891. He published 20 songbooks, all very rare. For a time he was song leader at the Indian Springs Holiness Camp Meeting at Flovilla, Georgia (still held yearly).
The lyrics above are from Cyberhymnal; I have not seen the Songbook and am not sure that these are the words he published.
The origin and date of composition of this gospel song are unknown. The song is generally presumed to be African-American, the evidence for this being first publication in Marsh, "The Story of the Jubilee Singers; with Their Songs," c. 1880. Their version is given in the text following the Tillman version.
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/l/oldtimer.htm
Lyr. Add: THIS OLD TIME RELIGION
^^ Version by the Jubilee Singers, c. 1880
Refrain (sung after each verse):
Oh! this old time religion,
This old time religion,
This old time religion,
It is good enough for me.
1.
It is good for** the mourner,
It is good for the mourner,
It is good for the mourner,
It is good enough for me.
2.
It will carry you home to heaven,
It will carry you home to heaven,
It will carry you home to heaven,
It is good enough for me.
3.
It brought me out of bondage* (3x)
It is good enough for me.
4.
It is good when you are in trouble, etc.
No. 36, with score, p. 158, J. B. T. Marsh, 1880's, "The Story of the Jubilee Singers; with Their Songs," Revised edition (seventy-fifth thousand), Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston.
*Verse post-Emancipation. **Sheet music shows a marked pause before the last three syllables.
The song in my opinion is old gospel, although often called a 'spiritual.'
Previous threads at Mudcat, and the three versions in the DT, are parody.
An entry at pdmusic gives a date of 1865; source not given, probably an error or opinion. It would not be surprising to find that the song appeared soon after the Civil War; camp meetings were flowering again. The well-known Des Plaines Camp Meeting in Illinois began in the early 1860's as did others.
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This comment is given "as is" except for my note that the link no longer works.
The link given in that comment no longer works.
The "DT" mentioned in that comment stands for the "Digital Tradition", a compilation of song lyrics with notes that is found on Mudcat. The parody songs can be identified using Google Search [Old Time Religion parodies Mudcat].
Charles Tillman was a White American collector of songs.
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SHOWCASE YOUTUBE EXAMPLES
Example #1: Bioshock Infinite Music - (Give Me That) Old-Time Religion (1873) by Fisk Jubilee Singers
jsparakov, Mar 28, 2013
Fisk Jubilee Singers - (Give Me That) Old-Time Religion (1873)
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Here's information about the Fisk Jubilee Singers from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisk_Jubilee_Singers
"The Fisk Jubilee Singers are an African-American a cappella ensemble, consisting of students at Fisk University. The first group was organized in 1871 to tour and raise funds for college. Their early repertoire consisted mostly of traditional spirituals, but included some songs by Stephen Foster. The original group toured along the Underground Railroad path in the United States, as well as performing in England and Europe. Later 19th-century groups also toured in Europe.
The Singers were organized as a fundraising effort for Fisk University."...
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Example #2: Pace Jubilee Singers - Old Time Religion *HQ*
Jack Mckay Fletcher, Oct 9, 2013
Pace Jubilee Singers - Old Time Religion
Mixed Vocals with Organ
Christian Gospel
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Here's some information about Pace Jubilee Singers
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pace_Jubilee_Singers
"The Pace Jubilee Singers were a gospel group founded by Charles Henry Pace in Chicago in 1925, and one of the first gospel groups to be recorded. They recorded more than 40 songs for Victor and for Brunswick Records in 1926–29, including spirituals arranged by Pace, and songs and hymns by Pace and Charles Albert Tindley and others. They performed in close harmony style, usually accompanied by piano or organ. Thomas A. Dorsey was briefly associated with them. In their later recordings, Hattie Parker is identified as soloist.[1]"...
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ADDENDUM- A CONTEMPORARY EXAMPLE OF "OLD TIME RELIGION" BY AFRICAN AMERICAN SINGING GROUPS
Old Time Religion
Golden Gospel Singers - Topic, Nov 8, 2014
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