Fisk Jubilee Singers - Topic,
Provided to YouTube by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
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Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases two sound files of the Fisk Jubilee Singers' rendition of "Lord, I'm Out Here On Your Word". The first sound file is from the 1955 Folkways Record and the second sound file is from the 2003 Bright Mansions album. *
Information about the Fisk Jubilee Singers is presented in this post along with my partial transcription of the Fisk Jubilee Singers singing this song. This post also provides some information about what "out here on your word" means in the context of this Spiritual.
The content of this post is presented for religious, historical, cultural, and aesthetic purposes.
Thanks to the Fisk Jubilee Singers for their musical legacy. Thanks to all those associated with these recordings. Thanks also to all those quoted in this post.
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* For clarification purposes, "Fisk Jubilee SIngers" is the name that was used by the original group of students from Fisk University in 1871. Subsequent groups of students from that university have sung and are currently singing under that name. As such, the 1955 Folkways Record featured one group of Fisk University students and the 2002 Bright Mansions album features another group of Fisk Univesity students, both of whom were recorded as the "Fisk Jubilee Singers". However, neither of these records were of the original late 19th century group of Fisk Jubilee Singers.
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INFORMATION ABOUT FISK JUBILEE SINGERS
Excerpt #1
From
"Our Music
The Fisk Jubilee Singers are an American a cappella ensemble
that performs Negro spirituals originally sung by slaves prior to the Civil
War. The first group of Singers arranged the music and took it on the road
beginning in 1871 introducing the public to a new genre that remains a vibrant
musical tradition today.
On November 16, 1871, a group of unknown singers — all but
two former slaves and many still in their teens — arrived at Oberlin College in
Ohio to perform before a national convention of ministers. After a few standard
ballads the chorus sang spirituals and other songs associated with slavery. It
was one of the first public performances of the secret music African Americans
sang in the fields and behind closed doors for generations."
-snip-
Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisk_Jubilee_Singers for more history of the Fisk Jubilee Singers
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LORD, I'M OUT HERE ON YOUR WORD (partial transcription)*
(unknown composers, sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers, late 19th century)
Lord, I’m out here on Your word
Lord, I’m out here on Your Word
If I die on the
battlefield
Lord, I’m out here
on Your word
Glad I got my religion in time.
Glad I got my religion in time
If I die on the battlefield
Glad I got my religion in time.
.041 to 1:31 ????
2:09 to 3:01 ???
Glad I got my religion in time.
Glad I got my religion in time
If I die on the battlefield
Glad I got my religion in time.
Lord, I’m out here on Your word
Lord, I’m out here on Your Word
If I die on the battlefield
Lord, I’m out here on Your Word
-snip-
This is my partial transcription from the recording for the 1955 Folkways Records album (given as sound file #1 above).
The question marks mean that I was unable to decipher those words. I think that the same words are sung during those two interludes.
Additions and corrections are very welcome.
Note that http://interlyrics.com/song-lyrics/1539655-201391/Lord,-I'm-Out-Here-on-Your-Word only gives the "Lord, I'm Out Here On Your Word" and the Glad I got my religion it time" verses without attempting to transcribe those interludes that are also sung in that song. For that reason, that website's transcription of the Fisk Jubilee Singer's rendition of "Lord, I'm Out Here On Your Word" is also only a partial transcription.
It appears to me that the 2003 Bright Mansion album's recording of the Fisk Jubilee Singers' rendition of "Lord, I'm Out Here On Your Word" has the same words as are found in the 1955 Folkways Records.
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WHAT DOES 'OUT HERE ON YOUR WORD' MEAN IN THE CONTEXT OF THIS SONG?
The words "out here" means "out in the world" (living, speaking, singing, doing certain actions)
"On your word" is a seldom used colloquial phrase. In the religious sense, "on your word" means based on my faith in Your Word". "Your" in that song means Jesus and "word" means what Jesus said (His teachings).
The line "trusting in your holy word" that is found in the African American Gospel song "We've Come This Far By Faith" is another way of saying "on Your word" in its religious context.
*The compositon date for the song "Lord, I'm Out Here On Your Word" is unknown and the composers are unknown. However, the song was sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers when the toured the United States and Europe in the late 19th century.
In non-religious contexts, the phrase "at your word" has the similar meaning. Here's information about that phrase from https://www.dictionary.com/browse/take-someone-at-his-or-her-word :
"take someone at his or her word
Also, take someone's word for. Accept what someone says on
trust, as in Since he said he'd agree to any of my ideas, I'll take him at his
word, or She said she wanted to help out and I took her word for it. This idiom
appeared in Miles Coverdale's translation of the Bible: “He said ... he is my
brother. And the men took him shortly at his word” (I Kings 22:33). It is still
so used. [1535]
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SOUND FILE #2 : Lord, I'm Out Here On Your Word
Fisk Jubilee Singers, Mar 1, 2018
Provided to YouTube by Curb Records
Lord, I'm Out Here On Your Word · Fisk Jubilee Singers
In Bright Mansions
℗ Curb Records, Inc.
Released on: 2003-01-28
Artist: Fisk Jubilee Singers
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A REVIEW OF THE FISK JUBILEE SINGERS' ALBUM "IN BRIGHT MANSIONS" [released 2003]
From https://www.allmusic.com/album/in-bright-mansions-mw0000230612?1634457700486 In Bright Mansions Review by John Bush
"The Fisk Jubilee Singers of Fisk University in Nashville TN
have dazzled thousands of concert-goers since their inception in 1871, earning
hundreds of thousands of dollars for an African-American school that
desperately needed a benefactor, and gaining fans from midwest America to the
Netherlands. Except for a few poorly distributed albums in recent years,
though, the group hadn't been released in several decades, and regardless,
they've certainly never been better heard than on Curb's lavish 2003
production, In Bright Mansions. Digitally recorded with seven microphones in a
mid-19th century Nashville church (that now houses a studio), the album is
among the best ways to appreciate dynamic jubilee singing. Most of the
arrangements are at least a half-century old, though a few songs have new
arrangements from director Paul T. Kwami (a native Ghanaian who joined the
group in 1995). Fortunately for neophytes, the group includes their
performances of many classics of the form: "Were You There,"
"There Is a Balm in Gilead," "He's Got the Whole World in His
Hands," and an eerily powerful "Wade in the Water." Those with a
yen for history can check out the lengthy, informative liner notes detailing
the group's history, but the music is the key, and it's gorgeous."...
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John Bush, the author of this review wrote that "Most of the arrangements are at least a half-century old, though a few songs have new arrangements". The "In Bright Mansion album's arrangement for "Lord, I'm Out u Here On Your Word" is the same as the arrangement for that song in the 1955 Folkways Record (given as sound file #1 above).
It's possible that the 1955 recording of the Fisk Jubilee Singers' rendition of 'Lord, I'm Out Here On Your Word" has a different arrangement than that which the original Fisk University Singers used. I am assuming that that song-and all the other songs on these two records- were sung by the original Fisk Jubilee Singers.
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Additional Note: I rewrote my initial editorial note about that review later on 10/17/2021 to correct my misundertanding of the reviewer's statement "Digitally recorded with seven microphones in a mid-19th century Nashville church... At first I thought he meant that the record itself was from the mid-19th century, but realized that couldn't have been the casem in part, since there were no such thing as "digiital recording" back then, and in part because the Fisk Jubilee Singers wasn't formed until 1871. Then I thought that the reviewer meant "the mid-20th century" and was therefore referring to the Fisk Jubilee Singers' Folkways record that was released in 1955. But the reviewer wrote that the album was "digitally recorded". It wasn't until a couple of hours later that I realized that the reviewer meant that the church where the album was recorded was built in the mid 19th century. Duh!
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