The Gospel Song "Give Me My Flowers" And The Meaning Of The Saying "Give Them Their Flowers" (While They Are Living" Or "While They Can Smell Them)

Consolers (DE) - Topic, Jan 9, 2019

Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group

℗ 1955 UMG Recordings, Inc.

Released on: 1998-01-01

Composer  Lyricist: Sullivan Pugh

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series about the Gospel song "Give Me My Flowers" and the African American originated saying "Give them their flowers (while they are living).

This pancocojams post showcases the Gospel song "Give Me My Flowers" by The Consolers.

This post includes a sound file of that song, information about that Gospel duo, information about that song, and lyrics for that song. 

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/05/revjames-cleveland-give-me-my-flowers.html__ for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post showcases a song file of James Cleveland's rendition of the Gospel song "Give Me My Flowers". That post also includes a small compilation of online comments that include the saying "Give them their flowers" from people in the United States and from people in several African nations.    

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

Thanks to The Consolers for their musical legacy and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE CONSOLERS
From https://www.malaco.com/artists/gospel/the-consolers "The Consolers"
-written by Robert M. Marovich (no publishing date cited. Retrieved on May 8, 2024)
" The most popular husband-and-wife singing duo during gospel’s golden age was Sullivan and Iola Pugh, better known as the Consolers. Their folkloric style, cultural historian Anthony Heilbut noted, combined elementary tunes with sentimental messages that expanded the thematic content of gospel lyrics.

Born October 1, 1925, in Moore Haven, Florida, Sullivan lost his mother at age three when she was among the estimated 2,500 killed by the Great Okeechobee Hurricane of September 26, 1928, one of the biggest natural disasters in United States history. Motherless, he and his siblings were adopted by James and Virginia Pugh. When he was grown, Sullivan moved to Miami.

Like Sullivan, Iola Lewis, born July 22, 1926, in Cottonton, Alabama, also lost her mother at age three. Raised by her maternal grandmother, Iola eventually moved to Columbus, Georgia, to complete high school and attended Claflin College (now Claflin University), an HBCU located in Orangeburg, South Carolina, before settling in Miami in 1949.

Iola and Sullivan met at a Miami tent revival service and married on March 11, 1950. Around 1951 or 1952, they and Pearl Nance-Rayford formed a vocal trio called the Miami Soul Stirrers. When Pearl left the group, the Pughs continued as a duo, first billed as the Consolators, but when a minister suggested “Consolers” was the more proper term, they changed to the Consolers. Sullivan played a percussive guitar and sang; Iola, whose inspirations included Marion Williams and Mahalia Jackson, accompanied on vocals.

[…]

In 1955, the Consolers signed with Nashboro Records. Their initial release, Give Me My Flowers, was a huge and lasting gospel hit that inaugurated a more than 25-year span of successful singles and albums for the company. From Sullivan’s pen came such classics as Waiting for My Child, May the Work I’ve Done Speak for Me, Around God’s Throne and Thank God Things Are as Well as They Are. Religious audiences connected with these mini homilies and morality plays set to music.

As members of the Church of the Living God, a Holiness denomination, the Consolers adhered to the “in the world, not of the world” credo. It informed their no-frills traditional sound, the cautionary messages in their lyrics, their modest attire, their commitment to faith and family and their conventional public persona.

[…]

The Pughs traveled the country on the strength of their record sales, propelled in large part by extensive exposure on WLAC, Nashville’s 50,000-watt radio station. At one time, the Consolers’ record sales were surpassed only by the Reverend James Cleveland in gospel music. Indeed, in the early 1960s, the Consolers regularly joined Cleveland and the Angelic Choir, the Caravans and the Staple Singers at the top of the Billboard gospel charts. The duo’s visibility expanded after Heilbut secured for them an appearance at the 1972 Newport Jazz Festival.

If gospel music had changed in the 1980s, the Consolers’ sound had not. The Pughs continued to record their country revival–style songs and melodies for Savoy (Jesus Brought Joy and Give God Thanks) and for Atlanta International Records (Jesus, I Love You). It was through their association with these two labels that they became connected with Malaco Records.

Iola’s death on October 11, 1994, marked the end of the Consolers, but the group’s impact on music endured. Sullivan (and Iola, posthumously) received a Florida Folk Heritage Award in 2002. The following year, they were inducted into the International Gospel Music Hall of Fame. The Consolers Progressive Charity Club continued to provide support to the Miami area’s needy.

In 2004, Sullivan sang Speak for Me on Malaco’s Gospel Legends DVD, joining fellow veterans of the gospel highway, such as Ira Tucker, Dorothy Norwood, Margaret Wells Allison and Shirley Caesar in this celebration of traditional gospel music. Sullivan Pugh died at age 85 on December 30, 2010.

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LYRICS - GIVE ME MY FLOWERS
(composer - Sullivan Pugh)

Album: Lord, Bring Me Down

"Give me my flowers
while I yet live
so that I, I, I can see the beauty
that they bring

Friends and loved ones
may give me flowers
when I'm sick…
or on my sick bed
But i'd rather have
just one tulip right now
than a truck load of roses
when I'm dead

Speak kind words to me
while I can hear them
so that i, i, i can hear the beauty
that they bring

Online source: https://www.invubu.com/music/show/song/The-Consolers/Give-Me-My-Flowers.html 
-snip-
I added capitalization to these lyrics where it is appropriate. 

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WHAT DOES THE SAYING "GIVE THEM THEIR FLOWERS" (WHILE THEY ARE LIVING) OR "GIVE THEM THEIR FLOWERS (WHILE THEY ARE ABLE TO SMELL THEM)  MEAN?

Note: The entire saying may be used or the first part of the saying may be used with either one of the second parts of the saying not used but implied.

Excerpt #1
From https://www.luvi.sh/give-your-friends-their-flowers-while-they-can-still-smell-them/ "Why Expressing Gratitude is Important in Friendship: Give Your Friends Their Flowers While They Can Still Smell Them" written by Samantha Genkins, Aug 30, 2023

...."Why is it important to show appreciation to friends?

Have you ever thought about how you celebrate your friends? If you're like most of us, you probably wait for birthdays, anniversaries, or other special occasions to show them just how much they mean to you. But here's a thought, why wait? Why not give them their flowers while they can still smell them? It's about time we start appreciating our friends for who they are, while they are still here with us.

So, what does it mean to 'give someone their flowers'? No, we're not just talking about a bouquet of roses here (though that's always a nice touch). The phrase is metaphorical, suggesting we should express our love, gratitude, and appreciation to those we care about while they're still alive. It's about acknowledging their value, their worth, and their impact on our lives."

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Excerpt #2
From https://raisingsupaman.com/2018/04/give-me-my-flowers “Give Me My Flowers”
“Give Me My Flowers” is an encouraging reminder for all of us to stop taking life and the existence of those whom we profess to care about and love for granted."

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Excerpt #3
From https://www.boundless.org/relationships/give-me-my-flowers-while-im-living/ "Give Me My Flowers While I’m Living" by Thabiti Anyabwile, May 17, 2007
"Tell your loved ones how you feel. Now.

That’s what my mother often says when she attends a funeral and hears all the nice things people say, or witnesses the deep grief of persons who perhaps have loved deeply but not expressed it in various ways. With a resolution born of knowing, she announces in a calm tone, almost to herself and to no one in particular, “Give me my flowers while I’m living.”

Over the years, it’s become for me a lesson in expressing gratitude. I can see the rows of flowers and arrangements adorning the pulpit area and casket at funerals — wonderful colors, arrangements of various sizes, sometimes with ribbons bearing various sentiments. Then my mother’s voice, “Give me my flowers while I’m living.” “….
-snip-
This saying is also given as "Give me my flowers when I can still smell them". An example of this form of that saying can be found at  
https://www.reddit.com/r/quotes/comments/cyriff/if_you_admire_someone_you_should_go_ahead_andr/quotes

AyoWoods, 2018
"If you admire someone, you should go ahead and tell them. People never get the flowers while they can still smell them" - Kanye West (Big Brother) [record released 2007]
-snip-
By at least the early 2000s the saying "Give them their flowers".. was extended beyond family members and other loved ones to mean "Don't wait until a particular musical artist or other performer dies to eulogizes them, but give them the public recognition, praise, and awards they deserve while they are living. 

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WHAT IS THE BACKGROUND OF THIS SAYING? 
"Give me my flowers while I'm still alive" (also given as "Give me my flowers while I can still smell them") has its source in the 1955 Gospel song "Give Me My Flowers" that was composed by (African American) Sullivan Pugh. Sullivan Pugh was part of the Gospel duo "The Consolers" with his wife Iola Pugh.

The background for that Gospel song and that saying is  the custom of giving flowers to loved ones while they are living, giving flowers to demonstrate your appreciation for someone's achievement, and  decorating the location of a funeral service with flowers to commemorate someone's death.  

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This concludes Part I of a two part pancocojams series.

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