Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II of a three part pancocojams series about the African American early Gospel songs that are entitled "Where Shall I Be When That First Trumpet Sounds?"
This post showcases a YouTube sound file of the African American Gospel song "Where Shall I Be When That First Trumpet Sounds?" by Blind Lemon Jefferson (1926) and showcases a YouTube sound file of that song by Rev. Edward W. Clayborn (1927).
This post also includes information about Blind Lemon Jefferson and information about Rev. Edward W. Clayborn. The lyrics for those versions of "Where Shall I Be?" are also included in that post.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/05/where-shall-i-be-when-that-first.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. That post presents selected comments from Mudcat folk music forum about examples of the religious song song "Where Shall I Be When That First Trumpet Sounds?"
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/05/eight-african-american-renditions-of.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post presents eight YouTube sound files or videos of examples of "Where Shall I Be When That First Trumpet Sounds?". These examples of that African American Gospel song were recorded or performed from the 1950s through 2015. The lyrics for these examples aren't included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for religious, historical, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the unknown composer/s of these songs and thanks to Blind Lemon Jefferson and Rev. Edward W. Clayborn for their recordings of this song.
LYRICS - WHERE SHALL I BE
(as sung by Blind Lemon Jefferson)
"Where shall I be when the first trumpet sounds?
Where shall I be when it sounds so loud?
It sounds so loud, oh, and it wakes up the dead
Where shall I be when it sounds?
Look over yonder what I see
Where shall I be?
It′s a band of angels askin'
Where shall I be?
Where shall I be when the first trumpet sounds?
Where shall I be when it sounds so loud?
It sounds so loud, oh, it wakes up the dead
Where shall I be when it sounds?
I′ll be trying on my garment when the first trumpet sounds
Trying on my garment when it sounds so loud
It sounds so loud, oh, it wakes up the dead
Where shall I be when it sounds?
So little I thought he was gon' die
Where shall I be?
This cute little baby laugh and cry
Where shall I be?
Where shall I be when the first trumpet sounds?
Where shall I be when it sounds so loud?
Sounds so loud, oh, it wakes up the dead
Where shall I be when it sounds?
I'll be trying on my robe when the first trumpet sounds
Trying on my robe when it sounds so loud
It sounds so loud, oh, it wakes up the dead
Where shall I be when it sounds?
Where shall I be when the first trumpet sounds?
Where shall I be when it sounds so loud?
It sounds so loud, oh, it wakes up the dead
Where shall I be when it sounds?
God told Noah by a rainbow sign
Where shall I be?
It′s no cool water but fire next time
Where shall I be?
Where shall I be when the first trumpet sounds?
Where shall I be when it sounds so loud?
It sounds so loud, oh, it wakes up the dead
Where shall I be when it sounds?"
from https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Blind-Lemon-Jefferson/Where-Shall-I-Be
****
INFORMATION ABOUT BLIND LEMON JEFFERSON
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_Lemon_Jefferson
"Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson (September
24, 1893 – December 19, 1929)[1] was an American blues and gospel
singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular blues singers of
the 1920s and has been called the "Father of the Texas Blues".[9]
Due mainly to his high-pitched voice and the originality of his guitar playing, Jefferson's performances were distinctive.[9] His recordings sold well, but he was not a strong influence on younger blues singers of his generation, who could not imitate him as easily as they could other commercially successful artists.[10] Later blues and rock and roll musicians, however, did attempt to imitate both his songs and his musical style.
[…]
Beginning of recording career
Prior to Jefferson, few artists had recorded solo voice and
blues guitar, the first of which were the vocalist Sara Martin and the
guitarist Sylvester Weaver, who recorded "Longing for Daddy Blues",
probably on October 24, 1923.[17] The first self-accompanied solo performer of
a self-composed blues song was Lee Morse, whose "Mail Man Blues" was
recorded on October 7, 1924.[18] Jefferson's music is uninhibited and
represented the classic sounds of everyday life, from a honky-tonk to a country
picnic, to street corner blues, to work in the burgeoning oil fields (a
reflection of his interest in mechanical objects and processes).[19]
Jefferson did what few had ever done before him – he became
a successful solo guitarist and male vocalist in the commercial recording
world.[20] Unlike many artists who were "discovered" and recorded in
their normal venues, Jefferson was taken to Chicago in December 1925 or January
1926 to record his first tracks. Uncharacteristically for him, the first two
recordings on this session were gospel songs ("I Want to Be Like Jesus in
My Heart" and "All I Want Is That Pure Religion"), and they were
released under the name Deacon L. J. Bates. A second recording session was held
in March 1926.[21] His first releases under his own name, "Booster
Blues" and "Dry Southern Blues", were hits. Their popularity led
to the release of the other two songs from that session, "Got the
Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues", which became a runaway
success, with sales in six figures. He recorded about a hundred tracks between
1926 and 1929; forty-three records were issued, all but one of them on
Paramount Records. Almost all of his recordings for Paramount had poor sound
quality because Paramount's studio techniques and production were poor during
that time. In May 1926, Paramount re-recorded Jefferson performing his hits
"Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues" in the superior
facilities at Marsh Laboratories, and their subsequent releases used these
newer versions. Both the original and re-recorded versions appear on modern
compilation albums."...
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO #2 - Rev. Edward W. Clayborn - Where Shall I Be When The First
Trumpet Sounds
alzo61, May 27, 2012
From the Blind Willie Johnson And The Guitar Evangelists
(1929-1930)
Photography by Arthur Rothstein; Wikipedia
-snip-
Two other YouTube sound files of Rev. Edward W. Clayborn's recording of this Gospel song gives 1927 as the year this was recorded.
****
chorus
Oh, where shall I be when that first trumpet sound
Oh, where shall be when it sound so loud
Oh, sound so loud till it wake up the dead.
Where shall I be when it sound
One of these mornings 4 o' clock
Where shall I be
This old world gonna reel and rock
Where shall I be
chorus
verse #2
One of these mornings bright and fair
Where shall I be
Gonna whip on those wings and fly in the air
Where shall I be
chorus
verse #3
If I could I surely would
Stand on the rock where Moses stood
Where shall I be
chorus
-snip-
transcription from Azizi Powell from this recording. Additions and corrections are welcome.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT REV. EDWARD W. CLAYBORN
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_W._Clayborn [This is a complete reprint except references and summary box]
"Reverend Edward W. Clayborn (March 10, 1880 – January 1978) was an American musician, known as the "Guitar Evangelist". He sang a form of blues gospel similar to Blind Willie Johnson. Clayborn recorded forty songs, for Vocalion Records between 1926 and 1930.[1] In The Ganymede Takeover, the San Franciscan author Philip K. Dick, a record enthusiast, has a character state that "True Religion", sung by Clayborn was one of the first jazz recordings.[2]
Clayborn was born in Richmond, Alabama. The year he was born is disputed, with March 10, 1880 being the birthdate given on his WWII draft registration card.
Clayborn's music often consisted of him singing with his guitar. He often played guitar with a slide, often tuning to "Spanish" tuning, also known as Open G tuning. His songs are noticeably similar in structure to each other, though given that most people then only bought one or two records of a given artist, this was not a problem. He became a minister at St. Luke's Baptist Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He died in January 1978 in Pittsburgh."
****This concludes Part II of this pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
No comments:
Post a Comment