{"id":9236,"date":"2022-05-12T09:59:05","date_gmt":"2022-05-12T16:59:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/?p=9236"},"modified":"2022-05-15T14:14:44","modified_gmt":"2022-05-15T21:14:44","slug":"five-more-copyright-free-hymns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/2022\/05\/five-more-copyright-free-hymns\/","title":{"rendered":"Five more copyright free hymns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I’ve just uploaded PDFs of 5 more copyright-free hymns to this Google Drive folder<\/a>: “Come By Here” (a.k.a. “Kumbayah”), “Many Thousand Gone,” “Nobody Know the Trouble I’ve Seen,” “Siyahamba,” and “Transience.” All these hymns have appeared in UU hymnals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why copyright-free hymns? Because you don’t need a license, which smaller congregations may not be able to afford. Because you can do anything you want with them, including recording them, altering them, projecting lyrics and\/or music, etc., etc. In this multiplatform age, we need more copyright-free hymns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the hymns I just uploaded, you might be most interested in “Come By Here.” This is often assumed to be a copyrighted song composed by Marvin Frey. My research shows that this is, in fact, a public domain song. In addition, most of us are sick of the usual, sing-around-the-campfire “Kumbayah,” which can sound a bit dreary. I found alternate public domain tune and lyrics that are more lively, more fun to sing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Transience” is also worthy of your attention. It’s one of the songs that got dropped in the transition from the 1964 Songs for the Celebration of Life hymnal to the 1993 Singing the Living Tradition hymnal. The text is by South Asian poet Sarojini Naidu. Not only is it a pretty good poem, but we need more hymns by Asian and Asian American authors and composers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Information for the five songs is below the fold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Come By Here \u2014 401, Singing the Living Tradition<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The origins of this song have been disputed, but archival evidence from the Library of Congress make it clear that this is a public domain song. According to Stephen Winick, \u201cThe World\u2019s First \u2018Kumbaya\u2019 Moment: New Evidence about an Old Song,\u201d Folklife Center News, American Folklife Center, the Library of Congress, vol. 32, nos. 3-4, summer\/fall, 2010: \u201cThe evidence from the American Folklife Center Archive \u2026 suggests that \u2018Kumbaya\u2019 is an African American spiritual which originated somewhere in the American south\u2026.\u201d Although Marvin Frey, a white evangelist, claimed copyright on this song in 1936, a 1926 recording in the Library of Congress archives is substantially the same as Frey\u2019s published version. The singer in this recording is only identified as \u201cH. Wylie,\u201d and no date is given, though it\u2019s probable that the recording was made in April or May of 1926.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Winick, the usual song title of \u201cKumbayah\u201d comes from a misunderstanding of an African American dialect. Winick says that Marvin Frey claimed \u201cthe pronunciation \u2018Kum Ba Yah\u2019 originated when Luvale-speaking people in Angola and Zaire translated \u2018Come by Here\u2019 into their language.\u201d But, says Winick, \u201cIn Wylie\u2019s dialect, which is most likely a form of Gullah, the word \u2018here\u2019 is pronounced as \u2018yah,\u2019 rendering the song\u2019s most repeated line \u2018come by yah,\u2019 a phrase that can be phonetically rendered as either \u2018Kum Ba Yah\u2019 or \u2018Kumbaya.\u2019\u201d In short, the Marvin Frey story simply isn\u2019t credible. Today\u2019s singers can choose to sing \u201cCome by here,\u201d or if they prefer they can use the Gullah dialect and sing \u201cCome by yah.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The words and tune of the present version are drawn transcriptions in Winick\u2019s article. I\u2019ve released the simple arrangement into the public domain. Note that the metronome marking is from Winick\u2019s article. Winick also provides additional verses from a 1936 recording in the Library of Congress, made by John Lomax, including \u201cSomebody moaning Lord\u2026,\u201d analogous to commonly-sung verses like \u201cSomeone\u2019s singing, Lord,\u201d etc. Additional verses from this 1936 recording are included in the sheet music. Improvised lyrics are appropriate for this kind of spiritual, though it is to be hoped that improvisation would not be limited to simply substituting different verbs in the phrase \u201cSomebody\u2019s moaning, Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winick points out that \u201cKumbayah\u201d has come \u201cto stand for the touchy-feely, the wishy-washy, the nerdy, and the meek.\u201d It is hoped that the present version, with the vigorous melody and words from the 1926 and 1936 audio recordings, will improve perceptions of this powerful African American spiritual. [For more, see: https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/folklife\/news\/pdf\/FCNews32_3-4_opt.pdf ]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The song is #11924 in the Roud Folk Song Index.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many Thousand Gone \u2014 154, Singing the Living Tradition<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Tune, text, and arrangement are all from The [Fisk] Jubilee Singers (1873). The small notes were not in the original, and represent a possible simple accompaniment for the solo sections; I\u2019ve released this arrangement into the public domain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The metronome marking is merely a suggestion, and represents the approximate tempo used by such singers as Paul Robeson and Odetta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nobody Knows the Trouble I\u2019ve Seen \u2014 99, Singing the Living Tradition<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Text, tune, and arrangement all come from Cabin and Plantation Songs: As Sung by the Hampton Students,<\/em> ed. Thomas Fenner, 1880. One small alteration in the 1880 text: \u201cNobody knows but Jesus\u201d has been replaced with \u201cNobody knows my sorrow,\u201d an alternative which comes from oral tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This song was first published in 1867 in Slave Songs of the U.S.<\/em> with a slightly different tune and text. In 1917, Harry T. Burleigh arranged this spiritual as an art song, a version that is well worth seeking out. (Burleigh marks the tempo as adagio, though others may prefer andante or moderato.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Siyahamba \u2014 1030, Singing the Journey<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This traditional Zulu song is best known in a copyright-protected arrangement by the Swedish-South African choral director Anders Nyberg, published in his book, Freedom Is Coming in 1984. According to Boris Gorelik, in \u201c\u2018Siyahamba\u2019: The Origins and Significance of a South African Chorus,\u201d Journal of Music Research in Africa,<\/em> vol. 17, 2020, issue 2, \u201cthe earliest documented performance of the chorus took place in Dundee in the current uMzinyathi district of the former Natal province (now KwaZulu-Natal or KZN), South Africa, in 1952.\u2026 However, it appears that this musical work has a longer undocumented history\u2026.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transience \u2014 77, Songs for the Celebration of Life<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The text by Sarojini Naidu is from her book The Bird of Time: Songs of Life, Death, and the Spring<\/em> (London: Heinemann, 1912). A poet and a politician, Naidu was a follower of Gandhi, and also supported women\u2019s rights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tune is from Louis Bourgeois\u2019 Geneva Psalter. This tune is usually called \u201cDonne Secours.\u201d The harmonization is from the English Hymnal<\/em> (1906).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve just uploaded PDFs of 5 more copyright-free hymns to this Google Drive folder: “Come By Here” (a.k.a. “Kumbayah”), “Many Thousand Gone,” “Nobody Know the Trouble I’ve Seen,” “Siyahamba,” and “Transience.” All these hymns have appeared in UU hymnals. Why copyright-free hymns? Because you don’t need a license, which smaller congregations may not be able … Continue reading “Five more copyright free hymns”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[132],"tags":[104],"class_list":["post-9236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-practical-religion","tag-hymnody"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9236"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9237,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9236\/revisions\/9237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}