Were You There? (When They Crucified My Lord)

 "Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)" is an American spiritual that was first printed in 1899.

"Were You There" was likely composed by enslaved African-Americans in the 19th century. It was first published in William Eleazar Barton's 1899 Old Plantation Hymns. In 1940, it was included in the Episcopal Church hymnal, making it the first spiritual to be included in any major American hymnal. As reported in Howard Thurman's autobiography, the song was one of Mahatma Gandhi's favorites. The song has been recorded by artists including Paul Robeson, Marion Williams, Johnny Cash, Roy Acuff, Phil Keaggy, Max Roach, Diamanda Galás, Harry Belafonte, The Seldom Scene, Diamond Version (with Neil Tennant), Bayard Rustin, Rajaton, and Chris Rice. A critic from the Indianapolis News wrote about Paul Robeson's rendition of Were You There, saying that "It was as startling and vivid a disclosure of reverent feeling of penetrating pathos as one could imagine."

“Were You There” utilizes a system of coded language in its lyrics like most, if not all, African-American spirituals. Metaphors, especially those involving Old Testament figures, as well as Jesus, are often central to the meanings of spirituals. “Were You There” tells the story of the Crucifixion of Jesus. Underneath this narrative, however, is a metaphor likening Jesus's suffering to the suffering of slaves. In some versions of the song, the singer asks “Were you there when they nailed Him to the Tree?” Replacing Jesus’ cross with a tree further strengthens the metaphor between Jesus’ suffering and slaves’ suffering. African-Americans during the antebellum period, and all the way into the Jim Crow era, would have drawn a connection between Jesus nailed to a tree and the frightening prevalence of lynchings in their own lives. This expression of likening one's experience to Jesus' is underscored by the first-person, present-tense perspective of “Were You There”; the singer personally witnesses the crucifixion. The use of first person pronouns in the spiritual reflects a sense of “communal selfhood” formed by African-American slaves in the face of oppression. It should also be noted that this particular hymn and the use of the first person perspective lends support to the idea of reincarnation. From a lyrical analysis standpoint this can be concluded that the author, may have been asking the question in the literal sense and thus everyone should remember the event as the listener should have been there.

To download the easy alphanotes and chords sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

Were you there when they crucified my Lord? (Were you there?)
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there when they nail'd him to the cross? (Were you there?)
Were you there when they nail'd him to the cross?
O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!
Were you there when they nail'd him to the cross?

Were you there when they pierced him in the side? (Were you there?)
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?

Were you there when the sun refused to shine? (Were you there?)
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?

They Crucified My Lord / He Never Said a Mumblin' Word

 They Crucified My Lord / He Never Said a Mumblin' Word, (also known as "They Hung Him on a Cross", "Mumblin' Word", "Crucifixion", and "Easter") is an American Negro Spiritual folk song.

The song narrates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, detailing how he was nailed to the cross, "whooped up the hill", speared in the side, hung his head and died, all the while keeping a dignified silence. Like all traditional music, the lyrics vary from version to version, but maintain the same story.

The songs' writers and origins are unknown. Notes accompanying American Ballads and Folk Songs, an anthology of songs collected by John Lomax and Alan Lomax during the 1930s and 1940s, mention that the song as known throughout Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Tennessee, and was titled "Never Said a Mumbalin' Word." It is known to be a companion piece to, and possibly has the same writer(s) as, "Were You There", another Spiritual.

The Crucifixion motif dominates the imagination of the slave. James Cone [James H Cone, The Spirituals and the Blues: An Interpretation, New York: Seabury Press 1972, 52] notes that the slaves were “impressed by the Passion because they too had been rejected, beaten, and shot without a chance to say a word in defense of their humanity.” (Carlton R. Young, Companion to the United Methodist Hymnal, Abingdon Press, 1993, 391, citing William B. McClain, Come Sunday, The Liturgy of Zion. Abingdon Press, 1990, 97)

The entire text of “He Never Said a Mumbalin’ Word” narrates the events of the crucifixion scene. Stanza one sets the scene: “They crucified my Lord.” The “my Lord” has the same effect as it does in the first stanza of “Were You There,” placing the singer at the hill of Calvary and actually seeing Jesus on the cross.

After each statement, “and he never said a mumbalin’ word” is sung. This repetitive device is very powerful. It allows one to see the suffering of Christ while Christ does not utter one word of complaint. In the biblical account, Christ actually did say a few words. In the Gospel of Mark 15:34, “Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” With these words, Jesus described his emotional, psychological, and physical suffering. The slaves had no problem understanding this type of abandonment. Slaves sang this song because it is about Jesus, who suffered and died on the cross with and for them.

To download the easy alphanotes and chords sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

1 They crucified my Lord,
and he never said a mumbalin’ word;
they crucified my Lord,
and he never said a mumbalin’ word.
Not a word, not a word, not a word.

2 They nailed him to a tree,
and he never said a mumbalin’ word;
they nailed him to a tree,
and he never said a mumbalin’ word.
Not a word, not a word, not a word. 

3 They pierced him in the side,
and he never said a mumbalin’ word;
they pierced him in the side,
and he never said a mumbalin’ word.
Not a word, not a word, not a word.

4 The blood came trickalin’ down,
and he never said a mumbalin’ word;
the blood came trickalin’ down,
and he never said a mumbalin’ word.
Not a word, not a word, not a word.

5 He bowed his head and died,
and he never said a mumbalin’ word;
he bowed his head and died,
and he never said a mumbalin’ word.
Not a word, not a word, not a word.

All My Trials

 All My Trials  is a folk song during the social protest movements of the 1950s and 1960s. It is based on a Bahamian lullaby that tells the story of a mother on her death bed, comforting her children, "Hush little baby, don't you cry./You know your mama's bound to die," because, as she explains, "All my trials, Lord,/Soon be over." The message — that no matter how bleak the situation seemed, the struggle would "soon be over" — propelled the song to the status of an anthem, recorded by many of the leading artists of the era.

The song is usually classified as a Spiritual because of its biblical and religious imagery. There are references to the "Lord", "a little book" with a message of "liberty", "brothers", "religion", "paradise", "pilgrims" and the "tree of life" awaiting her after her hardships, referred to as "trials". There is an allegory of the river Jordan, the crossing thereof representing the Christian experience of death as something which "...chills the body but not the soul." The river/death allegory was popularised by John Bunyan in his classic, The Pilgrim's Progress and the wording echoes the teaching of Jesus, to "...fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul." (Matthew 10:28) The video twists the message of the song somewhat and shows children in distress from the problems of more recent times such as Darfur, Iraq, and Syria. Will "all my trials...soon be over" for them and is it "never mind (mine)"?

To download the easy alphanotes and chords sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

Hush little baby, don't you cry You know your mama was born to die All my trials, Lord, soon be over The river of Jordan is muddy and cold Well, it chills the body but not the soul All my trials, Lord, soon be over I've got a little book with pages three And every page spells liberty All my trials, Lord, soon be over Too late my brothers Too late, but never mind All my trials, Lord, soon be over If living were a thing that money could buy You know the rich would live And the poor would die All my trials, Lord, soon be over There grows a tree in Paradise And the Pilgrims call it the tree of life All my trials, Lord, soon be over Too late my brothers Too late, but never mind All my trials, Lord, soon be over All my trials, Lord, soon be over

Yankee Doodle

 "Yankee Doodle" is a well-known American song and a nursery rhyme, the early versions of which predate the Seven Years' War and American Revolution. It is often sung patriotically in the United States today and is the state anthem of Connecticut. Its Roud Folk Song Index number is 4501. The melody is thought to be much older than both the lyrics and the subject, going back to folk songs of Medieval Europe.

The tune of "Yankee Doodle" is thought to be much older than the lyrics, being well known across western Europe, including England, France, Netherlands, Hungary, and Spain. The melody of the song may have originated from an Irish tune "All the way to Galway" in which the second strain is identical to Yankee Doodle The earliest words of "Yankee Doodle" came from a Middle Dutch harvest song which is thought to have followed the same tune, possibly dating back as far as 15th-century Holland. It contained mostly nonsensical words in English and Dutch: "Yanker, didel, doodle down, Diddle, dudel, lanther, Yanke viver, voover vown, Botermilk und tanther." Farm laborers in Holland were paid "as much buttermilk (Botermilk) as they could drink, and a tenth (tanther) of the grain".

The term Doodle first appeared in English in the early 17th century and is thought to be derived from the Low German dudel, meaning "playing music badly", or Dödel, meaning "fool" or "simpleton". The Macaroni wig was an extreme fashion in the 1770s and became slang for being a fop. Dandies were men who placed particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisure hobbies. A self-made dandy was a British middle-class man who impersonated an aristocratic lifestyle. They notably wore silk strip cloth, stuck feathers in their hats, and carried two pocket watches with chains—"one to tell what time it was and the other to tell what time it was not".

"The Macaroni. A real Character at the late Masquerade", mezzotint by Philip Dawe, 1773

The macaroni wig was an example of such Rococo dandy fashion, popular in elite circles in Western Europe and much mocked in the London press. The term macaroni was used to describe a fashionable man who dressed and spoke in an outlandishly affected and effeminate manner. The term pejoratively referred to a man who "exceeded the ordinary bounds of fashion" in terms of clothes, fastidious eating, and gambling.

In British conversation, the term "Yankee doodle dandy" implied unsophisticated misappropriation of upper-class fashion, as though simply sticking a feather in one's cap would transform the wearer into a noble. Peter McNeil, a professor of fashion studies, claims that the British were insinuating that the colonists were lower-class men who lacked masculinity, emphasizing that the American men were womanly.

The song was a pre-Revolutionary War song originally sung by British military officers to mock the disheveled, disorganized colonial "Yankees" with whom they served in the French and Indian War. It was written at Fort Crailo around 1755 by British Army surgeon Richard Shuckburgh while campaigning in Rensselaer, New York. The British troops sang it to make fun of their stereotype of the American soldier as a Yankee simpleton who thought that he was stylish if he simply stuck a feather in his cap. It was also popular among the Americans as a song of defiance, and they added verses to it that mocked the British troops and hailed George Washington as the Commander of the Continental army. By 1781, Yankee Doodle had turned from being an insult to being a song of national pride.

According to one account, Shuckburgh wrote the original lyrics after seeing the appearance of Colonial troops under Colonel Thomas Fitch, the son of Connecticut Governor Thomas Fitch. According to Etymology Online, "the current version seems to have been written in 1776 by Edward Bangs, a Harvard sophomore who also was a Minuteman." He wrote a ballad with 15 verses which circulated in Boston and surrounding towns in 1775 or 1776.

A bill was introduced to the House of Representatives on July 25, 1999 recognizing Billerica, Massachusetts, as "America's Yankee Doodle Town". After the Battle of Lexington and Concord, a Boston newspaper reported:

Upon their return to Boston [pursued by the Minutemen], one [Briton] asked his brother officer how he liked the tune now, — "Dang them", returned he, "they made us dance it till we were tired" — since which Yankee Doodle sounds less sweet to their ears.

To download the easy alphanotes and chords sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

Lyrics 

Yankee Doodle went to town
A-riding on a pony,
Stuck a feather in his cap
And called it macaroni.

[Chorus]

Yankee Doodle keep it up,
Yankee Doodle dandy,
Mind the music and the step,
And with the girls be handy.

Father and I went down to camp,
Along with Captain Gooding,
And there we saw the men and boys
As thick as hasty pudding.

[Chorus]

And there we saw a thousand men
As rich as Squire David,
And what they wasted every day,
I wish it could be savèd.

[Chorus]

The 'lasses they eat every day,
Would keep a house a winter;
They have so much, that I'll be bound,
They eat it when they've a mind to.

[Chorus]

And there I see a swamping gun
Large as a log of maple,
Upon a deuced little cart,
A load for father's cattle.

[Chorus]

And every time they shoot it off,
It takes a horn of powder,
And makes a noise like father's gun,
Only a nation louder.

[Chorus]

I went as nigh to one myself
As 'Siah's underpinning;
And father went as nigh again,
I thought the deuce was in him.

[Chorus]

Cousin Simon grew so bold,
I thought he would have cocked it;
It scared me so I shrinked it off
And hung by father's pocket.

[Chorus]

And Cap'n Davis had a gun,
He kind of clapt his hand on't
And stuck a crooked stabbing iron
Upon the little end on't

[Chorus]

And there I see a pumpkin shell
As big as mother's basin,
And every time they touched it off
They scampered like the nation.

[Chorus]

I see a little barrel too,
The heads were made of leather;
They knocked on it with little clubs
And called the folks together.

[Chorus]

And there was Cap'n Washington,
And gentle folks about him;
They say he's grown so 'tarnal proud
He will not ride without 'em.

[Chorus]

He got him on his meeting clothes,
Upon a slapping stallion;
He sat the world along in rows,
In hundreds and in millions.

[Chorus]

The flaming ribbons in his hat,
They looked so tearing fine, ah,
I wanted dreadfully to get
To give to my Jemima.

[Chorus]

I see another snarl of men
A-digging graves, they told me,
So 'tarnal long, so 'tarnal deep,
They 'tended they should hold me.

[Chorus]

It scared me so, I hooked it off,
Nor stopped, as I remember,
Nor turned about till I got home,
Locked up in mother's chamber.

[Chorus]

We Are The Church

"We Are The Church" is written by Presbyterians ministers Richard Kinsey Avery (1934-2020) and Donald Stuart Marsh (1923-2010) collaborated on more than 150 songs. The Avery and Marsh duo performed together beginning in the late 1960s through the 1990s, breathing new life into classical worship structures and hymns and introducing the then-emerging forms of worship and more modern songs in conferences and national assemblies. They were favorites for thirty summers at Ghost Ranch, a Presbyterian assembly at Abiquiu, New Mexico (Wallace, Marsh, n.p.). Both died in New Mexico ten years apart.

All generations have embraced this childlike song as a clear description of the nature of the Christian church. A close examination of the text reveals that this hymn is not childish in its implications. Indeed, the authors offer a clear ecclesiology lesson that articulates the nature of the church. First published in the composers’ Songs for an Easter People (1972), the music reflects the growing use of informal folk styles influenced by the Viet Nam era protest song and the folk masses of the post-Vatican II (1962-1965) era. The text clearly expresses a no-nonsense message that breaks with the refined poetry of classic hymnody in favor of simple language and a candid, even blunt, message.

Beginning with a series of emphatic assertions in the refrain, the authors establish that the church is the people, both locally gathered and worldwide in its scope. Stanza 1 further clarifies the nature of the church by specifying what the church is not: it is not a “building,” a “steeple,” or a “resting place.” “The church is a people.” Stanza 2 focuses on diversity in the church—“many kinds of people” with “many kinds of faces” and “all colors and ages. . ..” The final clause captures an essential dimension of the church—“all times and places.” A similar phrase repeatedly found in the Presbyterian (USA) Book of Common Worship (1993) is “all the faithful of every time and place.” It appears prominently in the Preface to the Sanctus (Holy, holy, holy . . . ) in the Great Thanksgiving, the eucharistic prayer:

Therefore we praise you,
joining our voices with choirs of angels,
with prophets, apostles, and martyrs,
and with all the faithful of every time and place,
who forever sing to the glory of your name:
Holy, holy, holy . . . (Book of Common Worship, 1993, p. 70).

There is a cosmic presence of the faithful both in heaven and on earth. Those living and those departed who form the “great cloud of witnesses” are foundational to the nature of the church. This short phrase at the end of the second stanza captures this precept.

Stanza 3 presents the church as an active entity: “marching,” “bravely burning,” “riding,” “hiding,” and “learning.” While contexts of these participial references are not entirely clear, the church “marching” probably refers to Civil Rights struggles in the United States. Regardless of how one interprets this stanza, the church is not confined to a building but is active in the world. Stanza 4 describes the range of expressions—the sounds that emanate from the people who gather in the church: “singing,” “praying,” “laughing,” and “crying.”

The final stanza references Pentecost as described in Acts 2:1-4:

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them (NIV).

Donald Marsh

The result is that those assembled “told the Good News through the world. . .,” an evangelistic mandate.

California native Richard Avery received degrees from the University of the Redlands (B.A. 1956) and Union Theological Seminary, New York (M.Div. 1960). He was an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), noted for his forty-year pastorate at First Presbyterian Church, Port Jervis, New York, near New York City. For three decades, he shared this ministry with his companion and life partner, Donald Marsh, who served as the congregation’s choirmaster and director of arts (Wallace, Avery, n.p.).

To download the easy alphanotes and chords sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

Chorus 1

I am the church
You are the church
We are the church together
All who follow Jesus
All around the world
Yes we're the church together

Verse 1

The church is not a building
The church is not a steeple
The church is not a resting place
The church is a people

Verse 2

We're many kinds of people
With many kinds of faces
All colors and all ages too
From all times and places

Verse 3

Sometimes the church is marching,
Sometimes it's bravely burning,
Sometimes it's riding, sometimes hiding,
Always it's leraning.

Verse 4

And when the people gather
There's singing and there's praying
There's laughing and there's crying sometimes
All of it saying

Verse 5

At Pentecost some people
Received the Holy Spirit
And told the Good News
Through the world
To all who would hear it

Verse 6

I count if I am ninety, 
Or nine or just a baby;
There's one thing and I don't mean maybe.
I am sure about.

His Sheep Am I

"His Sheep Am I" is a hymn which pictures the Lord as our Shepherd bringing us into green pastures and beside the still waters is “His Sheep Am I” (#328 in Hymns for Worship Revised).  The text was written and the tune was composed both by Orien Garth Johnson, who was born in 1913.   Following his graduation from Wheaton College in Illinois with a music major, he stayed on as band director and trumpet instructor.  One of his students was Billy Graham, who he often said was a poor trumpet player but he understood had other talents.  After Orien married Lillian Ferry in 1935, the Johnsons, who had a son and a daughter, moved to Seattle, WA, where he became music director at Ballard High School.   

     Later Johnson formed a Brass Choir, and played throughout the western United States.  At one concert in the capitol building of Olympia, WA, he played triple-tongued.  President Harry Truman was in attendance and remarked, “You have good lips.”  In addition, Johnson was a pioneer of Young Life, an organization that works with youth all over the country.  Having first encountered the group in Washington, he moved to Colorado in 1947 to become its director of publications, leading the Cañon City Young Life Club, and was one of the great figures in its history.  Kids traveling to the Colorado ranches in the ’50s were entertained and enthralled by the Star Ranch funny-man with his cornet and clown outfit.  Also he served as music director of the First Presbyterian Church of Colorado Springs, CO, and produced several pieces of religious music.  

     Johnson’s most famous song is “His Sheep Am I,” copyrighted in 1956 and assigned to Sacred Songs, a division of Word.  The text of stanza 2 in Hymns for Worship was written by co-editor Dane K. Shepard (b. 1951).  As I did research on the hymn, I found a number of websites with a “second stanza,” but each one was different.  His niece, Linda C. Gorby of Temple City, CA, noted that “The additional verses are NOT part of the original song.”  Apparently some others also set out to add to Johnson’s original single stanza.    Active well into his 80’s, running in marathons and climbing fourteeners, he had two leadership books and six humor books published, and wrote a weekly humor column, before passing away on Jan. 9, 2011, at the age of 97. 

      Among hymnbooks published among members of the Lord’s church for use in churches of Christ, the only one I know of in which the song appears is Hymns for Worship Revised.  The music there was arranged by co-editor R. J. Stevens (b. 1927).  In the original edition, #328 was “Make Jesus Lord of Your Life,” with text written and tune composed both by Dusty Owens in 1984, and arrangement made by Dane K. Shepard in 1986.

     The song pictures us as sheep following the Good Shepherd.

To download the easy alphanotes and chords sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

In God's green pastures feeding, by His cool waters lie,
Soft in the evening walk my Lord and I;
All the sheep of His pasture fare so wondrously fine,
His sheep am I.
Waters cool, [in the valley] pastures green, [on the mountain]
In the evening walk my Lord and I;
Dark the night, [in the valley,] rough the way, [on the mountain,]
Step by step, [step by step,] my Lord and I.

Love Came Down at Christmas

 Love Came Down at Christmas is a choral folk anthem written by Roger Copeland. Drawing on familiar faith stories from the Old Testament in the Bible, this text by J. Pa ul Williams lists only a few of the many before us who have walked by faith an d encourages us to do the same. Joel Raney s original melody, set in minor mod e with steadfast rhythm and progressive modulations between each of the verses , escalates the excitement up to the very end. 

To download the easy alphanotes and chords sheet music, look here. Enjoy! 

Lyrics 

1.Love came down at Christmas,  

Love, all love divine;

Love came down at Christmas, 

And I know, I know that love is mine.

2.Love was in a manger, 

In a cattle stall,

Ans while angels hovered,

Love was born to be the King of all.

Bridge:

The shepherds heard the choirs of angels,

The wise men saw a distant light; 

They found the wonder they were searching for,

And worshipped Him that holy night.

3.Love came down at Christmas,

Love, all love divine;

Love came down at Christmas, 

And I know, I know that love is mine.