12/31/2023 0 Comments Hymns about unity and togethernessSocially, it came to stand for the touchy-feely, the wishy-washy, the nerdy, and the meek. Politically, became shorthand for weak consensus seeking that fails to accomplish crucial goals. The backlash associated with the song during the last three decades is a curious turn of events. It happened to the man who thought he wrote "Kumbaya," "Come by Here, Lord." He wrote it as a slow processional (cited in Fenn, n.p.). that many times songwriters think they have written a melody, and they're only remembering an old melody from years before. Pete Seeger offered this generous appraisal of Frey’s claim of authorship: Most songwriters have had that experience of thinking they wrote a melody and then realizing it was something they had heard (Fenn, n.p.). That he actually heard a sung version, and then adapted it. He claimed that he based the song on a spoken prayer he heard in Oregon, and it's certainly possible that his memory was somewhat faulty. ![]() When asked directly if Frey was lying, Winick, responded as follows: Indeed, some serious scholars, predating Winick’s scholarship, have bestowed authorship to Frey (see VanDyke, 60). I have encountered other songs in which an author claimed sincerely to have composed it, but whose authorship was later proven erroneous. Frey's gravesite in the West Barre Cemetery in Orleans County, New York. Photo by Michael Reese of a marker near Martin V. Among those commonly known spirituals for which Frey claimed authorship was “Do Lord, Do Remember Me” and “Peace Like a River.” A historic marker in New York perpetrates this misconception: ![]() Stephen Winick, editor at the Library of Congress Folklife Center since 2005, notes that Frey “was a colorful character who in the 1970s decided to claim copyright on a bunch of spirituals, and who knows if he really wrote any of them?” (Fenn, Podcast Transcript, n.p.). Frey (Portland, 1939), though he did not copyright it until the 1970s. Frey (1918-1992), who said he composed it in 1936 and included it in his informal Revival Choruses of Martin V. Then there was the claim by an Oregon evangelist, Rev. ![]() As a result, during the early years of its popularity, many people assumed the song had African origins and that the term “Kumbaya” was a vague African dialect. The Rohrbaughs collected a second version from Van Richards, a Liberian student at Ohio State, and published that version in anther collection. Their first printings spelled the name of the song “Koombaya” rather than “Come by yah.” Later they changed the spelling so that it sounded more like “Come by here.” However, the song had caught on under its earlier pronunciation. They received the song from Melvin Blake, a missionary who had returned from Angola. Among their activities was the compiling of songbooks for camps in which appeared “Come by Here” in a 1955 collection. The claims to African origins come, in part, from Lynn and Katharine Rohrbaugh, leaders of the Cooperative Recreational Service in Ohio. ![]() Regardless of one’s earlier associations with this song, set them aside and take a fresh look at a spiritual that has a word for us. Sometime after the 1980s and into the current century, “Kum ba yah” began to be viewed as a simplistic children’s song, and the unified feelings it once symbolized became a sonic metaphor for cultural naïveté in a more callous and jaded era. Many recall the experience of a “Kum ba yah” moment – a fleeting feeling of unity or togetherness solidified while singing together. Indeed, “Kum ba yah” was considered to be a significant Civil Rights song by protestors (Spencer, 93). 1941) and Pete Seeger (1919-2014) sing this song, as well as Odetta (1930-2008) and the all-women, African American a cappella ensemble, Sweet Honey in the Rock. Those who came of age during the 1960s and 1970s during the Viet Nam War heard Joan Baez (b. It has been sung at protest marches and candlelight vigils. Some grew up singing it around campfires at summer camp accompanied by folk guitar and three chords. Others have claimed authorship and even copyrighted it. The origins of this song have been enveloped in mystery for nearly a century. African American Spiritual The United Methodist Hymnal, 494
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