[78-L] Rhythmic "sprituals" of the early 1930s

[Cary Ginell]

I don't believe "Ol' Man River" works in this context. I'm speaking of uplifting, camp meeting- type spirituals, not ones that sing of the plight of the downtrodden Negro, as this one was. Louis Armstrong did a few of these for Bluebird and Decca in the 1930s, but I don't recall him doing any during his OKeh period. 

 

Cary Ginell
 
> Date: Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:49:04 +0000
> From: fnarf at comcast.net
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Rhythmic "sprituals" of the early 1930s
> 
> I would assume that these derive ultimately from "Show Boat", Kern and Hammerstein 1927. "Ol' Man River" was meant to be a spiritual. Am I offbase?
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Cary Ginell" <soundthink at live.com>
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Sent: Friday, August 14, 2009 1:34:09 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
> Subject: [78-L] Rhythmic "sprituals" of the early 1930s
> 
> 
> I was listening to Cole Porter's "Blow, Gabriel, Blow" today and was wondering about precedents for this idea in Tin Pan Alley. The style was in the form of a camp meeting spiritual, with a mock sermonizing lyric. Three songs that preceded this were "Oh, Monah," "On Revival Day" and "Sing, You Sinners." Without going off on a tangent, can anyone supply me with further examples of pop songs using the spiritual form? Keep in mind that Anything Goes was on Broadway in 1934, so the songs would have to predate that ("All God's Chillun Got Rhythm" doesn't count; it came out in 1937; "Ol' Man Mose" came out in 1936, I believe.).
> 
> 
> 
> Cary Ginell
> 
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