Kumbaya: anthem of a bleeding heart

Posted by the brookses on January 2, 2011 · Comments Off

OH, I NEED YOU LORD

COME BY HERE…

The pessimists will always say that “holding hands and singing Kumbaya” won’t change a thing. Some say that “pessimists are never disappointed.”

I thought it’d be fun to look at the origins of this campfire favorite–a spiritual song of unity that recognizes our need for God’s help in times of crisis, and petitions Him to come to the aid of his people. I pray that we may always be aware enough to recognize our own need, and humble enough to ask for help.

May you find your own Harmony,
and May you forever Sing…
[drew]

“Kumbayah” (Gullah, “Come By Here”) — is an African-American spiritual song from the 1930s. It enjoyed newfound popularity during the folk revival of the 1960s and became a standard campfire song in Scouting and other nature-oriented organizations.

The song was originally associated with human and spiritual unity, closeness and compassion, and it still is in many places around the world…

The origins of the song are disputed. Recent research has found that sometime between 1922 and 1931, members of an organization called the Society for the Preservation of Spirituals collected a song from the South Carolina coast. “Come By Yah”, as they called it, was sung in Gullah, the creole pidgin dialect spoken by the former slaves living on the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia…

These facts contradict the longstanding copyright and authorship claim of Reverend Marvin V. Frey. Rev. Frey (1918–1992) claimed to have written the song circa 1936 under the title “Come By Here,” inspired, he claimed, by a prayer he heard delivered by “Mother Duffin,” a storefront evangelist in Portland, Oregon.

–wikipedia