Kumbaya
Encyclopedia
"Kumbaya" or "Kumbayah" (Gullah
, "Come By Here" — "Kum ba yah") — 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 nature-oriented organizations. Contemporary use of the song is linked with themes of human and spiritual unity, closeness and compassion.
, the creole
pidgin
dialect spoken by the former slaves living on the Sea Islands
of South Carolina
and Georgia
. Between 1926 and 1928, four more versions of traditional spirituals with the refrain "Come by Here" or "Come by Yah" were recorded in South Carolina and Georgia on wax cylinder
by Robert Winslow Gordon
, founder of what became the American Folklife Center
at the Library of Congress
. In May 1936, John Lomax
, Gordon's successor as head of the Library of Congress's folk archive, discovered a woman named Ethel Best singing "Come by Here" with a group in Raiford, Florida
.
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. It first appeared in this version in Revival Choruses of Marvin V. Frey, a lyric sheet printed in Portland, Oregon
in 1939. Frey claimed the change of the title to "Kum Ba Yah" came about in 1946, when a missionary family returned from Africa where they had sung Frey's version and slightly changed the words. This family toured America singing the song with the text "Kum Ba Yah". This account is contradicted by the fact that a nearly identical Gullah version of the song was recorded almost two decades earlier. According to a Nov. 20, 2010, New York Times article by Samuel Freedman, the metamorphosis to the "African" word Kumbaya was explained in liner notes to a 1959 Pete Seeger album, but "no scholar has ever found an indigenous word 'kumbaya' with a relevant meaning.". Freedman goes on to discuss the usage of kumbaya as a term of political rhetoric.
, one of the Folksmiths, recorded the song in 1957, as did Pete Seeger
in 1958. Hickerson credits Tony Saletan, then a songleader at the Shaker Village Work Camp, for introducing him to "Kumbaya" (Saletan had learned it from Lynn Rohrbough, co-proprietor with his wife Katherine of the camp songbook publisher Cooperative Recreation Service). Joe Hickerson later succeeded Gordon at the American Folklife Center. The song enjoyed newfound popularity during the folk revival of the 1960s, largely due to Joan Baez
's 1962 recording of the song, and became associated with the Civil Rights Movement of that decade.
recorded the first LP version of the song in August 1957. As this group traveled from summer camp to summer camp teaching folk songs, they may be the origin of Kumbaya around the campfire.
It was recorded by Pete Seeger
in 1958, and The Weavers
released it on Traveling on With the Weavers in 1959.
Joan Baez
's 1962 In Concert, Volume 1
included her version of the song. Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach
also sang "Kum Bah Yah" in a 1962 concert, a recording of which was subsequently released in 1963 on the album
Shlomo Carlebach Sings.
The Seekers
recorded it in 1963 for their first album, "Introducing the Seekers". They later re-recorded for their third album, "Hide & Seekers" (also known as "The Four & Only Seekers"); it was re-released on their 1989 album "The Very Best of the Seekers".
Ballad singer Tommy Leonetti
gave the song chart status in 1969. His single reached #54 pop, #4 easy listening, released on Decca 32421.
It was included on The Sandpipers
' 1969 album The Wonder of You
.
Raffi
recorded it for his Baby Beluga
album.
In 1984, the proto-punk band, Guadalcanal Diary
, recorded a version on their album Watusi Rodeo.
Peter, Paul & Mary recorded Kumbaya on their 1998 Around the Campfire album
German rock band Guano Apes
and German comedian Michael Mittermeier
did a cover
of "Kum Bah Yah" called "Kumba yo!" and made a music video
. The "Kumba yo!" single
was released in 2001.
Gullah language
Gullah is a creole language spoken by the Gullah people , an African American population living on the Sea Islands and the coastal region of the U.S...
, "Come By Here" — "Kum ba yah") — is an African-American spiritual
Spiritual (music)
Spirituals are religious songs which were created by enslaved African people in America.-Terminology and origin:...
song from the 1930s. It enjoyed newfound popularity during the folk revival of the 1960s and became a standard campfire song in Scouting
Scouting
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, that they may play constructive roles in society....
and nature-oriented organizations. Contemporary use of the song is linked with themes of human and spiritual unity, closeness and compassion.
Origins
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 GullahGullah
The Gullah are African Americans who live in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina and Georgia, which includes both the coastal plain and the Sea Islands....
, the creole
Creole language
A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable natural language developed from the mixing of parent languages; creoles differ from pidgins in that they have been nativized by children as their primary language, making them have features of natural languages that are normally missing from...
pidgin
Pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the...
dialect spoken by the former slaves living on the Sea Islands
Sea Islands
The Sea Islands are a chain of tidal and barrier islands on the Atlantic Ocean coast of the United States. They number over 100, and are located between the mouths of the Santee and St. Johns Rivers along the coast of the U.S...
of South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
and Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
. Between 1926 and 1928, four more versions of traditional spirituals with the refrain "Come by Here" or "Come by Yah" were recorded in South Carolina and Georgia on wax cylinder
Phonograph cylinder
Phonograph cylinders were the earliest commercial medium for recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their era of greatest popularity , these cylinder shaped objects had an audio recording engraved on the outside surface which could be reproduced when the cylinder was...
by Robert Winslow Gordon
Robert Winslow Gordon
Robert Winslow Gordon was born September 2, 1888 in Bangor, Maine. Educated at Harvard, he joined the English faculty at the University of California at Berkley in 1918. He was the founding head of the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress in 1928, later the Archive of Folk...
, founder of what became the American Folklife Center
American Folklife Center
The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC was created by Congress in 1976 "to preserve and present American Folklife" . The center includes the Archive of Folk Culture, established at the Library in 1928 as a repository for American folk music...
at the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
. In May 1936, John Lomax
John Lomax
John Avery Lomax was an American teacher, a pioneering musicologist and folklorist who did much for the preservation of American folk songs...
, Gordon's successor as head of the Library of Congress's folk archive, discovered a woman named Ethel Best singing "Come by Here" with a group in Raiford, Florida
Raiford, Florida
Raiford is a town in Union County, Florida, United States. The population was 187 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S...
.
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. It first appeared in this version in Revival Choruses of Marvin V. Frey, a lyric sheet printed in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
in 1939. Frey claimed the change of the title to "Kum Ba Yah" came about in 1946, when a missionary family returned from Africa where they had sung Frey's version and slightly changed the words. This family toured America singing the song with the text "Kum Ba Yah". This account is contradicted by the fact that a nearly identical Gullah version of the song was recorded almost two decades earlier. According to a Nov. 20, 2010, New York Times article by Samuel Freedman, the metamorphosis to the "African" word Kumbaya was explained in liner notes to a 1959 Pete Seeger album, but "no scholar has ever found an indigenous word 'kumbaya' with a relevant meaning.". Freedman goes on to discuss the usage of kumbaya as a term of political rhetoric.
Folk music revival
Joe HickersonJoe Hickerson
Joe Hickerson is a noted folk singer and songleader. For 35 years he was Librarian and Director of the Archive of Folk Song at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress...
, one of the Folksmiths, recorded the song in 1957, as did Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
in 1958. Hickerson credits Tony Saletan, then a songleader at the Shaker Village Work Camp, for introducing him to "Kumbaya" (Saletan had learned it from Lynn Rohrbough, co-proprietor with his wife Katherine of the camp songbook publisher Cooperative Recreation Service). Joe Hickerson later succeeded Gordon at the American Folklife Center. The song enjoyed newfound popularity during the folk revival of the 1960s, largely due to Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
's 1962 recording of the song, and became associated with the Civil Rights Movement of that decade.
Lyrics
| Version No. 1 | Version No. 2 |
|---|---|
Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya; Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya; Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya, O Lord, kum bay ya. |
Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya; Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya; Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya, O Lord, kum bay ya. |
Someone's laughing, my Lord, kum bay ya; Someone's laughing, my Lord, kum bay ya; Someone's laughing, my Lord, kum bay ya, O Lord, kum bay ya. |
Hear me crying and laughing, my Lord, kum bay ya; Hear me crying, my Lord, kum bay ya; Hear me crying, my Lord, kum bay ya, O Lord, kum bay ya. |
Someone's crying, my Lord, kum bay ya; Someone's crying, my Lord, kum bay ya; Someone's crying, my Lord, kum bay ya, O Lord, kum bay ya. |
Hear me singing, my Lord, kum bay ya; Hear me singing, my Lord, kum bay ya; Hear me singing, my Lord, kum bay ya, O Lord, kum bay ya. |
Someone's praying, Lord, kum bay ya; Someone's praying, Lord, kum bay ya; Someone's praying, Lord, kum bay ya, O Lord, kum bay ya. |
Hear me praying, Lord, kum bay ya; Hear me praying, Lord, kum bay ya; Hear me praying, Lord, kum bay ya, O Lord, kum bay ya. |
Someone's singing, my Lord, kum bay ya; Someone's singing, my Lord, kum bay ya; Someone's singing, my Lord, kum bay ya, O Lord, kum bay ya. |
Oh, I need you, my Lord, kum bay ya; Oh, I need you, my Lord, kum bay ya; Oh, I need you, my Lord, kum bay ya, O Lord, kum bay ya. |
Recordings
The Folksmiths including Joe HickersonJoe Hickerson
Joe Hickerson is a noted folk singer and songleader. For 35 years he was Librarian and Director of the Archive of Folk Song at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress...
recorded the first LP version of the song in August 1957. As this group traveled from summer camp to summer camp teaching folk songs, they may be the origin of Kumbaya around the campfire.
It was recorded by Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
in 1958, and The Weavers
The Weavers
The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. They sang traditional folk songs from around the world, as well as blues, gospel music, children's songs, labor songs, and American ballads, and selling millions of records at the height of their...
released it on Traveling on With the Weavers in 1959.
Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
's 1962 In Concert, Volume 1
Joan Baez in Concert
Joan Baez in Concert, Part 1 is a live album taken from Joan Baez's 1962 concert tours. It peaked at #10 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart.-History:...
included her version of the song. Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach
Shlomo Carlebach
Shlomo Carlebach , known as Reb Shlomo to his followers, was a Jewish rabbi, religious teacher, composer, and singer who was known as "The Singing Rabbi" during his lifetime...
also sang "Kum Bah Yah" in a 1962 concert, a recording of which was subsequently released in 1963 on the album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
Shlomo Carlebach Sings.
The Seekers
The Seekers
The Seekers are an Australian folk-influenced pop music group which were originally formed in 1962. They were the first Australian popular music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States...
recorded it in 1963 for their first album, "Introducing the Seekers". They later re-recorded for their third album, "Hide & Seekers" (also known as "The Four & Only Seekers"); it was re-released on their 1989 album "The Very Best of the Seekers".
Ballad singer Tommy Leonetti
Tommy Leonetti
Tommy Leonetti was an American pop singer-songwriter and actor of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. In Australia his most famous song was "My City of Sydney" and was used by the Australian TV channel ATN7 in Sydney for station identification into the 1980s...
gave the song chart status in 1969. His single reached #54 pop, #4 easy listening, released on Decca 32421.
It was included on The Sandpipers
The Sandpipers
The Sandpipers were an American easy listening trio/quartet, who carved a niche in 1960s folk rock. They are best remembered for their cover version of "Guantanamera", which became a transatlantic Top 10 hit in 1966, and their Top 20 hit "Come Saturday Morning" from the soundtrack of the film The...
' 1969 album The Wonder of You
The Wonder of You (The Sandpipers album)
The Wonder of You was an LP album featuring The Sandpipers, released by A&M Records in May 1969. The catalog numbers were SP 4180 in the United States and AMLS 935 in the United Kingdom...
.
Raffi
Raffi (musician)
Raffi Cavoukian, CM, OBC , better known by his stage name Raffi, is a Canadian-Armenian singer-songwriter, author, essayist and lecturer...
recorded it for his Baby Beluga
Baby Beluga
Baby Beluga is a music album by popular children's entertainer Raffi, released in 1980. The title track was inspired by a baby beluga that Raffi saw at the Vancouver Aquarium in Vancouver, BC and is considered by many to be his greatest hit....
album.
In 1984, the proto-punk band, Guadalcanal Diary
Guadalcanal Diary (band)
Guadalcanal Diary is an alternative jangle pop group. They originated in Marietta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, but they were often billed as being "from Athens, Georgia" in the early 1980s. The band formed in 1981 and disbanded in 1989. They reformed in 1997, but never recorded any new material...
, recorded a version on their album Watusi Rodeo.
Peter, Paul & Mary recorded Kumbaya on their 1998 Around the Campfire album
German rock band Guano Apes
Guano Apes
Guano Apes are an alternative rock band formed in 1994 in Göttingen, Germany. The group members are Sandra Nasić , Henning Rümenapp , Stefan Ude and Dennis Poschwatta ....
and German comedian Michael Mittermeier
Michael Mittermeier
Michael Mittermeier is a German comedian.- Life :Michael Mittermeier was born in Dorfen, Upper Bavaria. During his childhood he lived in Bavaria. After school he learned theatre. In 1996, Mittermeier started the comedy program Zapped...
did a cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of "Kum Bah Yah" called "Kumba yo!" and made a music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
. The "Kumba yo!" single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
was released in 2001.
External links
- The history and meaning of Kumbaya, the tune and French Translation
- Origins: Kumbaya
- What does 'Kumbaya' in the song 'Kumbaya, My Lord' Mean?
- What does 'Kumbaya' Mean? at Straight DopeStraight DopeThe Straight Dope is a popular question-and-answer newspaper column published in the Chicago Reader, syndicated in thirty newspapers in the United States and Canada, as well as being available and archived at the .-Newspapers:...
- Michael E. Ross: Oh, Lord, Kumbaya. How an innocent campfire song got warped by the cynicism of our times The Root, October 2008
- Kumbaya: arrangement for choir, full score
- Listen to its Short version
- Full version, with chords and mp3
- Sir-Ivan hit dance single "Kumbaya"
- Library Of Congress research on the origins of Kumbaya