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A Beautiful Life/Beautiful Life/Each Day I'll Do A Golden Deed
Traditional Old-Time Spiritual and Bluegrass Gospel
ARTIST: Two versions: Version 1 (standard lyrics from various sources); Version 2 (From Best-loved Negro spirituals: complete lyrics to 178 songs of faith By Nicole Beaulieu Herder, Ronald Herder) Version 3 (Acappella Company)
Sheet Music: http://books.google.com/books?id=UrI8HE9DQWIC&pg=PA180&lpg=PA180&dq=I+got+a+robe+in+that+kingdom&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html
North Carolina gospel quartet Mitchell's Christian Singers performing at the Spirituals to Swing concert at the Carnegie Hall, NYC, Dec 1938:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weVLSKjifWo
CATEGORY: Traditional Bluegrass Gospel;
DATE: 1800s; First Recorded in 1927 by Smith's Sacred Singers
RECORDING INFO: Ain't That Good News
Rm - I've Got a Home in That Rock
Solomon, Jack & Olivia (eds.) / Sweet Bunch of Daisies, Colonial Press, Bk (1991), p182 (Good News)
Work, John W. / American Negro Songs and Spirituals, Dover, Bk (1998/1940), p195
OTHER NAMES: "My Poor Mother Died a' Shouting;" "Ain't That Good News" "Good News" "Good News, Member"
"Good News Chariot's Coming"
SOURCES: Folk Index; "Good News, Member" Allen, William Francis, et.al (eds.) / Slave Songs of the United States, Dover, Sof (1995/1867), #119 [1860s]. Also appears in songbook, FOLK SONGS OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO.
NOTES: Originally an African- American spiritual, this song was rewritten by Sam Cooke and became a major international R&B hit song in the 1960s. It remains popular as a spiritual and has been recently recorded by Kathleen Battle.
The essential tag line- "Good news, member, Good news," or "O, good news! O, good news!" appears in two sources from the 1860s. Eventually it appears as "Ain't dat good news" or "Aint' that good news."
The gospel song "Good News, Member" appears in William Francis Allen's 1867 book, Slave Songs of the United States:
Good news, member, Good news,
Don't You hear what satan say.
Good news, member, Good news,
And I heard from heaven today.
Thomas Wentworth Higginson writing in the Atlantic Monthly, June 1867 tells us about the Negro Spiritual.
THE war brought to some of us, besides its direct experiences, many a strange fulfillment of dreams of other days. For instance, the present writer has been a faithful student of the Scottish ballads, and had always envied Sir Walter the delight of tracing them out amid their own heather, and of writing them down piecemeal from the lips of aged crones. It was a strange enjoyment, therefore, to be suddenly brought into the midst of a kindred world of unwritten songs, as simple and indigenous as the Border Minstrelsy, more uniformly plaintive, almost always more quaint, and often as essentially poetic. This interest was rather increased by the fact that I had for many years heard of this class of songs under the name of 'Negro Spirituals', and had even heard some of them sung by friends from South Carolina. I could now gather on their own soil these strange plants, which I had before seen as in museums alone. True, the individual songs rarely coincided; there was a line here, a chorus there,-just enough to fix the class, but this was unmistakable. It was not strange that they differed, for the range seemed almost endless, and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida seemed to have nothing but the generic character in common, until all were mingled in the united stock of camp-melodies.
Often in the starlit evening I have returned from some lonely ride by the swift river, or on the plover-haunted barrens, and, entering the camp, have silently approached some glimmering Ore, round which the dusky figures moved in the rhythmical barbaric dance the negroes call a 'shout', chanting, often harshly, but always in the most perfect time, some monotonous refrain. Writing down in the darkness, as I best could-perhaps with my hand in the safe covert of my pocket,-the words of the song, I have afterwards carried it to my tent, like some captured bird or insect, and then, after examination, put it by. Or, summoning one of the men at some period of leisure,- Corporal Robert Sutton, for instance, whose iron memory held all the details of a song as if it were a ford or a forest,-I have completed the new specimen by supplying the absent parts. The music I could only retain by ear, and though the more common strains were repeated often enough to fix their impression, there were others that occurred only once or twice.
The words will be here given, as nearly as possible, in the original dialect; and if the spelling seems sometimes inconsistent, or the misspelling insufficient, it is because I could get no nearer. I wished to avoid what seems to me the only error of Lowell's 'Biglow Papers' in respect to dialect,- the occasional use of an extreme misspelling, which merely confuses the eye, without taking us any closer to the peculiarity of sound.
The favorite song in camp was the following,-sung with no accompaniment but the measured clapping of hands and the clatter of many feet. It was sung perhaps twice as often as any other. This was partly due to the fact that it properly consisted of a chorus alone, with which the verses of other songs might be combined at random.
XXXII. GOOD NEWS.
O, good news ! O, good news !
De angels brought de tidings down,
Just comin' from de trone.
As grief from out my soul shall fly,
Just comin' from de trone;
I 'll shout salvation when I die,
Good news, O, good news !
Just comin' from de trone.
Lord, I want to go to heaven when I die,
Good news, O, good news ! &etc.
De white folks call us a noisy crew,
Good news, O, good news!
But dis I know, we are happy too,
Just comin' from de trone.
In the 1940s John Work collected an published a version of Good News that is still associated with the spiritual sung today [see Work's version at bottom].
This is a far cry from Sam Cooke's rewrite with horns and banjo that was a huge hit in 1964. Cooke's "Ain't That Good News" was probably based on a 1949 version by the Pilgrim Travelers. The song was recorded in 3 takes for the 1964 album of the same name and reached number eleven on the pop chart, and number one on the Cashbox Magazine's R&B charts as a single. Cooke performed the song live on American Bandstand on April 4 of the same year. It is a modern adaptation of an older gospel song of the same title. Cooke's version was later covered by many acts, such as Otis Rush, The Supremes, David Fathead Newman, and King Curtis.
The song was the first piece of new material that Cooke had recorded in the six months following the drowning death of his 18-month old son Vincent. After reaching a new deal with RCA records, Sam Cooke received more creative freedom in his work and had chosen a fine line of session musicians to accompany him.
Known for his gospel roots, Sam Cooke often used church influences in his music. "(Ain't That) Good News" is a secular reworking of an old spiritual. The spiritual's lyrics proclaimed the singer's faith and love for Jesus, built around gospel themes and a slow gospel tempo with an underlying pulsating drive. Sam Cooke, however, transformed the song into an umptempo soulful number with an upbeat horn and rhythm section. Cooke's version has the same feel, passion, and soul as the original, but the only difference being the faith and love of a woman.
Ain't That Good News (Sam Cooke)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ljthTa6-Es
Oh my baby's comin home tomorrow
Ain't that good news
Yeah, ain't that news
My baby is coming home tomorrow
Ain't that news
Yeah, ain't that news
I got a letter just the other day
Telling me that she was on her way
And she wants me to meet her at the station
Ain't that good news
Yeah, ain't that news
In the letter she told me she still loved me
Ain't that good news
Yeah, ain't that news
In the letter she told me she loved me
Ain't that news
Yeah, ain't that news
He said she's sorry that she left
Found out she don't want nobody else
She said she wants me all to herself now
Ain't that good news
Yeah, ain't that news
Ain't that news
Ain't that good news
Ain't that news
Ain't that news
I said my baby's coming home tomorrow
Ain't that good news
Yeah, ain't that news
I'm gonna have her a party at the station
Ain't that good news
Yeah, ain't that news
Have a party at the station
Ain't that news
Yeah, ain't that news
And I can't wait to get her home
Where we can finally be alone
Disconnect my telephone now
Ain't that good news
Yeah, ain't that news
Ain't that news
Ain't that good news
I said my baby's coming home tomorrow
Ain't that good news
Yeah, ain't that news
Ain't that news
Ain't that good news
Here's the Supreme's version (Florence Ballard singing lead): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYnkshAo0eE&feature=related
A great version, titled "My Poor Mother Died a' Shouting," using lyrics usually associated with as "Dead and Gone" was performed by the North Carolina gospel quartet Mitchell's Christian Singersat the Spirituals to Swing concert at the Carnegie Hall, NYC in Dec. 1938:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weVLSKjifWo
All the friend I Have's Dead and Gone:
My dear mother died a-shoutin'
All the friend I have's dead and gone.
My poor brother died a-shoutin',
All the friend I have's dead and gone.
AIN'T THAT GOOD NEWS-Traditional Verses
I got a robe in that kingdom
Ain't that good news?
I got a robe in that kingdom
Ain't that good news?
CHORUS: I'm gonna lay down this world
I'm gonna shoulder up my cross
I'm gonna carry it home to my Jesus,
Ain't that good news, my Lord,
Ain't that good news?
I got shoes in that kingdom
Ain't that good news?
I got shoes in that kingdom
Ain't that good news?
CHORUS:
I got a crown in that kingdom
Ain't that good news?
I got a crown in that kingdom
Ain't that good news?
CHORUS:
I ‘ve a harp in the Kingdom
Ain’t that good news?
I ‘ve a harp in the Kingdom
Ain’t that good news?
CHORUS:
I ‘ve a robe in the Kingdom
Ain’t that good news…
I ‘ve slippers in the Kingdom
Ain’t that good news…
I ‘ve a Saviour in the Kingdom
Ain’t that good news…
Ain't That Good News- Version 2 From Best-loved Negro spirituals: complete lyrics to 178 songs of faith By Nicole Beaulieu Herder, Ronald Herder
Ain’t that good news
Ain’t that good news
Ain’t that good news
Oh Lord
Ain’t that good news
I'm goin' down to Jordan,
I don't know for how long.
It's a life-time journey,
But I'll soon get there.
The bible says one thing,
I say the same.
Son of God drawing water,
Out of every vein.
God done made religion,
For to praise His Holy Name.
The clouds are hangin' heavy,
That's a sure sign of rain.
One of these mornings,
And it won't be long.
I'm goin' away to Heaven,
And I'm goin' in a storm.
Ain't That Good News- Version 3 (The Acappella Company)
Chorus: Good news, good news (4x)
Good news, good news, good news
Good news, good news
Ain'ta that good news (4x)
I got a crown up in'a that Kingdom
Ain'ta that'a good news
I got a crown up in'a that Kingdom
Ain'ta that'a good news
I'm gonna lay down this world
Gonna shoulder up my burdens
Gonna take it home to my Jesus
Ain'ta that'a good news
Hey hey
Repeat Chorus
[Solo over chorus:]
I heard about Him one day
He washed my sins away
Ain't you heard about Him?
The cross is good news(?)
I've got a robe up in'a that Kingdom
Ain'ta that good news
I've got a robe up in'a that Kingdom
Ain'ta that good news
I'm gonna lay down this world
Shoulder up my burdens
Gonna take it home to my Jesus
Ain'ta that good news
Repeat Chorus
[Solo over chorus:]
Good news, good news
Ain'ta that good news, oh
I said ain't that, oh ain't that
Ain't that good news, good news
I got a home up in'a that Kingdom
Ain'ta that good news
I got a home up in'a that Kingdom
Ain'ta that good news
I'm gonna lay down this world
Gonna shoulder up my burdens
I'm gonna take it home to my Jesus
Ain'ta that good news
Bridge:
So excited, my face can't hide it
My soul's delighted cause I got the
Repeat Chorus
[Solo over chorus:]
Real, real, real, real, real, real good news
Oh yeah, so good, so good
(Have you) Have (heard the) you (news of) heard (Jesus) the
(Have you) Have (heard a-) you (-bout the) heard (Lord) the
(Have you) Have (heard the) you (news of) heard (Jesus) the news
Repeat Chorus
[Solo over chorus:]
Oh, yeah
You've got to let me tell you about Him
Jesus, I know what you need, He set the captives free
He gives the blind their sight and He can give relief
Let me tell you that
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