Kumbaya - WikiHQ

"Kum ba yah" ("Come by here") is an African-American spiritual of disputed origin, known to have been sung in the Gullah culture of the islands off South Carolina and Georgia, with ties to enslaved Central Africans. Originally an appeal to God to come to the aid of those in need, the song is thought to have spread from the islands to other Southern states and the North, as well as to other places outside the United States.

The first known recording was made by the folklorist Robert Winslow Gordon in 1926. It features an unaccompanied tenor voice identified only as "H. Wylie" singing in the Gullah language. The piece became a standard campfire song in Scouting and summer camps and enjoyed broader popularity during the folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s. In American politics, the song title gave rise to the phrase "sing Kumbaya", commonly employed sarcastically to criticize expectations of reconciliation as unrealistic.

Origins

According to the Library of Congress editor Stephen Winick, the song almost certainly originated among African Americans in the Southeastern United States. A Gullah version emerged early in its history, even if the song did not originate in that dialect. "Come by Yuh", as they called it, was sung in Gullah, the creole language spoken by the formerly enslaved Africans and their descendants living on the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia, as well as the Bahamas. It is possible this is the earliest version, if it was collected before 1926. Because the individual songs in this society's publications are not dated, however, it cannot be dated with certainty to before 1931.

These facts contradict the longstanding copyright and authorship attribution to the white Anglo-American songwriter Reverend Marvin V. Frey (1918–1992),

Folk music revival and the civil rights movement

The Folksmiths, including Joe Hickerson, recorded the song in 1957, as did Pete Seeger in 1958. Hickerson credited Tony Saletan, a Boston-based singer, songfinder, teacher, and children's educational television pioneer, for introducing him to "Kumbaya". Saletan had learned it from Lynn Rohrbough, co-proprietor with his wife Katherine of the camp songbook and hymnal publisher Cooperative Recreation Service, predecessor to World Around Songs. Cooperative Recreation Service first published "Kumbaya" in its January 1956 pamphlet Song Sampler as well as the 1956 edition of Hymns of Universal Praise (for the North East Ohio Conference of the Methodist Church) and then in many others of its collections. Saletan performed the song on April 14, 1957, at the Swarthmore Folk Festival, but never recorded it; however, he can be heard singing and discussing "Kumbaya" in a 2017 podcast interview.

The song enjoyed newfound popularity during the American folk music revival of the early to mid-1960s, largely due to Joan Baez's 1962 recording of the song, and became associated with the civil rights movement of that decade. For example, there is a recording of marchers singing the song as "Come By Here" during the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery (Alabama) march for voting rights.

Political usage

The title of the song is often used sarcastically in English-speaking countries, either to make fun of spirituality and interpersonal relationships or to criticize their superficiality.

Beginning in the 1990s and increasing in the following decades, references to "Kumbaya" or "singing 'Kumbaya entered idiomatic usage in the politics of the United States, often to suggest that someone other than the speaker is too conciliatory or eager to compromise. Richard Vatz has characterized these references to the song as sarcastic criticism of consensus "that allegedly does not examine the issues or is revelatory of cockeyed optimism." Many other high-profile political figures have similarly referred derisively to the singing of the song as a way of expressing doubt or disparagement for potential compromise. Businessman and political candidate Herman Cain, speaking to a rally in 2011, said, "Singing ‘Kumbaya’ is not a foreign policy strategy."

!align="center" width="260"|Version No. 2

!align="center" width="320"|Version No. 3

!align="center" width="260"|Version No. 4

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Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya;

Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya,

O Lord, kum bay ya.

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Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya;

Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya,

O Lord, kum bay ya.

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Someone need you, Lord, come by here

Oh, Lord, come by here.

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For the sun, that rises in the sky

For the rhythm of the falling rain

For all life, great or small

For all that's true, for all you do.

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Someone's laughing, my Lord, kum bay ya;

Someone's laughing, my Lord, kum bay ya,

O Lord, kum bay ya.

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Hear me crying, my Lord, kum bay ya;

Hear me crying, my Lord, kum bay ya,

O Lord, kum bay ya.

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Now I need you, Lord, come by here

Sinners need you, Lord, come by here

Oh, Lord, come by here.

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Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya;

Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya,

O Lord, kum bay ya.

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Someone's crying, my Lord, kum bay ya;

Someone's crying, my Lord, kum bay ya,

O Lord, kum bay ya.

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Hear me singing, my Lord, kum bay ya;

Hear me singing, my Lord, kum bay ya,

O Lord, kum bay ya.

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Come by here, my Lord, come by here,

Oh, Lord, come by here.

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Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya;

Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya,

O Lord, kum bay ya.

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Someone's praying, my Lord, kum bay ya;

Someone's praying, my Lord, kum bay ya,

O Lord, kum bay ya.

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Hear me praying, my Lord, kum bay ya;

Hear me praying, my Lord, kum bay ya,

O Lord, kum bay ya.

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In the mornin' see, Lord, come by here,

Oh, Lord, come by here.

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For the second on this world you made,

For the love that will never fade,

For a heart beating with joy,

For all that's real, for all we feel.

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Someone's singing, my Lord, kum bay ya;

Someone's singing, my Lord, kum bay ya,

O Lord, kum bay ya.

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Oh, I need you, my Lord, kum bay ya;

Oh, I need you, my Lord, kum bay ya,

O Lord, kum bay ya.

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I gon' need you, Lord, come by here,

Oh, Lord, come by here.

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Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya;

Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya,

O Lord, kum bay ya.

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Oh, Sinners need you, Lord, come by here,

Sinners need you, Lord, come by here,

Oh my Lord, won't you come by here.

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Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya;

Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya,

O Lord, kum bay ya.

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In the morning - morning, won't you come by here

Mornin' - morning, won't you come by here

In the Mornin' - morning, won't you come by here

Oh, Lord, come by here.

Additional stanzas by Barry Moore (1973), in the songbook Sing and Rejoice, Herald Press (1979):

References

External links

Winick, Stephen. Kumbaya: History of an Old Song at Folklife Today, Library of Congress blog. February 6, 2018
Winick, Stephen. The World's First "Kumbaya" Moment: New Evidence about an Old Song. Earlier version of Kumbaya: History of an Old Song. Folklife Center News, Volume 32, Nos. 3-4, Summer/Fall 2010, pp. 3-10. Washington, D.C., American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, 2010

Origins

Folk music revival and the civil rights movement

Political usage

See also

References

External links