Nina Simone - Sinnerman (with lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post provides information about the African American Spiritual "Sinner Man". This post also showcases a full version of Nina Simone's rendition of that song.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-wailers-downpressor-man-and-peter.html for a post that features Jamaican versions of "Sinner Man" from the Wailers (Peter Tosh, Bob Marley, and Bunny Wailer) and a later version from Peter Tosh.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, religious, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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INFORMATION ABOUT "SINNER MAN"
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinner_Man
"Sinner Man" or "Sinnerman" is an American traditional spiritual song that has been recorded by a number of performers. The song dates to the turn of the 20th century[citation needed] but most modern recorded versions derive from the 1956 recording by Les Baxter,[1] further changes and additions were codified in 1959 by the folk music group the Weavers. The Weavers' performance of the song appears on their compilation albums Gospel and Reunion at Carnegie Hall Part 2.

"Sinnerman" (spelled as one word) is one of Nina Simone's most famous songs and she recorded her definitive 10-minute-plus version on her 1965 album Pastel Blues. Simone learned the lyrics of this song in her childhood when it was used at revival meetings by her mother, a Methodist minister, to help people confess their sins. In the early days of her career during the early sixties, when she was heavily involved in the Greenwich Village scene, Simone often used the long piece to end her live performances. An earlier version of the song exists, recorded live at The Village Gate, but was never used on the 1962 Colpix album Nina at the Village Gate."


FEATURED EXAMPLE (with Lyrics)



Nina Simone - Sinnerman (FULL) HD + SUBS

Isambay, Published on Mar 20, 2012

Oh Sinnerman, where you gonna run to?
Sinnerman, where you gonna run to?
Where you gonna run to?
All on that day
Well I run to the rock, please hide me
I run to the rock,please hide me
I run to the rock, please hide me, Lord
All on that day
But the rock cried out, I can't hide you
The rock cried out, I can't hide you
The rock cried out, I ain't gonna hide you guy
All on that day
I said, Rock, what's a matter with you rock?
Don't you see I need you, rock?
Lord, Lord, Lord
All on that day
So I run to the river, it was bleedin'
I run to the sea, it was bleedin'
I run to the sea, it was bleedin'
All on that day
So I run to the river, it was boilin'
I run to the sea, it was boilin'
I run to the sea, it was boilin'
All on that day
So I run to the Lord, please hide me Lord
Don't you see me prayin'?
Don't you see me down here prayin'?
But the Lord said, go to the devil
The Lord said, go to the devil
He said, go to the devil
All on that day
So I ran to the devil, he was waitin'
I ran to the devil, he was waitin'
Ran to the devil, he was waitin'
All on that day
I cried -
POWER!!!!!!!
(Power to da Lord)
[8x]
Bring down,
(Power to da lord),
[4x]
POWER!!!
(power to da lord)
[12x]

(Instrumental)

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Thanks to the unknown original composers of this Spiritual, and thanks to Nina Simone for her musical legacy, including her rendition of "Sinnerman". Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post, the publisher of the sound file, and the transcriber of the lyrics of this song.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

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Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears - "Truckin" & "Doin' The Suzy Q"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents information about Jazz band leader, singer, and dancer Ina Ray Hutton. Two videos of Ina Ray Hutton and her all female band (Melodears) are showcases in this post. Both of these videos refer to very popular Jazz (Swing) dances of the 1930s.

Information about Ina Ray Hutton's sister, singer June Hutton, is also included in this post for supplemental purposes.

The content of this post is presented for historical, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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INFORMATION ABOUT INA RAY HUTTON
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ina_Ray_Hutton
"Ina Ray Hutton (March 13, 1916 – February 19, 1984) was an American female leader during the Big band era, and sister to June Hutton.

Hutton was born as Odessa Cowan in Chicago, Illinois of African American descent.[1] She began dancing and singing in stage revues at the age of eight. Cowan's mother Marvel Ray was a local pianist and entertainer in Chicago. She attended Hyde Park High School on the South Side of Chicago. In the 1930s she appeared on Broadway in George White's Scandals and The Ziegfeld Follies.
In 1934 she was asked by vaudeville agent Alex Hyde to lead an all-girl orchestra, the Melodears, which featured musicians including trumpet player Frances Klein, pianist Ruth Lowe Sandler, guitarist Marian Gange, trumpeter Mardell "Owen" Winstead and trombonist Alyse Wells during its existence.[2][3] Hutton and her Melodears were one of the first all-girl bands to be filmed for Paramount shorts...

The group disbanded in 1939. In 1940 she led an all-male orchestra that was featured in the film Even Since Venus (1944); it was disbanded in 1946. During the 1950s, she returned to the all-girl format for variety television programs including the Ina Ray Hutton Show for a local station on the West Coast"...
-snip-
From http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/hutton-ina-ray-nee-odessa-cowan-1916-1984
"Hutton, Ina Ray, née Odessa Cowan (1916–1984)
Ina Ray Hutton led the Melodears, one of the first all-female swing bands to be recorded and filmed. She passed as white throughout her musical career, as the leader of several bands from the 1930s through the 1960s. But when Hutton was a child, United States Census records called her and her family “negro,” and “mulatto,” when the Bureau used that term. Her family occasionally appeared in the society pages of a black newspaper"...
-snip-
Here is a brief clip from the Wikipedia page for Ina Ray Hutton's sister June Hutton:
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Hutton
"June Hutton (August 11, 1920 – May 2, 1973[1]) was an American popular singer.

Born June Cowan in Chicago she and her older sister, Ina Ray Hutton, a band leader in the 1930s and 40s, passed as white throughout their musical careers. United States Census records identified her family as “negro,” and “mulatto,” when the Bureau used that term.[2] Though their family occasionally appeared in the society pages of a black newspaper, both sisters had light complexions and by the late 1930s, dyed their hair blonde. Ina Ray Hutton changed her last name to "Hutton" (inspired by heiress Barbara Hutton), and in 1941, her younger sister June joined the band of her older sister, first singing under the name of Elaine Merritt, eventually changing her last name to "Hutton' as well"...

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FEATURED VIDEOS
Video #1: Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears - Truckin'



Jan Klompstra, Uploaded on Aug 14, 2006
All-female dance band of the 30s.
Leader and singer: sexy Ina Ray Hutton
-snip-
Click http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3truck.htm for information about the Jazz dance "Truckin". That website indicates that this dance first originated in Harlem in 1927.

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Video #2: Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears - Doin' The Suzy Q



Jan Klompstra, Uploaded on Aug 13, 2006
All-female dance band with sexy leader-singer Ina

A commenter on that video's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FvJvcZMn3U indicated that this song & film clip are from 1936.
-snip-
Click http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3suzyq1.htmfor information about the Jazz dance the "Suzy Q". That website indicates that this dance first originated in 1935.

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RELATED LINK
Click http://www.jambalayah.com/node/1146 for a post on my Jambalayah website that includes videos of a number of African American originated jazz dances (from the 1920 through the 1940s), including the Suzy Q and Truckin. A video demonstrating the Susie Q is clearly labeled. Brief demonstrations of the Susie Q step, the Truckin step, and 82 other Jazz dance steps are found in the video that is entitled "Alphabetical Jazz Steps 2 (Bigger & Longer)"

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears for their musical legacy. Thanks to the composers of these songs, and thanks to the uploaders of these videos.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.

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Dry Bones (Lyrics & Video)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases a video and a sound file of the song "Dry Bones" (also know as "Dem Bones" and "Dem Dry Bones".) Lyrics to two versions of the song are also featured in this post.

My thanks to the composer of "Dry Bones" James Weldon Johnson and thanks also to Fats Waller for his adaptation of this song. My thanks also to the vocalists, and musicians who are featured on this video and this sound file. And thanks to the videographers and the uploaders of these videos as well as the authors of the comments quoted in this post.

All rights remain with their owners.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "DRY BONES".
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dem_Bones:

Dem Bones, Dry Bones or Dem Dry Bones is a well-known traditional spiritual song. The melody was written by African-American author and songwriter James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938). Two versions of this traditional song are used widely, the second an abridgment of the first. The lyrics are based on Ezekiel 37:1-14, where the prophet visits the Valley of Dry Bones and prophesies that they will become alive by God's command."

-snip=
Here's a portion of those Biblical verses:
"The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones.

And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and lo, they were very dry.

And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest.
Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord."
-Ezekiel, 37:1-4.

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FEATURED VIDEOS & LYRICS
Example #1- Delta Rhythm Boys - Dry Bones



Uploaded by weirdovideos on Nov 1, 2006

The Delta Rhythm Boys perform one of their most famous songs Dry Bones.

-snip-
Lyrics: Dry Bones
(James Weldon Johnson)

Ezekiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"
Ezekiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"
Ezekiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"
"Oh, hear the word of the Lord."

The foot bone connected to the leg bone,
The leg bone connected to the knee bone,
The knee bone connected to the thigh bone,
The thigh bone connected to the back bone,
The back bone connected to the neck bone,
The neck bone connected to the head bone,
Oh, hear the word of the Lord!

Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk aroun'
Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk aroun'
Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk aroun'
Oh, hear the word of the Lord.

The head bone connected to the neck bone,
The neck bone connected to the back bone,
The back bone connected to the thigh bone,
The thigh bone connected to the knee bone,
The knee bone connected to the leg bone,
The leg bone connected to the foot bone,
Oh, hear the word of the Lord!

Lyrics from http://www.ceder.net/recorddb/lyrics_viewsingle.php4?LyricsId=374

The editor of that website posted this comment:
"Most likely written between late 1870s and early 1920s. It has become a traditional spiritual song."

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Example #2: Fats Waller - "Dem Dry Bones" 1940



Uploaded by osyris1027 on Oct 27, 2010

-snip-
Lyrics: Dem Dry Bones
(Fat Waller)

[instrumental]

The toe bone connected to the heel bone.
The heel bone connected to the foot bone.
The foot bone connected to the ankle bone.
It's easy to connect those dry bones.

[instrumental]

The foot bone connected to the leg bone.
The leg bone connected to the knee bone.
The knee bone connected to the thigh bone.
Aha! It's easy to connect those dry bones. Yeah.

[instrumental]

Oh, the finger bone connected to the hand bone.
The hand bone connected to the wrist bone.
The wrist bone connected to the arm bone.
[spoken] It's easy to connect those dry bones. Yeah!

[instrumental]
[Spoken "Get off them bones, boy. Set 'em down!".

Oh, the arm bone connected to the shoulder bone.
The shoulder bone connected to the collar bone.
The collar bone connected to the neck bone.
[spoken] Fine neck bones with rice
Ahh, it's easy to connect those dry bones. Yeah.

[instrumental]

Oh, the neck bone connected to the chin bone.
The chin bone connected to the nose bone.
The nose bone connected to the head bone.
Yeah! It's easy to connect those dry bones.

[Transcription from video by Azizi Powell, 8/9/2012 ; Corrections and/or additions are welcome.]
-snip-
[The word "connected" is pronounced like "conneka"]

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RELATED LINK
Click http://inkhornterm.blogspot.com/2007/04/one-offs-dry-bones-rev.html for interesting reading about multiple recordings of "Dry Bone", including the two featured in this pancocojams blog post.
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Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.

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