Blues-E-News your partner in blues! Blues in outer space! Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground is a gospel-blues song written and performed by American musician Blind Willie Johnson and recorded in 1927. The song is primarily an instrumental featuring Johnsons self-taught bottleneck slide guitar and picking style accompanied by his vocalizations of humming and moaning. It has the distinction of being one of 27 samples of music included on the Voyager Golden Record, launched into space in 1977 to represent the diversity of life on Earth. Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground was chosen as the human expression of loneliness. The song has been highly praised and covered by numerous musicians and is featured on the soundtracks of several films. The songs title is borrowed from a hymn that was popular in the nineteenth century American South with fasola singers. “Gethsemane”, written by English clergyman Thomas Haweis in 1792, begins with the lines “Dark was the night, cold was the ground / on which my Lord was laid.” Music historian Mark Humphrey describes Johnsons composition as an impressionistic rendition of “lining out”, a call-and-response style of singing hymns that is common in southern African-American churches. Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground is 3 minutes and 21 seconds of Johnsons unique guitar playing in regular tuning in open D for slide. By most accounts, Johnson substituted a knife or penknife for the bottleneck. His melancholy, gravel-throated humming of the guitar part creates the impression of unison moaning, a melodic style common in Baptist churches where, instead of harmonizing, a choir hums or sings the same vocal part, albeit with slight variations among its members. Although Johnsons vocals are indiscernible, several sources indicate the subject of the song is the crucifixion of Christ. His records were sold by the Columbia and Vocalion labels with other blues acts like Bessie Smith, whom Johnson outsold during the Depression years. In 1928, the influential blues critic Edward Abbe Niles championed Johnson in his column for The Bookman, praising his violent, tortured, and abysmal shouts and groans, and his inspired guitar playing. Blues-E-News How cool is that! In addition to Blind Willie Johnson, The following music was included on the Voyager record. » Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F. First Movement, Munich Bach Orchestra, Karl Richter, conductor. 4:40 » Java, court gamelan, Kinds of Flowers, recorded by Robert Brown. 4:43 » Senegal, percussion, recorded by Charles Duvelle. 2:08 » Zaire, Pygmy girls initiation song, recorded by Colin Turnbull. 0:56 » Australia, Aborigine songs, Morning Star and Devil Bird, recorded by Sandra LeBrun Holmes. 1:26 » Mexico, El Cascabel, performed by Lorenzo Barcelata and the Mariachi México. 3:14 » Johnny B. Goode, written and performed by Chuck Berry. 2:38 » New Guinea, mens house song, recorded by Robert MacLennan. 1:20 » Japan, shakuhachi, Tsuru No Sugomori (Cranes Nest,) performed by Goro Yamaguchi. 4:51 » Bach, Gavotte en rondeaux from the Partita No. 3 in E major for Violin, performed by Arthur Grumiaux. 2:55 » Mozart, The Magic Flute, Queen of the Night aria, no. 14. Edda Moser, soprano. Bavarian State Opera, Munich, Wolfgang Sawallisch, conductor. 2:55 » Georgian S.S.R., chorus, Tchakrulo, collected by Radio Moscow. 2:18 » Peru, panpipes and drum, collected by Casa de la Cultura, Lima. 0:52 » Melancholy Blues, performed by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven. 3:05 » Azerbaijan S.S.R., bagpipes, recorded by Radio Moscow. 2:30 » Stravinsky, Rite of Spring, Sacrificial Dance, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Igor Stravinsky, conductor. 4:35 » Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Prelude and Fugue in C, No.1. Glenn Gould, piano. 4:48 » Beethoven, Fifth Symphony, First Movement, the Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, conductor. 7:20 » Bulgaria, Izlel je Delyo Hagdutin, sung by Valya Balkanska. 4:59 » Navajo Indians, Night Chant, recorded by Willard Rhodes. 0:57 » Holborne, Paueans, Galliards, Almains and Other Short Aeirs, The Fairie Round, performed by David Munrow and the Early Music Consort of London. 1:17 » Solomon Islands, panpipes, collected by the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Service. 1:12 » Peru, wedding song, recorded by John Cohen. 0:38 » China, chin, Flowing Streams, performed by Kuan Ping-hu. 7:37 » India, raga, Jaat Kahan Ho, sung by Surshri Kesar Bai Kerkar. 3:30 » Dark Was the Night, written and performed by Blind Willie Johnson. 3:15 » Beethoven, String Quartet No. 13 in B flat, Opus 130, Cavatina, performed by Budapest String Quartet. 6:37 https://youtube/watch?v=1FRbhFd_BhY&feature=kp
Posted on: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 05:26:47 +0000
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