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. These facts contradict the longstanding copyright and authorship claim of Reverend Marvin V. 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. However, because the individual songs in this society’s publications are not dated, it cannot be dated with certainty to before 1931. It is possible this is the earliest version, if it was collected before 1926. “Come By Yuh”, as they called it, was sung in Gullah, the creole language spoken by the former slaves living on the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia. Of the other two, one has been lost, and one cylinder was broken, so it cannot be determined if they are versions of “Kumbaya.” Īccording to an article in Kodaly Envoy by Lum Chee-Hoo, some time between 19, members of an organization called the Society for the Preservation of Spirituals collected a version from the South Carolina coast. Between 19, Gordon recorded three more versions of traditional spirituals with the refrain “Come by Here” or “Come by Heah.” One of these is a different song concerning the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den. Wylie, and the song was recorded within a few hours’ drive of Darien, Georgia, although Gordon did not note the exact location. The other 1926 version was recorded on wax cylinder by Robert Winslow Gordon, founder of what became the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. This version, collected in Alliance, North Carolina, is a manuscript featuring lyrics but no music. One was submitted as a high school collecting project by a student named Minnie Lee to her teacher, Julian P. No precise month or day was recorded for either version, so either may be the earliest known version of the song. Kumbaya Pete Seeger 10 24 1963Ĭome By Here / Kum Ba Ya / Kumbaya transcribed by the United States Library of Congress from a 1926 recording.Īccording to Library of Congress editor Stephen Winick, the two earliest versions whose year of origin is known for certain were both collected in 1926, and both reside in the Library’s American Folklife Center. They had nine hits in Britain and Australia in the 1960s: “I’ll Never Find Another You”, “A World of Our Own”, “The Carnival Is Over” (which The Seekers have sung at various closing ceremonies in Australia, including Expo ’88 and the Paralympics), “Someday One Day”, “Walk With Me”, “Morningtown Ride”, “Georgy Girl” (the title song of the film of the same name), “When Will the Good Apples Fall” and “Emerald City”.īruce Woodley and Dobe Newton’s “I Am Australian”, which has been recorded by The Seekers, and by singer Judith Durham with Russell Hitchcock and Mandawuy Yunupingu, has become an unofficial Australian anthem. Keith Potger: twelve string guitar, banjo, vocalsīruce Woodley: guitar, mandolin, banjo, vocals They were the first Australian popular music group to achieve significant chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States. The Seekers were a group of Australian folk-influenced popular musicians which was formed in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in 1962.
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