Georges Rouault- Crucifixion 1939
I can’t say that I am a religious person, religion never being much of a part of my upbringing. I never attended a single Easter service and pretty much thought of the day in terms of chocolate Easter bunnies and colored eggs in my youth. But I respected the traditions and stories of the Bible and of the other religions as I picked them up through the years and understood the solemnity and importance of faith, even if my own was sometimes lacking. That being said, I thought I might play a little music this morning that had to do with the fact that it is Easter Sunday.
I have always been drawn to and moved by the passion and conviction of the great gospel songs especially when performed by those with the talent and conviction to match the material, such as Mahalia Jackson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and all so many others. Sam Cooke, one of the greatest pop and R & B stars of the 50’s and early 60’s, was also a great gospel singer. I loved his voice and could listen to him sing the phone book but when he sang the gospel, it was often magic. Here’s his version of Were You There ( When They Crucified My Lord), which is an old plantation spiritual that fits in with the day and, performed by Sam Cooke is as I said, magic .
Hope you have a great Sunday.
Redtree Times 
A perfect selection for this special day.
You may enjoy this humorous note. I was looking for an illustration for my Easter post, and did an image search for “Easter icons.” I had something from the Greek or Eastern Orthodox tradition in mind, but what I got were pages and pages of clip art showing rabbits and eggs. Time to redefine the search parameters!
I did end up with an Edward Hopper painting I’d never seen before, called “Boy with Moon.” You might enjoy it – quite extraordinary, really. There’s a little context with it here.
A happy Easter to you!
That’s really interesting. I had never seen this before but it look like it was early in his career, when he was still, like most artists, finding his own style. But it’s still a great piece. Thanks and have a great Easter, Linda.
On Sun, Apr 20, 2014 at 7:53 AM, Redtree Times wrote:
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I am not familiar with Sam Cooke’s version. I know you are in the northeast. This is a southern perspective of the same song.
Actually, I was going to use a Johnny Cash version, one from 1962, but opted for the Sam Cooke. It is one of my favorites, especially when Anita Carter hits that high wail. Just beautiful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lUxzFUmLHs
On Sun, Apr 20, 2014 at 1:25 PM, Redtree Times wrote:
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There is a long, long tradition of Black soul, blues and jazz singers cutting their musical teeth on the Gospel music that has its roots in slave culture, and tell ol’ Pharaoh, let my people go. There is also that strain of Gospel music that filters through the hollers of Appalachia populated by no nonsense Protestants and unvarnished Presbyters, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If1yxmaJ14M and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkR_DYAlYSQ with that wailing tenor harmony that informs so much blue grass music. Music has a habit of rubbing off on people and ending up in the most amazing places, making rainbow smurches in the most amazing colors. The music of a people who suffered greatly and eased their pain in song turns up again and again. Consider the wailing harmonies of men black with coal dust yearning for the Promised Land. Consider that wailing klezmer clarinet in the opening bars of Rhapsody in Blue. Consider the wailing Delta blues that was echoed back to us in the guitar riffs of working class boys from Britain. There is nothing we do that is quite so human as making music. There is no time when we are being quite so human as when we are making music.
Thanks. Sam Cooke with the soul stirrers was the champion church wrecking singer of his era before he became a pop icon.
Yes, his gospel work was quite extraordinary.