Wednesday, January 10th, 2024
Let us resolve to be masters, not the victims, of our history, controlling our own destiny without giving way to blind suspicions and emotions.
— John F. Kennedy
MUS106 Lecture 2: Gospel and Blues
- four pillars of influence
- gospel
- popular in mid-20
- sacred music from the American tradition
- venue: church, church-related concerts
- where call and response mainly came from
- communal: brings a sense of togetherness
- functional
- rock influence: tension b/w sacred & secular topics (first wave rock themes)
Gospel
- Sister Rosetta Tharpe
- sang spiritual music in a secular place—Cotton Club (1938)
- early instance of cross-over: secular place and sacred gospel music
- Sam Cooke (1931-1964)
- gospel singer
- lead singer of Soul Stirrers (1950-56)
- unique style and voice: sweet soul
- ”He’s So Wonderful”
- topic: God
- gospel
- ”Lovable”
- topic: girl/romance
- secular
- very similar to “He’s So Wonderful”, which is kind of ironic
- experimenting with appealing to secular audience
- released under a pseudonym “Dale Cook”
- became full-on secular in 1957
- murdered at age 33
- ”A Change Is Gonna Come” (1964)
- politically charged (civil rights movement)
- remains uninvestigated
- conspiracy theory?
- ”A Change Is Gonna Come” (1964)
Blues
- blues: an expression of trouble (in the body or mind) by African-American people
- secular
- varied styles, varied motivations
- emerged in late 19th century
- blues now have a fixed musical vocabulary (e.g. blues scale) and form (e.g. 12-bar blues) thanks to W.C. Handy
- W.C. Handy (1873-1958)
- father of the blues
- integrates folk music elements into blues
- codified the blue form and vocabulary
- ”Ball and Biscuit” (2002)