Sunday, March 21, 2010

"When They Ring The Golden Bells for You and Me"

(NB: If you're reading this on Facebook, the original post is from my blog). John Gray sang this at Carrowdore Mission Hall last Sunday night - a lovely rendition of an old hymn from the late 1800s. I found this version by Natalie Merchant (who sang with Wilco and Billy Bragg on the great "Mermaid Avenue" album of old Woody Guthrie songs).



And here's a very impressive guitar / instrumental version:



Glasgow man William McEwan, "the world's first great gospel singer", recorded a version in New York in May 1926; the brilliant Virginian singing Baptist pastor Alfred Karnes recorded it in 1927 (download his version free here) and the McCravy Brothers recorded it in 1930.

1 comments:

robert said...

If you're interested in the background of this old gospel song, check out my Wordwise Hymns blog for today. Dion de Marbelle did just about everything, from serving on a whaling ship to being a circus clown. He was a friend of Buffalo Bill Cody.