Rivers of My Fathers

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"Rivers of My Fathers"
Song by Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson
from the album Winter in America
ReleasedMay 1974
RecordedOctober 15, 1973; at D&B Sound in Silver Spring, Maryland
Genre Soul, jazz
Length8:29
Label Strata-East
Songwriter(s) Gil Scott-Heron, Brian Jackson
Producer(s) Perpis-Fall Music, Inc.
Audio sample
"Rivers of My Fathers"

"Rivers of My Fathers" is a song by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron and keyboardist Brian Jackson. It was written and composed by Scott-Heron and Jackson for their first collaborative album, Winter in America (1974). The song was recorded on October 15, 1973 at D&B Sound Studio in Silver Spring, Maryland and produced by Scott-Heron and Jackson with assistance from engineer Jose Williams.

Gil Scott-Heron American musician, poet and author

Gilbert Scott-Heron was an American soul and jazz poet, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician Brian Jackson featured a musical fusion of jazz, blues, and soul, as well as lyrical content concerning social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping and melismatic vocal styles by Scott-Heron. His own term for himself was "bluesologist", which he defined as "a scientist who is concerned with the origin of the blues".

Brian Jackson (musician) American musician

Brian Robert Jackson is an American keyboardist, flautist, singer, composer, and producer known for his collaborations with Gil Scott-Heron in the 1970s. The sound of Jackson's Rhodes electric piano and flute accompaniments featured prominently in many of their compositions, most notably on "The Bottle" and "Your Daddy Loves You" from their first official collaboration Winter in America.

<i>Winter in America</i> album

Winter in America is a studio album by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron and keyboardist Brian Jackson. It was recorded in September to October 1973 at D&B Sound Studio in Silver Spring, Maryland and released in May 1974 by Strata-East Records. Scott-Heron and Jackson produced the album in a stripped-down fashion, relying on traditional African and R&B sounds, while Jackson's piano-based arrangements were rooted in jazz and the blues. The subject matter on Winter in America deals with the African-American community and inner city in the 1970s.

Contents

"Rivers of My Fathers" is a soul song with a jazz arrangement. Scott-Heron's Afrocentric lyrics make references to African-American cultural roots and slavery. Although it was not released as a single, the song was recognized by writers for its instrumentation and theme of cultural significance, and regarded as one of Scott-Heron's best compositions.

Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community in the United States in the 1950s and early 1960s. It combines elements of African-American gospel music, rhythm and blues and jazz. Soul music became popular for dancing and listening in the United States, where record labels such as Motown, Atlantic and Stax were influential during the Civil Rights Movement. Soul also became popular around the world, directly influencing rock music and the music of Africa.

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in blues and ragtime. Jazz is seen by many as "America's classical music". Since the 1920s Jazz Age, jazz has become recognized as a major form of musical expression. It then emerged in the form of independent traditional and popular musical styles, all linked by the common bonds of African-American and European-American musical parentage with a performance orientation. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as "one of America's original art forms".

Arrangement musical composition in altered form

In music, an arrangement is a musical reconceptualization of a previously composed work. It may differ from the original work by means of reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or development of the formal structure. Arranging differs from orchestration in that the latter process is limited to the assignment of notes to instruments for performance by an orchestra, concert band, or other musical ensemble. Arranging "involves adding compositional techniques, such as new thematic material for introductions, transitions, or modulations, and endings.. .. Arranging is the art of giving an existing melody musical variety".

Composition

Musical style

Brian Jackson co-wrote the song and played piano. Brian Jackson (musician) in 2005.jpg
Brian Jackson co-wrote the song and played piano.

"Rivers of My Fathers" is a soul song, performed with a jazz-based arrangement spanning over eight minutes; the longest track issued on Winter in America. Recorded on October 15, 1973 at D&B Sound Studio in Silver Spring, Maryland, the session for the song, as well as Winter, featured a scaled-down lineup of Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson, with drummer Bob Adams and bassist Danny Bowens, as well as a limited personnel for production. [1] With Scott-Heron, Jackson and audio engineer Jose Williams heading production, [1] these circumstances provided an effective forum for a reliance on strong African and R&B influences during the conception of "Rivers of My Fathers". [2] Scott-Heron and Jackson were credited as Perpis-Fall Music, Inc.. [1] The song opens with swing-styled rim shots by Bob Adams. [3] The opening instrumentation continues into the first two minutes, before Scott-Heron enters with vocals. Usually a spoken word performer, Scott-Heron's baritone voice accompanies and adds weight to the dark groove by vocalizing poetry, providing the lyrical subject matter to the composition. [4]

Silver Spring, Maryland Census-designated place in Maryland, USA

Silver Spring is an unincorporated community and census-designated place located inside the Capital Beltway in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 79,483, according to the 2017 official estimate by the United States Census Bureau, making it the fourth most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore, Columbia, and Germantown, and the second largest in Montgomery County after Germantown. Inner Silver Spring consists of the following neighborhoods: Downtown Silver Spring, East Silver Spring, Woodside, North Woodside, Woodside Park, North Hills Sligo Park, Long Branch, Montgomery Knolls, Franklin Knolls, Indian Spring Terrace, Indian Spring Village, Clifton Park Village, New Hampshire Estates, Oakview, and Woodmoor. Outer Silver Spring consist of the following neighborhoods: Four Corners, Wheaton, Glenmont, Forest Glen, Aspen Hill, Hillandale, White Oak, Colesville, Colesville Park, Cloverly, Calverton, Briggs Chaney, Greencastle, Northwood Park, Sunset Terrace, Fairland, Lyttonsville, and Kemp Mill.

Audio engineer engineer who operates recording, mixing, sound reproduction equipment

An audio engineer helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, and reinforcement of sound. Audio engineers work on the "...technical aspect of recording—the placing of microphones, pre-amp knobs, the setting of levels. The physical recording of any project is done by an engineer ... the nuts and bolts." It's a creative hobby and profession where musical instruments and technology are used to produce sound for film, radio, television, music, and video games. Audio engineers also set up, sound check and do live sound mixing using a mixing console and a sound reinforcement system for music concerts, theatre, sports games and corporate events.

Perpis-Fall Music, Inc. or Perpis-Fall Music is a pseudonym and production credit for the musical partnership of:

Lyrical theme

Similar to the lyrical themes predominant on Winter in America, Scott-Heron's lyrics are Afrocentric and focus on cultural identity through the use of metaphor. Illustrating the significance of ancestry and cultural roots, "Rivers of My Fathers" features the water motif, a common metaphor in African-American culture, which evokes feelings of home and freedom, to represent faith amid the frustrations of a modern black man. [3] As a metaphor, water was also used to hold the promise of freedom; runaway slaves used the rivers during slavery in the United States both as markers of direction and as a method of disguising their scent from hound dogs. [3]

Water chemical compound

Water is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's streams, lakes, and oceans, and the fluids of most living organisms. It is vital for all known forms of life, even though it provides no calories or organic nutrients. Its chemical formula is H2O, meaning that each of its molecules contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms, connected by covalent bonds. Water is the name of the liquid state of H2O at standard ambient temperature and pressure. It forms precipitation in the form of rain and aerosols in the form of fog. Clouds are formed from suspended droplets of water and ice, its solid state. When finely divided, crystalline ice may precipitate in the form of snow. The gaseous state of water is steam or water vapor. Water moves continually through the water cycle of evaporation, transpiration (evapotranspiration), condensation, precipitation, and runoff, usually reaching the sea.

In narrative, a motif(pronunciation) (help·info) is any recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story. Through its repetition, a motif can help produce other narrative aspects such as theme or mood.

River Natural flowing watercourse

A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of water. Small rivers can be referred to using names such as stream, creek, brook, rivulet, and rill. There are no official definitions for the generic term river as applied to geographic features, although in some countries or communities a stream is defined by its size. Many names for small rivers are specific to geographic location; examples are "run" in some parts of the United States, "burn" in Scotland and northeast England, and "beck" in northern England. Sometimes a river is defined as being larger than a creek, but not always: the language is vague.

As the opening verse and chorus suggest, "Looking for a way out of this confusion/I'm looking for a sign, carry me home/Let me lay down by a stream and let me be miles from everything/Rivers of my fathers, could you carry me home." In his interpretation of Scott-Heron's lyrics, music writer and author Mtume ya Salaam explained "Gil sings of 'looking for a way out' out of the cold, hard city; he wants to 'lay down by a stream' that is 'miles away from everything.' But he’s too far away from home, there is no way out—instead of warm, open fields and flowing waters, there is only brick, asphalt and mortar." Following several vocal deliveries of whole choruses, the narrator pleads to the "river" to take him home, which is revealed at closing seconds of the song as Scott-Heron silently says "Africa". [3]

Refrain line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse

A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry; the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the villanelle, the virelay, and the sestina.

Africa The second largest and second most-populous continent, mostly in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres

Africa is the world's second largest and second most-populous continent. At about 30.3 million km2 including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area and 20% of its land area. With 1.2 billion people as of 2016, it accounts for about 16% of the world's human population. The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos. It contains 54 fully recognised sovereign states (countries), nine territories and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition. The majority of the continent and its countries are in the Northern Hemisphere, with a substantial portion and number of countries in the Southern Hemisphere.

Interpretation

Due to its lyrical content, critics and music writers have made interpretations and comparisons of the song to Toni Morrison's 1977 novel Song of Solomon , as their themes both adhere to ancestral and cultural identity. Writer Mtume ya Salaam has also made this comparison, as he later stated in an article for the website Kalamu:

<i>Song of Solomon</i> (novel) novel by Toni Morrison

Song of Solomon is a 1977 novel by American author Toni Morrison. It follows the life of Macon "Milkman" Dead III, an African-American man living in Michigan, from birth to adulthood.

In the last passage of one of Toni Morisson’s best-known novels, a young Black man named Milkman Dead steps off of the side of a cliff and either does or does not fly ... The one thing about the book I’ve never forgotten is the final image: that of a Black man flying home ... In African-American culture, the image of a man or woman flying away to some far-off land is as common as it is archetypal. Given the way most Black Americans arrived here in the Americas, it’s easy to understand where and how the myth originated. It isn't as easy to understand it's[ sic ] persistence. For me, Gil Scott-Heron’s "Rivers Of My Fathers" captures the essence of 'the flying dream' better than anything else I’ve seen or heard save the dream itself. The lyrics, the melody, the arrangement—all of it gives me the same feeling I get whenever I think of Milkman standing high above everything, waiting for weightlessness to spirit him away. [3]

— Mtume ya Salaam

In addition to its recognition for the literary allusion to Songs of Solomon, "Rivers of My Fathers" has been recognized by critics and music writers as one of Winter in America's best recordings, as well as one of Gil Scott-Heron's best compositions. [5]

Personnel

Credits adapted from album liner notes. [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Track listing and credits as per liner notes for Winter in America CD reissue
  2. ↑ MacArthur, Paul J. Catching Up with Gil. Houston Press . Retrieved on 2008-07-10.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Salaam, Mtume ya. Salaam, Kalamu ya. Gil Scott-Heron: Rivers of My Fathers. Breath of Life. Retrieved on 2008-07-21.
  4. ↑ Dedina, Nick. About: Gil Scott-Heron. Rhapsody. Retrieved on 2009-03-20.
  5. ↑ Weisbard (1995), pp. 267-268.

Bibliography

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