"Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child", also "Motherless Child", is a traditional spiritual. It dates back to the era of slavery in the United States.
An early performance of the song was in the 1870s by the Fisk Jubilee Singers. [1] [2] Commonly heard during the Civil rights movement in the United States, [3] it has many variations and has been recorded widely.
The song is an expression of pain and despair as the singer compares their hopelessness to that of a child who has been torn from its parents. Under one interpretation, the repetition of the word "sometimes" offers a measure of hope, as it suggests that at least "sometimes" the singer does not feel like a motherless child. [4]
Mahalia Jackson was an American gospel singer, widely considered one of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century. With a career spanning 40 years, Jackson was integral to the development and spread of gospel blues in black churches throughout the U.S. During a time when racial segregation was pervasive in American society, she met considerable and unexpected success in a recording career, selling an estimated 22 million records and performing in front of integrated and secular audiences in concert halls around the world.
Odetta Holmes, known as Odetta, was an American singer, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals. An important figure in the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s, she influenced many of the key figures of the folk-revival of that time, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mavis Staples, and Janis Joplin. In 2011 Time magazine included her recording of "Take This Hammer" on its list of the 100 Greatest Popular Songs, stating that "Rosa Parks was her No. 1 fan, and Martin Luther King Jr. called her the queen of American folk music."
Emily Drinkard, known professionally as Cissy Houston, was an American soul and gospel singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, Houston began singing with three of her siblings in the family gospel group, The Drinkard Singers. By the early 1960s, Houston began a career as a session vocalist for several secular musicians in the rhythm and blues, soul, rock and roll, pop and rock genres. After initially joining her nieces' group the Gospelaires for a session with Ronnie Hawkins in 1961, Houston gradually took control of the group, which revamped into "The Group" with Houston, niece Sylvia Shemwell, Myrna Smith and teenager Estelle Brown. She eventually founded the girl group The Sweet Inspirations with Shemwell, Smith and Brown in 1967 and that year signed a contract with Atlantic Records where, with Houston as lead singer, they would record four albums before Houston departed for a solo career in 1970. Her best known solo singles include the top 20 R&B chart single, "I'll Be There" and the top 5 dance single, "Think It Over". Her solo career culminated with two Grammy Award wins, both in the Traditional Gospel Album category.
Jeanie Tracy is an American singer-songwriter, actress, and record producer. She rose to fame in the late 1970s as a background singer of Sylvester, an American disco singer. Her first album, Me and You (1982), featured post-disco hits "I'm Your Jeanie","Sing Your Own Song" and the overlooked 1983 smash R&B and Funk hit,"Can I Come Over And Play With You Tonight". From late 1984 to early 1985, she performed on television Show Star Search where she was the winner in the Female Vocalist category for six weeks. In 1995, Tracy released her second album It's My Time.
The Sweet Inspirations are an American R&B girl group from Newark, New Jersey, founded by Cissy Houston, mostly known for their work as backup singers on studio recordings for other R&B and rock artists but also a Grammy-nominated recording act in their own right.
Poetic Champions Compose is the seventeenth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1987 on Mercury Records. It received generally positive reviews from critics, most of whom viewed it as adequate mood music.
Mavis Staples is an American rhythm and blues and gospel singer and civil rights activist. She rose to fame as a member of her family's band The Staple Singers, of which she is the last surviving member. During her time in the group, she recorded the hit singles "I'll Take You There" and "Let's Do It Again". In 1969, Staples released her self-titled debut solo album.
"Cotton Fields (The Cotton Song)" (also known as In Them Old Cotton Fields Back Home) is a song written by American blues musician Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Lead Belly, who made the first recording of the song in 1940.
"He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" is a traditional African-American spiritual, first published in 1927. It became an international pop hit in 1957–58 in a recording by English singer Laurie London, which is one of the best-selling gospel songs of all time. The song has also been recorded by many other singers and choirs, including Mahalia Jackson, Marian Anderson, Judy Garland and Nina Simone.
Traditional black gospel is music that is written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding African American Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music. It is a form of Christian music and a subgenre of black gospel music.
"Gospel Plow" is a traditional African American spiritual. It is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index, number 10075. The title is biblical, based on Luke 9:62.
"Why Me" is an American country and gospel song written and recorded by American country music singer and songwriter Kris Kristofferson.
"Tomorrow Is a Long Time" is a song written and recorded by Bob Dylan. Dylan's version first appeared on the album Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II compilation, released in 1971. It was subsequently included in the triple LP compilation Masterpieces.
Odetta at Carnegie Hall is a live album by American folk singer Odetta, recorded on April 8, 1960 and released later that year. It is now out of print.
The Essential Odetta is a live album by American folk singer Odetta, originally released on LP in 1973.
Maki Asakawa was a Japanese jazz and blues singer, lyricist and composer. Known as the "Queen of the Underground", she was an important voice of Japan's urban counterculture.
"One More Dance" is a song written by C. C. Carter. It is a satirical song about cynical lovers. It was first recorded by South African singer Miriam Makeba with Charles Colman for her debut album Miriam Makeba (1960). Makeba performed the song live with American singer Harry Belafonte at Carnegie Hall in 1960. Their duet was released on his album Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall (1960). Israeli folk duo Esther & Abi Ofarim recorded popular renditions of the song in different languages.
Sing! is an album by Israeli folk duo Esther & Abi Ofarim. It was released on Philips Records in 1966. The album was released as The New Esther & Abi Ofarim Album in the UK, Sing Hallelujah! in the Netherlands, and Das Neue Esther & Abi Ofarim Album in Germany.
Asakawa Maki no Sekai is the debut album by Japanese musician Maki Asakawa, released in September 1970 by Toshiba Records.
"It Feels So Right" is a song written by Ben Weisman and Fred Wise and originally recorded by Elvis Presley with backing vocals provided by the Jordanaires for his 1960 album Elvis Is Back. In 1965, a song titled "(Such an) Easy Question", used for that year's Presley movie Tickle Me, was coupled with "It Feels So Right" for a single release. "(Such an) Easy Question" peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, and "It Feels So Right" peaked at number 55.
