bascom lamar lunceford, “dry bones”
from: Harry Smith, Anthology of american folk music,1952
“Old Enoch he lived to be three-hundred and sixty-five
When the Lord came and took him back to heaven alive
I saw, I saw the light from heaven
A-shinin’ all around
I saw the light come shining
I saw that light come down
When Paul prayed in prison, them prison walls fell down
The prison keeper shouted, “Redeeming Love I’ve found”
I saw, I saw the light from heaven
Shinin’ all around
I saw the light come shining
I saw the light come down
When Moses saw that a-burning bush, he walked it ‘round and ‘round
And the Lord said to Moses, “You’s treadin’ holy ground”
I saw, I saw the light from heaven
Shinin’ all around
I saw the light come shining
I saw the light come down
Dry bones in that valley got up and took a little walk
The deaf could hear and the dumb could talk
I saw, I saw the light from heaven
Shinin’ all around
I saw the light come shining
I saw the light come down
Adam and Eve in the garden under that sycamore tree
Eve said to Adam, “Satan never tempted me”
I saw, I saw the light from heaven
Shinin’ all around
I saw the light come shining
I saw the light come down”
Sam Amidon
Had the great pleasure recently of experiencing the music curator Sam Amidon. You have his preservationist electro-noire attitude to thank for resurrecting this classic done by the folklorist, fiddler Bascom Lamar Lunceford, from North Carolina. The artist, experimental filmmaker, bohemian, mystic, record collector, hoarder, student of anthropology and a Neo-Gnostic bishop Harry Smith is responsible for including it in his groundbreaking, indispensible collection, Anthology of American Folk Music. See below a new kickin’ biography chronicling the wild life of Mr. Smith.
Harry Smith #12 “Heaven and Earth”
““I try to bring people together. I’d seen myself sort of turning into a derelict, and I didn’t know what to do. Every move I made seemed to be wrong... But the reason, as I say, is that I try to fill all the moments that God, whatever that is, that... infinitely small immensity that draws all things together by thrusting them apart...””
Mr. Smith
