SUTC:Wade In The Water
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Artist:The Salem Travelers
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Album:Children Gone Astray
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Track:Wade In The Water
A song first written down in 1901, but much older, it has served as a jump off for secular and gospel artists ever since. See the Dot for the Salem Travelers (1969,soul gospel) and see Harvey Mandel (1968,rock jam), Big Mama Thornton (1967,blues belt), Prince w/ Mavis Staples (1988,live), Little Sonny (1973) Wattstax), The Blind Boys of Alabama (2002,laid back), and the Soul Stirrers (1959,pop gospel) down below. The Soul Stirrers version might be the one (if you can imagine it sans instruments) that sounds the most like the way The Fisk Jubilee Singers sung it back in 1901.
There are myriad other versions including the Ramsey Lewis hit version, Billy Preston, and The Golden Gate quartet, but here are 7 to check out at your leisure. Peace.
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Comments (22)
Whoa! Who is this guy Wade of whom you speak, and why is he so wet?
And for the record, delighted that you unfurled the remarkable Harvey Mandel version. Ain't heard it in oh-so-many years.
Thanks Mike..I just heard the Harvey record a few years ago..very David Axelrodd-ish (the producer, not the politico), which is a major plus for me.
god, I love your posts!
Remarkable
I'll have to take time to go through all of them, but the button track and Howie, I mean Harvey Mandel versions are cool versions.
Thanks Rummy! I guess if I had to choose I'd go with the Soul Stirrers, but there's something in all the versions that draws me in. Big Mama's very secular voice, Little Sonny's harp action, or the expanse of Harvey..it's all good. There's a whole raft of boogalooish versions insprired by the Ramsey Lewis hit that have their charms as well.
No rush,Doc..I don't expect folks to go through all of 'em, just to recognize how sturdy this old warhorse of a tune is. It isn't part of the American Popular Songbook as defined by Tin Pan Alley standards, but perhaps those standards need to be expanded a bit.
Let's not forget the Gillian Welch, Emmy Lou Harris, and Allison Krauss version for the O Brother Where Are't Thou? Soundtrack. I'll post it later if someone doesn't beat me to it.
You go on ahead brother...the more the merrier. Thirsty ears await.
Damn! I looked and realized I had completely gotten it wrong! Now I'm not sure what contemporary version of the song is bouncing around in my head. Who did it? I'm sutmped, but I had it pegged to that movie!
598 versions in the All Music guide
Others by folks I know:
Hope that helps.
Nope. Not in the least, but the effort is apprecciated. For some reason I'm thinking someone like Joan Osbourne or a Natalie Merchant type of female singer. Nothing on my iTunes.
You are hallucinating! Or maybe I am.
Two further cuts here: Firstly Ramsey Lewis with Maurice White and Cleveland Eaton - http://mog.com/Baudolino/blog/150423
Then the Harmonizing Four - http://mog.com/Baudolino/blog/150421
Thanks B, almost a minion of Wade's now..
And dipping into the water up to waist height once more, a personal favourite by the Angelic Choir, released on Savoy records back when all this was cooling lava....
I confess I went straight to Prince's version - and, mmmmmm, turned out it started my Friday evening off just right
This is definitely a post to wade in
Cody, you came up with a good variety of unexpected choices here, all of them fine to me. Big Mama Thornton gives Baudolino's Fairfield Four version a good run for its money.
To bring more coals to Newcastle, I got items from four different CDs on the Document label, which systematically reissued every pre-war blues and gospel recording.
In reverse chronological order, first are the Belmont Silvertone Jubilee Singers (1939), from the CD "Belmont Silvertone Jubilee Singers/Southern Wonder Quartet 1939/40."
Next are the Birmingham Jubilee Singers (1930) from the CD "Vol. 2-(1927-30)."
Next are the Lincoln Four Quartette, from the CD "Vocal Quartets Vol. 4 K/L/M (1927-1943)."
Last are the Sunset Four from the CD "Black Vocal Groups, Volume 1, 1924-30."
Absolutely maginificent folks..Hard to even begin to rank 'em because they each posess infinite charms..the very non-gospel guitar in the Angelic Choir version..the interplay from the Belmont Jubilees, the gruff lead from Birmingham J's, the croaking frog bass voice from the Lincoln 4, and the Sunset 4 that at points harkens back to more directly African sounds. Both the Lincolns and the Sunsets have those echoes of the pygmy vocal stylings..to me anyway. Stellar.
Thanks to y'all I think we've got this post up to the level that rummy cited earlier.
I am submerged.
Drink deep my friend...also, please note my grave error..The Prince cut here doesn't feature Mavis Staples, but Patti LaBelle. My bad.
an error you could have taken to the grave by me.
It's amazing how many times a song has been *covered*! I wonder not by the industry standard but how some artists feel when they cover another artist work and when someone else covers their work. Example - PRINCE. Prince does not like it when other people cover his work and he will SHOOT you down. Did you see this?
My Way or Norway: Prince Sues to Obliterate Tribute Album | Listening Post
Wade in the Water was a song that I learned in church growing up. I though was amazed that Tony Toni Tone used the Wade in the Water melody in their hit song, "Little Walter" here:
Thank you for the education, CodyB! xoxo