Music of Transformation: An Analysis of a Spiritual

When my ability to look inward and outward is darkened by sorrow, I turn to music—music in a minor key.  Not the self-pitying kind, of which Tchaikovsky was a master, but the kind that indicates a way to overcome it. The best minor-key spirituals accomplish this: they provide emotional, intense expressions of sorrow; since there is almost never any trace of egotism, they also lead the listener toward the center of reality where suffering is transcended.

One of the best minor-key spirituals is the traditional “I Told Jesus.”  The words of the spiritual vary; a basic version follows:

I told Jesus it would be all right if He changed my name, 

Jesus said that I would go hungry, if He changed my name,

Jesus said the world would turn against, (or hate), me, if He changed my name, etc.

The meaning here is not something simple such as, “If I do the right thing, people are not going to like it”; it goes much deeper than that.   “Change my name” implies the complete surrendering of one’s identity, so that one becomes, well, One.  Individual comforts, individual greed, individual hates, individual delusions, individual sorrows--and even individual joys—all  these must go.  A thorough giving up of one’s hold on oneself is, as far as the individual is concerned, death.  Evolution, however, has provided all animals, including humans, with a strong instinct to do all they can to avoid annihilation.  That the protagonist of this spiritual is ready to give up individuality is an indication of the almost unbearable suffering that preceded this decision.  Egotism must go; turning back is no longer possible. (Powerful dictators, for instance, not only want to keep their names, but desire to see them writ large on signs and statues as well.)

Some branches of Hinduism teach that the result of giving up is bliss. A well-know term for this is Sat Chit Ananda—Knowledge, consciousness, bliss. Having Jesus change one’s name would result in bliss as well—if the world were just.  All sensible adults know that greed, hate, and delusion are very powerful forces both within oneself and the world.  When the powerful are challenged to the point of feeling threatened, the challenger will be viciously attacked, and, sometimes, even murdered. 

In the Eastern tradition, Gautama Siddhartha gave up his individuality and became the Buddha, after which he taught the dharma, the path, for many years.  In the West, Jesus gave up his individuality, became the Christ--and was crucified shorty thereafter.  Why? Siddhartha was subsumed into Nirvana and became as moral as a mountain.  This was a sublime and majestic transformation; mountains, however, do not fight for the little guy.  Jesus could not become a mountain if every valley weren’t raised as well—for him, the commandment to love one’s neighbor as oneself always remained supreme. 

Jesus taught that he who lives by the sword dies by the sword.  Simone Weil’s addendum: But he who puts down the sword dies on the cross.  In the real, that is, fallen world, the chances of David defeating Goliath are slim--especially when David puts down his slingshot.

Whoever wrote the lyrics to the spiritual was able to express wisdom with very few words—a true mark of genius.

2.  Three Recordings of the Spiritual

The first recording we shall briefly analyze is by Roberta Flack. Ms. Flack has a beautiful voice, but this recording doesn't work very well for me.  It lacks the emotional depth that the words imply. Giving up one's personal identity entirely is similar to suicide--the difference being, a major difference indeed, is that one is giving oneself up in order to be subsumed into a reality far, far greater.The singer doesn't take the consequences of this action seriously.  To use Christian mythology: there will be a Resurrection, but there will be a crucifixion as well.  The crucifixion element, which is essential to a condign rendition of this spiritual, is almost entirely absent in this recording.  It is a too smooth version of an intense song.

What a beautiful voice!  Ms. Simone sings here with great musicianship and with great emotion as well.  (The effective pianist must be a Schubert fan--the accompaniment sounds very similar in parts to that of Schubert's song, Der Tod und das Mädchen. Schubert, by the way, as everyone familiar with his music knows, was at his best when composing in the minor key.)  

I love the way Ms. Simone extends notes to add to the emotional impact.  Her phrasing is impeccable. This is a wonderful recording, no doubt about that.

A musically intense, dramatic illustration of what happens to you when you give up your identity for Jesus, is, however, missing in this recording.  This is not Ms. Simone's fault; for this you would need an arrangement that gives justice to the consequences of always turning the other cheek.  This aspect would be very difficult to express in a solo; you would need contrasting parts, you would need an ensemble.

 This is the best recording of this spiritual I know.  The two elements of the existentially fraught dialogue between the soul and the world are addressed in an appropriately intense fashion, namely,  Soul: "I can bear it any longer.  I give up.  Jesus take over." World: "Just try to become truth to power; once challenged, power will use all things it controls--which are indeed a lot of things--to destroy you." The voices, albeit very good indeed, aren't of the same quality as Nina Simone's, but for me that even adds to the effectiveness of this performance; one gets the impression that we are hearing the voice of everyman or everywoman, in each case an individual who is at the point of going under, with the possibility of rising from the depths forever.
The pianist deserves special praise.  How well he does what only music can: articulate what can't be put it into words, thus perfectly reflecting what is going inside the person who is about to be transformed.  The greatest praise, however, is due to the Harlem Spiritual Ensemble, whose members composed the arrangement of this piece.  How well these musicians have expressed the difficulties that lie in wait for the anyone giving up one's name!  Notice how the piece becomes agitated when the music turns to the inevitable ostracism that is to follow. (How poignant is the use of the "blue" note, the augmented fifth, on one of the times the soprano sings "be," from the phrase, "be all right!"  This blue note indicates to me that the singer is painfully aware of the coming consequences of her decision.)
The contrast between a momentous decision and the trouble that inevitably follows is repeated with increased intensity.   By the end of this wonderful music, we know that the singer, despite everything, is not going to be deterred. At the very end, the singers, now fully realizing what lies in store, and feeling somewhat subdued by this realization, nevertheless assert an inexorable determination, as the music slows, to do what shall be done.
A harrowing performance!


3.

Sometimes spiritual music is convincing for only as long as it's heard. (In my case, I'm a true believer while listening to a Bach cantata; however, if I could travel back in time and attend a service at Bach's church in eighteenth-century Leipzig, Faithful Thomas would again become Doubting Thomas immediately, once the music stopped and the minister started talking.)
While listening to the Harlem Spiritual Ensemble recording, one may think that such a transformation is possible.  But it isn't--few people are able to walk down the very narrow path indicated by this spiritual.  
Absolute redemption that sometimes, albeit very rarely, follows suffering, reminds  me of the first stanza of a poem I wrote long ago, "Homage to Mahalia Jackson":

At the very height of suffering,
most are destroyed; the wounded rest
survive to limp toward nothing
on paths short or long; lost
except for very, very few
who become immortal song.


Jesus is said to have been able to change his name from Jesus of Nazareth to Jesus Christ; Buddha is said to have been able to change his name from Gautama Siddhartha to the Buddha; Ramana Maharshi is said to have able to change his name from Venkataraman Iyer to Ramana Maharshi.  Such transformations might indeed occur, but, as my poem indicates, they are very, very rare.
When a visitor told Ramana Maharshi that he couldn't decide whether to give everything up, that is, change his name, or to continue to live in the world. Would the sage kindly advise?  Ramana smiled and informed him that if he were ready for such a transformation, it would occur naturally as a leaf falling from a tree.
Nearly all of us would be unable to endure such a transformation; there's something in me, for instance, which intends to keep on living in the world and is not ashamed of this decision.  I am in no way advocating solipsism; living in the world does not in any way exclude working to make it better. 
Music such as this is much more than beautiful; devotion to, and acting upon, living truth is an essential element as well. Many are able to respond to the spiritual we've discussed musically; yet if a careful listening thereof doesn't result in our becoming at least a little less self-centered and a little more loving, we might as well be listening to Muzak.

HOW I GOT OVER

I.
During my son's first year of life--and later--I would periodically play a Mahalia Jackson record and dance about the room with little Philip in my arms, both of us laughing with delight. Her music, like all great music from Carnatic to classical, touched me very deeply. That was when I was middle-aged and he was an infant; now he is no longer young and I am old. The great gospel singer's music, unlike so many things that affected me then but leave me cold now, still can bring tears to my eyes.

One of her signature songs is the gospel song, "How I Got Over." The emotions--gratitude praise ecstasy--that she conveys in the song about overcoming the vicissitudes of life is astounding. My soul looks back in wonder, how I made it over...

I remember listening and dancing to this song many years ago; yesterday I listened to it again. The passage of three decades has deepened my experience of this music; then, "How I Got Over," probably had more of a context of having survived a difficult day; now, the deeper meaning, of "How I Got Over" a rather difficult life is joyfully apparent. Although I must say, along with the Spiritual, that "sometimes I'm up, sometimes I'm down," I am indeed still dancing, figuratively and literally. Not bad, not bad at all.

Some time after listening to that great gospel song again, I thought that those who "got over" might indeed have something to say to those who, as yet, haven't. That is the subject of this essay.

ll.
When my son was a little older, I took him to the Maryland Science Center. One of the exhibits there fascinated me a good deal more than him. When you pressed the bottom-most button, you were presented with a picture of a cohort of one hundred newborn crabs. Each of the upper buttons would have announcements such as "six of your siblings have been swept out to sea," "ten of your siblings have been eaten by birds," etc. until, at the top, only one of the original crabs survives--indicating a survival rate of only one percent! If crabs were able to sing gospel, I would imagine that they would all be singing in a minor key, say, Soon I Will Be Done With The Troubles of the World--very soon indeed!  My cohort, American males born in 1945, had an average survival rate at birth of 65 or so, my approximate age now. That means only one in two born then are still alive now--I am pleased, indeed, to count myself among them.
Nature is obviously much more wasteful with crabs than it is with humans. We are at the top of the food chain, very very rarely becoming an animal's meal--while we're alive, at least. We have much to pass on to our offspring to help them succeed in producing the next generation; for this reason, and perhaps others, nature permits us to have a longer lifespan, which, as modern science has amply demonstrated, can be increased considerably by human effort.

So it is nature and an extension of nature, human intelligence, that has helped us to live (relatively) long lives. It is, of course, also luck. Cancer, accidents, suicide, etc. will always cause the deaths--in increasing numbers, as time goes on--of some in a  cohort of people born in any given year. Sometimes it is a matter of pure luck to have escaped them. It is also a matter of genes. To my mind, the most significant factor--even more important since it is somewhat in our control--is the quality of life one leads. A good life tends to lead to a good old age. What matters is not just physical survival, but psychological survival: health is indeed very important, but a successful old age is more or less a matter of perspective, a matter of wisdom.

Wisdom--have you read the papers lately?--is always in short supply. Thus it is critical for all older people who are happier now than they were when young to reflect on the reasons for this, and to find ever better ways to pass on what experience has taught. That is why, I believe, human evolution fosters survival past the reproductive age.  This is especially true, as research shows, for individuals with a positive outlook on life--depressives tend to die at younger ages. Such individuals  are still here not only because they like being here but because they have an evolutionary task, that is, to pass on wisdom to the young so one day they too might say, "My Soul Looks Back in Wonder--How I Got Over!"

lll.
Cleaning up my blog, I found this draft fragment written a few years ago.  I don't have the heart to delete it and do, alas! have the folly to post it.  Life has become tougher and rougher--and that's with the help of a good wife and son! Yes, I am lucky, but I am now not as sanguine about the joys of old age in this world as I was then--except when around loved ones or friends, or when  I am writing or listening to or playing music.  (And, I am happy to say, I still do these things!  Still--)

For those who would like to listen to Mahalia Jackson's version of the gospel song, I have provided a link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVr0opLX9Fg