—————————
It was 1926, and 21-year-old Albert Brumley (1905-1977) was picking cotton on his father’s farm in Oklahoma. The work was hard, the sun was hot, and Alfred was wishing he could be somewhere else. He did not love farming. He loved music; writing, playing, and singing music. In fact, as he worked, he was singing about flying away in the words of ‘The Prisoner’s Song,’ one of the most popular songs at the time. The song contains these lyrics: “Oh, if I had wings like an angel, through to heavenly sky I would fly; I’d fly to the arms of my darlin’, and there I’d be willing to die.” Albert later said, “I was dreaming about, and singing about, flying away from that cotton field when I got the idea to write ‘I’ll Fly Away.’”
“The Prisoner’s Song” was about flying away from prison, but Albert wanted to do a Gospel hymn. He used flying out of prison as a metaphor for leaving this earthly life, writing in the second stanza, “Like a bird from prison bars has flown, I’ll fly away.” He may have also been influenced by an old Negro spiritual from a hundred years earlier, in which these words appeared: “I’ll fly away to my heavenly home, and I’ll shout glory.”
It wasn’t until three years later that Albert completed the lyrics and the music to ‘I’ll Fly Away,’ and it was another three years before Albert’s wife convinced him to send it to a publisher. Finally, in 1932 the hymn was published by the Hartford Music Company in a collection titled “Wonderful Messages.” Brumley’s rural background made it natural for him to appeal to the common person. “I’ll Fly Away,” produced during the Great Depression, was carried to the nation by radio and traveling Southern Gospel quartets. People everywhere were receiving renewed hope as they listened to “I’ll Fly Away,” and then, to other Brumley compositions.
This was the first of 100 songs Brumley would publish (out of 600 that he wrote), songs which have been recorded by countless artists. Albert Brumley has been described as the pre-eminent gospel song-writer of the 20th century; and ‘I’ll Fly Away’ has been called the most recorded Gospel song ever. It appears in many hymnals and on dozens of Country Western albums. It is also a standard song at bluegrass jam sessions, was recorded by the Boston Pops Orchestra, and is often performed at jazz funerals in the New Orleans tradition. There is even a Reggae version recorded by Bob Marley and the Wailers. This song by a tired cotton farmer, inspired by hard work on a hot day, has appealed to a wide variety of people.
———————
“I’LL FLY AWAY”
Music and lyrics by Albert E. Brumley
Some glad morning when this life is over
I’ll fly away
To a home on God’s celestial shore
I’ll fly away
Refrain: I’ll fly away, oh, Glory
I’ll fly away (in the morning)
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by
I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away)
When the shadows of this life have gone,
I’ll fly away;
Like a bird from prison bars has flown,
I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away). Refrain.
Just a few more weary days and then
I’ll fly away
To a land where joy shall never end
I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away). Refrain.
*************************************************
Psalm 55:6 — Oh, that I had wings like a dove! For then would I fly away, and be at rest.
Psalm 90:10 — Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
Job 9:25 — My days are swifter than a runner; they fly away without a glimpse of joy.
**************************************************
Listen to my prayer, O God; do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught… My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen on me. Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me. Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. I would flee far away, and stay in the desert. I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm.
–Psalm 55
—————————————–
Related Posts
