Were You There? (Bedroom Demo #273)

Were You There?

words and music: composed by enslaved African Americans during the 19th century)

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble tremble tremble

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?

Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?

Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble tremble tremble

Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?

Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?

Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?

Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble tremble tremble

Were you there when the laid Him in the tomb?

Were you there when He rose up from the grave?

Were you there when He rose up from the grave?

Oh sometimes it causes me to tremble tremble tremble

Were you there when He rose up from the grave?

guitar and vocal: T.S. Taylor

note:

“Were You There?” Is an African-American spiritual composed during the 19th century and first printed in 1899. It is the first spiritual to be included in any major Church hymnal. It’s also unique in that it is the only African-American song included in the Catholic Church’s Liturgy of the Hours. One of Mahatma Gandhi’s favorites, the song has been recorded by a number of artists, including Johnny Cash, Phil Keaggy, and Harry Belafonte.

In some versions of the song (mine included) the words “the tree” is substituted for “the cross,” creating a strong metaphor between Jesus’ suffering and the suffering of the slaves who composed the song. The present tense, first-person perspective of “Were You There?” reflects the Christian principal that all of humanity, past, present, and future, bears the responsibility for our complicity in the sin that resulted in the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This was a hard one to record. I kept getting choked up, so it took a number of takes to get through it. I chose to leave some of the rougher emotional moments in the final vocal, so if you hear a few “dicey” notes please know that they were left in intentionally. In other words, there’s no need to write to me with the intention of pointing it out! Ha!

To all of my beloved Patreon members, may God grant you a blessed Easter. He is Risen!