1056. I'll Fly Away (Albert E. Brumley)

Albert Brumley wrote and sang gospel songs at churches, tent revivals and evangelical radio shows around Tulsa, Oklahoma. He wrote of this composition:

"I was picking cotton on my father's farm and was humming the old ballad that went like this: 'If I had the wings of an angel, over these prison walls I would fly' and suddenly it dawned on me that I could use this plot for a gospel-type song.

"About three years later, I finally developed the plot, titled it 'I'll Fly Away,' and it was published in 1932.

"Those familiar with the song will note that I paraphrased one line of the old ballad to read 'Like a bird from prison bars have flown.' When I wrote it, I had no idea that it would become so universally popular."

(From a letter to Dorothy Horstman, Jan. 10, 1973. The ballad referred to is "The Prisoner's Song," by Robert Massey, 1924)

The song has been recorded many times, some notable renditions being by Alan Jackson and by Allison Krauss and Gillian Welch, whose version was used in the movie "Brother, Where Art Thou?".

This song was requested by mygrceisgone.

You can see a playlist of my gospel songs here: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=5444D35A2AD94845

For lyrics and chords of my songs, please see my website: http://www.raymondcrooke.com

Category:

Music

Tags:

• folk
• song
• gospel
• allison
• krauss
• gillian
• welch
• brother
• where
• art
• thou
• spiritual
• christian

[tisom2]

Very nice and uplifting! God Bless!

[raymondcrooke]

@tisom2 Glad you enjoyed it.

[ImOfTheWoods]

Everyone's version is different - this is great, Raymond - enjoyed it very much. 8o)

[raymondcrooke]

@ImOfTheWoods Thank you. It's a lovely song.

[raymondcrooke]

@AlecW1234 When I do requests, like this one, they are often songs I don't normally sing, so I'm likely to make mistakes like the one you pointed out. Thanks for your comments.

[AlecW1234]

@AlecW1234 I also noticed that at around :26 seconds in, you play the C correctly -- for the 4 beats mentioned above. This is great because now I have reference to exactly what I was talking about earlier haha, simply apply that to every time around and you're good to go :) Thanks again for the history lesson in the description.

[AlecW1234]

Good job sir, very uplifting. I love the info on the original artist that you gave in the description, I didn't know all that.

One bit of constructive criticism: the C following the G needs to be held for a full 4 beats. Start playing C at the beginning of the word "I" in the phrase "I'll fly away" and then go back to the G. The quick D that you do is correct, and I think that may be why you were playing the C quickly as well (an easy mistake to make).

[IRELAND12100]

this is not ireland12100 this is elaina and that is my great uncle

[raymondcrooke]

@accordiona Thank you.

[accordiona]

Beautiful singing - very uplifting!

Lorna