This week we're taking a look at track 4 on the CD: Rock Me by Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Erica introduces this song by explaining that Sister Rosetta Tharpe is one of her favorites, and it is easy to see why. Rock Me is a spiritual song about beseeching and thanking the Lord for guiding and protecting you throughout your life. In typical gospel fashion, it is an evangelical song expressing joy in one's faith and jovial submission to the will of God. But what is truly interesting about Rock Me is something that may not be readily apparent to modern audiences.
Today, I think we've become well accustomed to the merging of musical traditions, and it doesn't seem strange, new, or unique to hear a devotional song accompanied by music that draws a heavy influence from Jazz and Rock traditions, as Rock Me does so well. But back in the 1930s when Sister Rosetta Tharpe was recording Rock Me, she was a musical pioneer.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe was born in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, and grew up playing then traditional Gospel music. A wunderkind by any standards, Rosetta began performing at the age of four, traveling to tent revivals around the South where she accompanied her mother, who both played and preached, on stage. But in addition to being exposed to Gospel music at such a young age, Rosetta discovered Blues and Jazz, first in the South and later after her family moved to Chicago in the 1920s. As you know, the Blues traveled up the Mississippi from New Orleans and gained a second wind (pun intended) in Chicago in the 20s.
Rosetta played Gospel in public, but in private she was enamored with Jazz, and she began experimenting with incorporating Blues and Jazz rhythms into her Gospel music. Although Rosetta's mixture of Gospel music with more secular styles tended to shock churchgoers, it enjoyed an explosion of popularity among secular audiences. Accordingly, Sister Rosetta Tharpe became the first great recording star of Gospel music, and was even known at the time as the "original soul sister."
She broke new ground with her music, and brought the light of the Gospel even in the "darkest" nightclubs and concert halls, delighting her fans and having a lasting influence on the Gospel musical style.
Rock Me
Hear the words that I'm saying
Wash my soul with water from on high
While the world of love is around me
Evil thoughts do bind me
But Lord, if you leave me,
I will die
You hold me in thou bosom
Till the storms of life is over
Rock me in the cradle of thou love
Only feed me till I want no more
Then you take me to your blessed home above
Make my journey brighter
You make my burden lighter
Help me to do good wherever I can
Oh, let thou presence thrill me
Your love is kindness to me
Then you hold me
Hold me in the hollow of thou hand
You hold me in thou bosom
Till storms of life is over
Rock me in the cradle of thou love
Only feed me till I want no more
Then you take me to your blessed home above
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