Samson and Delilah / If I Had My Way
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“God moved on the wings of the wind …” – Earliest Recordings
Several recordings of the song we recognize as “Samson” survive from the inter-war period. Interestingly, they are all quite different from each other. Davis must have heard some of them as a younger man. One may be a candidate for his direct inspiration. However, I find it more useful to think of it all in terms of an “assemblage method in African American religious song” as William Ellis put it. Think of all this as listening to an aural cross-section of that process.
The Reverend T. E. Weems, backed with a small studio “congregation,” cut a ‘singing sermon’ version of “If I Had My Way I’d Tear the Building Down” for Columbia Records, which released the track in 1927. It’s both gritty and spiritual; I find it mesmerizing. Note here that Weems in his introduction explicitly identifies the “building” as a metaphor for “sin that troubled the Christian past.”
That same year, Paramount Records released “If I Had My Way,” recorded by the Reverend T. T. Rose. While also backed with a gospel chorus, Rose uses a rollicking piano as well. Again, you wonder whether this music is for Saturday night or Sunday morning. A thorough listen also reveals this track as the one with the most in common with Davis’ lyrics.
We can hear that these two ‘singing sermons’ are quite different from one another, both musically and lyrically. But that’s not where our varied sampling must end. The most famous pre-war recording of “Samson” comes from the evangelist blues man Blind Willie Johnson. Columbia released his powerhouse version of “If I Had My Way I’d Tear the Building Down” in 1927 as well.
Multiple sources cite a story that Johnson was once arrested in New Orleans for performing this song. Police charged him with inciting a riot for playing it in front of the Custom House on Canal Street. They took his chorus as a literal threat – like Dr. Lester said, that’s pretty much the point!
“Samson” was also popular among the many Jubilee singing groups of the inter-war period, such as those we’ve heard above. At least two key recordings survive today. Bluebird Records released a performance of “If I Had My Way” by The Golden Gate Quartet in 1939.
John Wesley Work recorded another in 1941, with nearly identical lyrics, by the Heavenly Gate Quartet in Fort Valley, Georgia. Originally archived in the Library of Congress, it’s now available in remastered collections. Thought the recording quality is sub-standard, I find it the more compelling of the two for personal, aesthetic reasons.
Lyrics for The Heavenly Gate Quartet and The Golden Gate Quartet