“I Could Still Go Free”
Our favorite (and maybe only?) Irish reader, Irishlad, mentioned a clip of the Crabb Family singing the old Hinsons classic “I Could Still Go Free” and so I went and tracked it down. Take a look (the embed feature has been disabled, but it’s worth clicking through to).
Listening to this song, I realized that this is exactly what people must have felt like when the Goodmans and the Hinsons and Hemphills were in their heyday. In other words, this is something that won’t last, and we shortshrift it at everyone’s peril.
How much of a prophet you think this makes me probably depends on your feelings about Crabb Family music and their pseudo-dissolution in the intervening years since I wrote that. No matter, I think the song wears well after these handful of years. With distance and time, the Crabbs sound a lot flatter a lot more of the time during the performance than I would have recalled from unaided memory (Mike Bowling is badly out of shape here vocally, and Terah Crabb Penhollow and esp Kelly Bowling have a lot of trouble placing big pitches). But that hardly matters. There is live music and then there live music and this is palpably alive.
The other thing that’s striking is how the band (esp the guitars) generates so much of the aliveness that makes the musical experience far, far greater than the sum of the vocalists, who technically struggle, but who nevertheless seem to find in and through the song that special live place where some singers on certain nights in the right moment go, accessing an expressive capacity whose effect transcends the technicalities of the pitch-pipe. And so, too, do we go with them, set free.
Update: Reader j-mo modestly proposes that I’m miscounting the time signature here:
The song is in 6/8 time, not 3/4. That means the chorus doesn’t ride the four of the cord for four bars, but rather two, which is actually pretty normal.
As I told j-mo, I have no reason to dispute this; I’ve always only ever been a music-theory hack. But I’m going to leave the original reading of the song as is, not because j-mo might not be right but b/c my underlying point - that the song exploits sg audience’s attraction to suspended resolutions (whether harmonic or emotional) - remains the same whether the tune is written in an elongated 3/4 or a standard 6/8.
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Irishlad wrote:
DH, you dissected that like one of Burke and Hare’s charges, althouqh having said that you played the part more like one of the resurectionists themselves. I thoroughly enjoyed that verbose(only kidding)piece of wordmanship. Keep up the excellent work you and your interns do.
Posted 22 Oct 2008 at 11:09 pm ¶
Kyle wrote:
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Posted 23 Oct 2008 at 6:54 am ¶
Seaton wrote:
Mike & Kelly Bowling still stage this song. I agree with your sentiments. One of my all time favorite songs.
Posted 23 Oct 2008 at 7:19 am ¶
Mike Corder wrote:
I’m surprised you didn’t issue a disclaimer for the consistent flatness of one of the girls singing the high do (1) part in the choruses.
Posted 23 Oct 2008 at 8:57 am ¶
Tom wrote:
Thanks for bringing attention to this clip. I fell in love with it when I found it a couple of months ago while searching for Mike & Kelly Bowling videos on YouTube for my 8-year-old son, who is obssessed with Mike & Kelly Bowling’s new CD.
In addition to what Avery mentioned, this video represents a couple of important things in my mind: (1) the incredible value of a live band and (2) the kinds of things that can be accomplished when NQC’s dress code is broken by someone who doesn’t have a suit on.
I might also mention that another YouTuber has posted this very same clip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPAX_0zTaxk. This other clip appears to be embeddable AND the video is considerably less choppy and seems to have slightly better resolution (at least on my computer), although the volume is slightly lower and it’s harder to pump up the volume . . . .
Posted 23 Oct 2008 at 9:36 am ¶
NonSgfan wrote:
Great Great song..more proof of the digression of southern gospel music today. NOTHING is that impactful today. I cannot think of a SINGLE SONG that has that kind of impact and “Umph” to it. Just hits you in the gut.
In a day of songs like “red letter day” or “he saw it all”…thank GOD we have youtube and old CD’s and tapes to go back to and actually get some lyrical content. When THOSE SONGS are considered “great” we have a problem.
God, please send revival to this generation…and give them some stinkin’ inspiration for some SONGS.
Posted 23 Oct 2008 at 11:34 am ¶
art wrote:
Yeah, it’s a great song. But I think the key is in the performance — the charisma, as Avery put it. That’s one thing I noticed in the Crabb tape and the Hinson tape in the other thread: They both brought some enthusiasm and life to the performance.
Too often, the SG performers I see appear to be bored and tired. (The Booth Brothers were he exception.) I’d forgive a fair number of technical and musical sins if the performers seem happy to be there.
That, and it’s probably hard to groove to the accompaniment of taped orchestration.
Posted 23 Oct 2008 at 2:46 pm ¶
Revpaul wrote:
Lock me up in a prison, and throw away the key
Take away the vision, from these eyes that now can see
Deprive me of the food I eat
You can even bind my hands and feet
But as long as I have Jesus
Then I can still go free
That I could still go free
What kind of man, would reach down His hand
And do this for me?
(I’m) Unworthy to live, and not fit to kill
But the man on the cross, put me in his will
And said that I could still go free
Now I never could quite understand
Why a King would want to leave His throne
To don the robes of an earthly man
Feel the pain of flesh and bone
And to later trod, trod a lowly path
That led to (dark) Calvary
Where the blood washed stains
Broke all the chains
So that I could still go free
One of the best songs of the great songwriter, Ronnie Hinson. I especially like the rhymes in the chorus “kill” “will” and “still”.
Posted 23 Oct 2008 at 8:24 pm ¶
Harry Peters wrote:
I support my brother Irish Lad. Whatever he may do. I trust his heart….and I know how gave it to him.
Anyway I can support you Irish Lad, Old Harry Peters will bust a nut or break his back to save you.
Soli Deo Gloria! (To God, Alone, Be the Glory)
Amen,
Harry Peters.
Posted 23 Oct 2008 at 10:05 pm ¶
Jim E. Davis wrote:
After the lighthouse, this is probably my favorite Hinson song. The anatomization by our host was appreciated even if I had to read it twice. The unusual number of measures baffled me as a fifteen year old and I recall having to play the record several times to memorize it.
We still perform it during our annual family reunions and it never fails to move me every time I hear it.
Curious. My Dad always did a recitation with the song (he passed away in 1996) about a little boy who trapped some worthless sparrows and put them in a cage. A preacher buys them and then opens the cage and sets them free - a correlation to Christ and the sinner. Where did this come from? Did a Southern Gospel group perform this or did my father come up with it on his own? No one in our family knows.
If they keep such records in Heaven, it will be interesting to know the number of souls who came to Christ through this powerful song.
Posted 24 Oct 2008 at 1:53 am ¶
Daniel J. Mount wrote:
#6 - But how widely do you listen?
“Calvary Answers for Me”
“Walk Away Free”
“What We Needed”
“Once Upon a Cross”
“I Rest My Case at the Cross”
…and the list goes on. I think there are a lot of great songs out there that make many, me included, just be blown away every time we hear them.
Posted 24 Oct 2008 at 6:41 am ¶
Irishlad wrote:
Heartfelt thanks Old H.P.you just about brought a tear to another ‘old boy’s’ eye.
Posted 24 Oct 2008 at 8:13 am ¶
NonSgfan wrote:
Daniel, Those are exceptions. In the “old days” they used to be the COMMON FACTOR. I personally believe that 80% or maybe more of todays songs are shallow, and not as touching as the 70’s, and 80’s.
Also, those few and far between monstor songs dont get the recognition nationally as the little catchy tunes that make people bob their heads.
I just long for the days of deep writing.
Posted 24 Oct 2008 at 9:38 am ¶
Brett wrote:
Another thing about songs of old, SG artist just don’t take the time to complete a cd where you like all the songs on it. I remember when the Nelons came out with “Thanks” cd. I like every single song on there. I don’t like every song on the Hoppers “the Ride” cd and I really hate Ronnie Hinson’s song of the same title. It was a poor choice from the group to release it as a single. The days of liking all 10 songs on a SG album are over I guess.
Posted 24 Oct 2008 at 11:05 am ¶
Daniel J. Mount wrote:
#13 - I’m of the opinion that there were poor songs years back, but we just don’t remember them.
Posted 24 Oct 2008 at 11:39 am ¶
NonSgfan wrote:
Brett….amen brother
Posted 24 Oct 2008 at 11:40 am ¶
Jerry wrote:
I was there. Third row I think? Mike was pulled up without warning. That explains the clothing. I think Jason mentioned that he would get killed because of Mike’s clothes!! I remember they asked him what key it was in. The entire song appeared to be unrehearsed. That is when we experience the most memorable “take home” moments. Standing ovation I believe??? 60,000 youtube views?? Hhhmmmmm??? somebody liked it, maybe a LOT???
This is an NQC mix with no remix. How can one be critical of this? It is almost laughable.
After ripping a 14 year old Morgan Easter and calling Jason a diva, this is light weight stuff.
Terah, Kelly, Adam, Aaron, Mike, and Jason are singing at the top of their game. I have heard them all in the past few months. Most importantly, they are called and it shows. That’s why Avery loved the song live. It was annointed.
Maybe he’s the emotional DIVA!!
Posted 24 Oct 2008 at 12:39 pm ¶
Grigs wrote:
I was around in the 70’s and 80’s and people were pining away for the 50s and 60s. In 2028, they’ll be yearning for the great songs from the turn of the century.
Posted 24 Oct 2008 at 1:09 pm ¶
j-mo wrote:
Avery…I think maybe you’re counting incorrectly. The song is in 6/8 time, not 3/4. That means the chorus doesn’t ride the four of the cord for four bars, but rather two, which is actually pretty normal.
Posted 27 Oct 2008 at 9:38 am ¶
Wade wrote:
# 19 J-Mo… OMG…come on… as a percussionist there is truly very little difference…especially enough to COUNT to try to figure it out. You could play this song in either time. Be interesting to see if anybody actually has sheet music.
But if I was getting together with other musicians to stage the song
I would say… 3/4 time with a 6 feel. Not a strict 3/4 or waltz feel like Thank God I’m Free or Tennessee Waltz.
Talk about straining on a gnat but swallow and elephant!!! God Bless Ya DH!!!
Posted 27 Oct 2008 at 2:46 pm ¶