Curtis Mayfield - People Get Ready
Curtis Mayfield wrote "People Get Ready" the year after the Civil Rights march on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King gave his "I have a dream" speech. Mayfield drew on Gospel influences from his childhood when his family attended church in Chicago.
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The song became one of the first gospel crossover hits, while at the same time continuing a tradition of American folklore -- the train of salvation -- in the vein of Woody Guthrie and Johnny Cash's popular versions of "This Train's Bound For Glory." Mayfield sings about the same train stopping to pick up the faithful of all colors.
- npr
Follow the npr link above to hear versions of "People Get Ready" by Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Aretha Franklin, Eva Cassidy, and Bob Dylan.
I also have to add this link to one of my favorite singers, Al Green, doing his version of this famous song.
Al Green - People Get Ready
Wikipedia points out that yesterday's changing the world with music feature, "John Mayer's "Waiting on the World to Change" is set to the same chord progression and instrumental rhythm." The songs don't sound the same so I had to pick up my guitar and check this out. Yep, same change.
For a change of pace here's "This Train's Bound For Glory".
Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis
A more recent hit, Josh Turner's "Long Black Train" follows in the same vein.
Josh Turner - Long Black Train
Please add your favorite Gospel music that changed the world in the comments.
Thanks,
Hairy Larry