Some time in 1971, Gavin Bryars approached a tramp and got him to sing a stanza of a piece he’d composed called Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet. The recording’s original purpose was to be used in a documentary chronicling street life in London, but when Bryars realised the clip was in tune with his piano, and looped well into 13 bars, he wanted to do something different with it.
Bryars has released a number of different versions, gradually increasing the length as new technology became available — starting with a 25 minute LP version, then a 60 minute cassette tape version, and finally a 74 minute version for CD. And then, one final version in the 1990s, of the same length, but introducing Tom Waits singing along in the final section.
What I’ve uploaded here is the coda of the piece, at only 1 minute and 48 seconds, and it feels a little like spoiling the end of a great movie — however, Tumblr’s 10mb limitation and, surely, your attention span, prevent me from uploading the full piece here. I highly suggest purchasing the full version, with an epic build up through a string quartet, full strings, and eventually to a full orchestra, with Tom Waits singing along in the closing movements.
Sadly, the tramp died before the piece was complete, but if there’s any justice, this recording will live on as a masterpiece for a long time to come.
Notes
-
dolbylicious
reblogged this from
tuneage
-
grahamjackson
reblogged this from
tuneage
-
about-today
reblogged this from
tuneage
and added:
Most useful tuneage post ever. Audio’s really low, though.
-
joesnake
reblogged this from
tuneage
-
tuneage
posted this
