Black Hymnody (Continued)
From a musical standpoint, the chords in Tindley's compositions didn't break new ground because the standard I, IV, V harmonies, found in the spirituals, dominated his work (Boyer 1992a, 60-3; Reagon 1992, 46-8). Reflecting his preaching prowess, however, Tindley's song texts spoke poignantly to his hard-working congregation of modest means-hood carriers, domestic workers, and those who performed menial labor (Jones 1982, 38). "As he wrote the music … well brothers and sisters, he wrote from experience. Not only his experience but the experience of others …. He had a way of taking those things that were natural and sometimes material and translating them into that which was spiritual" (Reagon 1992, 47).
Tindley's composition " Leave It There " conveys a spirit of triumph over adversity, content with which his members would indeed identify. Furthermore, Tindley structured his texts to reflect the musical values that had characterized the folk spiritual tradition of the rural South. The refrain "Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there" is repeated in both the verse and chorus, providing an element that the congregation could easily recall in congregational singing. Tindley sometimes taught his songs to his community during the service in which he first introduced them, and in such circumstances, the repeated text would most certainly facilitate rote learning (Jones 1982, 38). In the chorus of "Leave It There", the refrain line alternates with lines of changing text, as in the call-and-response structure; in addition, Tindley skillfully incorporates call-and-response in the chorus's opening line, providing yet another opportunity for full congregational participation. Anyone who hears one of Tindley's most popular songs performed in an engaged African American worship setting will agree with Boyer's assessment that Tindley songs spring to life during a performance (Boyer 1992, 57). The same was true of spirituals sung by slaves in post-Civil War Black southern rural congregations and the early twentieth-century urban storefront.
Listen to the Pace Jubilee singers recording of this hymn in 1928:
Leave It There
If the world from you withhold of its silver and its gold,
And you have to get along with meager fare,
Just remember, in His Word, how He feeds the little bird,
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
Leave it there, leave it there,
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
If you trust and never doubt,
He will surely bring you out,
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
Stand By Me
When the storms of life are raging
Stand by me
When the storms of life are raging
Stand by me
When the world is tossing me
Like a ship out on the sea
Thou who rulest wind and water
Stand by me