The Godmother of Rock & Roll: Sister Rosetta Tharpe


The Godmother of Rock & Roll: Sister Rosetta Tharpe

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Ladies and gentlemen, at this time,

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I take great pleasure, in bringing to you,

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one of the greatest,

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one of the world's greatest gospel singers...

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..and guitar virtuoso...

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..the inimitable

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Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

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In the summer of 1964, in the pouring rain, from a disused railway station outside Manchester,

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a 49-year-old African-American woman with an electric guitar appeared on British television.

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Viewers had never seen anything quite like it.

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With her distinctive style of singing and playing, this remarkable

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performer would profoundly influence the course of popular music.

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# Didn't it rain, children?

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# Rain, oh, yes

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# Didn't it just, didn't it? You know it did

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# Didn't it? Oh, oh, yes

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# How it rained

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# I said it rained, children

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# Rained, oh yes

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# Didn't it just, didn't it? You know it did

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# Didn't it? Oh, my Lord

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# How it rained... #

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'She had a guitar that was made of steel'

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and it was loud.

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She'd get on that one string and start banging on it

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and people would go crazy.

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She could play a guitar like nobody else...nobody!

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Let's do that again!

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I think Rosetta was a hugely important figure.

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'She was really unique as a guitar player.

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'She had a big influence on Chuck Berry

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'who was one of the most influential guitar players in the world.'

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'She did incredible picking.'

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That's what attracted Elvis, was her picking.

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He liked her singing too, but he liked that picking first

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because it was so different.

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# Don't you know this train is a clean train?

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# Everybody ridin' in Jesus' name

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# Because this train is a clean train... #

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She had a major impact on artists like Elvis Presley.

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When you see Elvis Presley singing early songs in his career,

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I think if you imagine that he's channelling Rosetta Tharpe.

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'It's not an image that we're used to thinking about in rock and roll history.

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'We don't think about the black woman behind the young white man.'

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'All the kids who grew up in the '40s and '50s knew of her as a superstar'

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and so I think it's very fair to say

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that there's a bit of her snuck up in all of rock and roll.

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# This train is a clean train

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# This train! #

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Hey!

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APPLAUSE

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Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

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INAUDIBLE

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Sister Rosetta Tharpe was born close by the mighty Mississippi,

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on March 20th 1915, in Cotton Plant, Arkansas.

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# Gracious memories

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# How, how, how... #

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Her parents Katie Bell and Willis Atkins were cotton pickers

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# Yeah, yeah, how... #

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'We don't know too much about Rosetta's father.'

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What we do know about the father is that Willis Atkins could sing.

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And so it's possible that some of her gift of singing came from her father.

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Her mother was an evangelist for the Church of God in Christ.

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Her mother was incredibly passionate about the Church.

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Rosetta's mother, Miss Katie Bell we called her, was a very traditional person

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and basically she was what we called a "stomp down Christian".

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I mean that's one that enjoyed stamping her feet

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and patting her hands and celebrating what she believed in.

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GOSPEL SINGING

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'Well, the reason that Rosetta became such a strong woman was because of her mother.

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'Her mother again was the same type of person. She had no fear.'

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She would take her guitar, she would take her tambourine.

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She would take her chair and sit outside and play

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'for people and try to convert them, to get them to go to church.'

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GOSPEL MUSIC

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In 1921, Katie Bell left Rosetta's father

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to become a travelling evangelist for the Church of God in Christ.

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Taking the six year-old Rosetta, she left Cotton Plant

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and joined the exodus of poor black southerners heading north.

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There was work in the great city of Chicago,

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and also something even more crucial for the young Rosetta.

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The migrants brought the blues from the Mississippi Delta and jazz from New Orleans.

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Rosetta is often seen as a country singer, but that's a fallacy.

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Her major development occurred very early. She moved to Chicago when she was six.

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She, and mother Bell, joined Robert's Temple Church of God in Christ,

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and the Chicago Sanctified Church

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was bubbling with musicians and new songs.

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And so she was exposed to something that was new. It wasn't rural.

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It was an urban kind of religious singing.

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It was at that church that she first really started performing.

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She was the main attraction.

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There's a great story that she was put on the piano when she was six years old on the top of a piano,

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holding a guitar, being put there, so she could be seen

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by the congregation and playing, and singing and charming everyone with her talent and her precociousness.

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# There's something within me... #

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She told me that when she was a girl, not even ten,

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she was immediately seen as an all-purpose musician.

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She'd go to a revival and she'd play her guitar

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and if the people would get happy afterwards and shout,

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she'd drop the guitar and run to the piano and

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accompany them with her piano chords,

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and then she might get up and cut a couple of dance steps herself.

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She was a phenomenal show-woman.

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# On life's battlefield

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# When without pleading My poor heart did yield

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# All I can say Praise God

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# There's something within... #

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All through her teens, Rosetta was taken by her mother from

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city to city, to perform in churches, tabernacles, and revival meetings,

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winning the hearts of thousands with her demure looks, angelic voice and unique guitar style.

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# Have you that something? That burning desire... #

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She soon became a nation-wide celebrity within the church.

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And this Philadelphia church is one of the first she performed in,

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back in the 1930s.

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GOSPEL SINGING

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Those who heard the young Rosetta were inspired for life.

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When I saw Rosetta I was about ten years old.

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Oh, she had the most beautiful voice and the way she could speak to you.

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It made you feel different.

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You knew something was going on,

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even if you didn't really understand what it was.

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And that's the way it was for me because I was a child.

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GOSPEL SINGING

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'Many of the hymns were the expression of suffering,'

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and wanting to survive, many of them.

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And when she came and they saw the expression of her,

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the freedom that she expressed in her singing and dancing,

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it woke up the congregation. It focused them on something that was on the inside,

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that they never gave expression to.

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Rosetta would start looking up.

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She didn't look at anybody.

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She looked up as if she saw God.

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It was as if God was in her and she was communing with him, rather than with a human being.

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In 1934, when Rosetta was just 19, her mother married her off to a preacher, The Reverend Tommy Tharpe.

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For the next four years, she and Tommy worked for the Church of God in Christ.

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Her job was to draw the crowds while he preached from the pulpit.

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But, in spite of her mother's good intentions, the marriage wasn't working out.

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# Look up

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# Look up

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# And see your maker

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# Before Gabriel... #

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'I met Sister Rosetta in the summer of 1937.'

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She seemed a little bit glad that she was married,

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but she didn't seem to be very happy,

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and that's the reason I took to her, because I wanted to

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just make her happy, make her feel as special as she really was.

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But I had no idea that she and Tommy wouldn't make it.

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'He was a tyrant.'

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From what my parents used to say,

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he seemed to come out of the real, real sub-old school

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and believed in the almost caveman-like attitude towards women.

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I found that he really wanted her,

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because he figured they could use her to make money to help him make a living, and that's the truth.

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I hate to say that, but that's the way it turned out to be.

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She was just a meal ticket.

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She was a performer

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and he used her to bring people to his churches and he would put her up to sing.

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And after a few years, she had enough and she said "You know what?

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"I'm going to leave all of it!"

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And she made that big jump.

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Let down by the first of several men in her life, Rosetta left her husband

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and took her mother to New York, to forge a new life for herself.

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'My husband and I, we separated a little later too.'

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So she said "Well, Sister, why don't you come to New York and stay with

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me and Mama for a little while until you decide what you want to do".

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So I did, I went there.

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'We would sit up all night long

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'and sing and she'd pick the guitar softly'

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and we'd both sit up there and cry.

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We'd cry because we didn't know where we were going from there.

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In a city full of nightclubs, Rosetta's talent was soon noticed.

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She was offered a spot at the prestigious Cotton Club, singing to an up-market white audience.

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But the songs she was given by the men in charge made no mention of God - just pleasing her man.

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# Four or five times

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# Four or five times

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# It's my delight doing things right

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# Four or five times

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# Now, baby I'll sigh

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# And maybe I'll cry

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# But if I'll die I'm gonna try to make

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# Four or five times

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-# I said four or five times

-Four or five times

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-# Four or five times

-Four or five times

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# Now he's my king he makes me sing

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-# Four or five times

-Yes indeed

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-# I confess

-I confess

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-# He is the best

-He is the best

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# That's the test Four or five times... #

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'It was like a bomb had dropped on gospel music when she flipped.'

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It was like "What? I can't believe it. That's Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

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"She's not supposed to be singing that kind of music!"

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'Oh, she was criticised and ostracised.'

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I mean the church people thought she'd gone way off.

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# Four or five times

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# Oh, four or five times

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# It's my desire To set the world on fire

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-# Four or five times

-I hear you talkin', sister

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-# Maybe I'm wrong

-Maybe you're wrong

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-# Then, maybe I'm right

-Maybe I'm right

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# But right or wrong I'm gonna swing this song

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# Four or five... #

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'Actually, it was hurtful to a lot of people,

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'because they felt as though they'd lost something.'

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They had something and it was great, but now it's gone.

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They viewed it almost like a death.

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You know, "Rosetta is gone.

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"She went over. She's like in another world."

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# Maybe I'll sigh Maybe I'll cry... #

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But having discovered that she loved God AND nightclubs, Rosetta decided

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to sing gospel in church and join the secular world of show business.

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No longer the good little girl from church, she was happy to defy convention.

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# One, two, three, four Four or five times! #

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The offers poured in.

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She was wanted by all the big bands of the day.

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She decided to go with the band leader Lucky Millinder and manager Moe Gale.

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In October 1938, she signed a contract with Decca Records

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which was keen to capitalise

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on the novelty of a gospel singer with a racy new style.

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This wasn't the path that her devoted mother Katie Bell had chosen,

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but she stuck by her daughter.

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# Now won't you hear me singin'?

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# Hear the words that I'm saying... #

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Her first hit was a song called Rock Me

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and the lyric is, "Jesus hear me praying".

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She sang "Won't you hear me praying".

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So when she came to the chorus when she sang, "rock me", and growled "rock",

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it sounded, to many people, like an invitation - and not to the altar.

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# In the bosom

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# Till the storms of life is over Rock me in the cradle

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# Of our love... #

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Recording the song in that particular way marked her as someone

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having the nerve to re-interpret a spiritual song for a secular audience.

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I think there was also a piece of her that was just rebellious.

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-# I want a tall skinny papa

-Yeah!

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-# I wanna tall skinny papa

-Yeah... #

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She does some very risque material with Lucky Millinder,

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most notably a song called Tall Skinny Papa,

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which was a big hit for Millinder's band.

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She was the lead singer on that and she sings "I want a tall skinny papa".

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There's no way off misinterpreting "I want a tall skinny papa"

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for anything to do with spirituality.

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-# Tall, tall skinny papa

-I want a tall skinny papa

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# That's all I'll ever need... #

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The next thing I heard was this recording out of Rosetta with the Tall Skinny Papa.

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So I said "It can't be Rosetta!" So I went and bought the record.

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And after I listened to it I said, "Oh, my goodness, Sister is out there singing that stuff".

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So, when I saw her, I said, "Sister, I heard you tell Lucky Millinder

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"that you weren't going to sing that stuff".

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She said "When I saw that contract he had a clause in there, that I had to sing whatever he gave me,

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"and I didn't know it. I have a seven year contract with him and I had to do it."

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It's unclear how much agency

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she had in making a recording like Tall Skinny Papa.

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She was under contractual obligations to Lucky Millinder.

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She was a young woman without a lot of experience in show business.

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She may not have been comfortable with that material.

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Nevertheless, it's on record and was a big hit.

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# Look down, look down That lonesome road

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# Before you travel on

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# Look up, oh, look up... #

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Following the controversy of Tall Skinny Papa,

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Rosetta resolved to stick with the songs she knew best -

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gospel songs, while giving them her unique, up-beat interpretation.

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# Reaching down that lonesome road

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# Look down that lonesome road

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# Before you travel on... #

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She had hit the big time.

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Her loyal followers

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back in the church got over the shock

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and stayed with her, while she gained new fans

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who just loved her music.

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It was not an easy trick to pull off, but somehow she did it.

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She could go there, and come back anytime she wanted to because people loved her.

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And they loved her, no matter what she sang. They loved her.

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# Look down that lonesome road

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# Before you travel on. #

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By the age of 25,

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Rosetta was rated among the finest popular musicians of the day.

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Here she is jamming with Duke Ellington at the piano

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and Cab Calloway on the right.

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# I can't sit down Because I just got to heaven

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# And I can't sit down... #

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In less than five years she had established herself

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in a tough, male dominated industry...

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singing the songs she chose to sing, in her own distinctive way.

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# Who's that yonder Dressed in white...? #

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She was rich, she was famous and she was loved by her fans.

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She was gospel's first superstar.

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She used to sing this song called The Fishes And Three Loaves Of Bread,

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and, anywhere you went in the south,

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it was on the radio. That was a big hit.

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Throughout the 40s, she spent much of her time on the road,

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playing to packed houses,

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accompanied by different gospel quartets.

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GOSPEL SINGING

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# Some day they'll see the Lord passing along... #

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The Dixie Hummingbirds started with Sister Rosetta in the 40s.

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They never made records together but they toured.

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Sister Rosetta was always the headliner, because it was her show

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and she had the choice of who she wanted to go out with her.

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'And for many years she chose the Dixie Hummingbirds.

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'It was a very good mix.

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'People enjoyed the styles, because her style was kind of firey with the guitar and the Hummingbirds would

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'come out and they would jump down in the audience

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'and start singing and really relating to the people.

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'So it was a good mix and promoters loved it, because it always filled houses.'

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Sometimes we'd do things we'd never done, just playing around with it

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until we said "That sounds good. Let's try that again".

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And that's the way we created a lot of stuff.

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# I'm holding up the Bloodstained banner for my Lord

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In a highly segregated society,

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black and white musicians performing together was taboo.

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However, Rosetta was happy to defy convention.

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'She was more or less a pioneer in asking us to perform with her.'

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She called us her "Four little white babies"

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and I thought it was so cute that she referred to us in that way.

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That was something I'll never forget.

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And we just loved to sing with her because when she started snapping

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her finger, man, and started singing on a tune you couldn't help but sing.

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# I'm going up to heaven

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# Oh, Lord, to get my reward Ooooh

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# Well, I'm working on the building... #

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'I know the first time we worked with her, they booked us'

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and we went to the stage door and some man came to the door

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and one of us said, "We're The Jordanaires", and he said

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"You're The Jordanaires?!

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"Well, this is going to be a surprise to our audience!"

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Sister Rosetta didn't tell them that we were white.

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She booked us, but she didn't tell them we were white.

0:24:250:24:28

And when we first went out on stage, they didn't really know how to take us.

0:24:280:24:34

Then we started singing Working On The Building.

0:24:340:24:37

'From then on in, we were in.'

0:24:370:24:38

# I'm going up to heaven To get my reward

0:24:390:24:41

# My reward! #

0:24:410:24:44

# Listen everybody to the precious words

0:24:470:24:49

# I'm gonna do some chirpin' And I ain't no bird! #

0:24:490:24:53

Throughout World War II, America's segregated black soldiers

0:24:550:24:59

not only adored Rosetta, but could claim her as one of their own.

0:24:590:25:05

Now we want you all cats to brush up your fur and be seated while we dish

0:25:050:25:09

out a "diddle-a-ding-di-ow-dowtie!"

0:25:090:25:11

And here's a girl who's gonna do the chirping for you - Sister Rosetta Tharpe!

0:25:110:25:15

Sister Tharpe, say hello to Joel way, way out there.

0:25:210:25:25

Hello, Joel, way, way out there.

0:25:250:25:28

-What are you going to sing, Sister?

-Down By The Riverside.

0:25:280:25:31

No films of Rosetta performing traditional gospel songs

0:25:390:25:42

during the '40s exist today,

0:25:420:25:44

but this 60s television recording captures the powerful stage presence

0:25:440:25:49

and unique guitar style that she'd developed back in her hay-day.

0:25:490:25:54

-# Down by the riverside

-To study war no more... #'

0:25:540:26:00

Everything she'd learned from her mother, everything she'd learned

0:26:000:26:04

growing up in the Sanctified Church had stayed with her.

0:26:040:26:08

'She was mesmerising!'

0:26:080:26:10

-# To study

-War no more

0:26:150:26:18

# Yeah... #

0:26:180:26:20

My sister and I thought she was the greatest.

0:26:200:26:23

We'd never met a popular singer, only gospel singers.

0:26:230:26:25

When we saw Rosetta Tharpe playing the guitar and singing

0:26:250:26:29

we thought that was the greatest thing we'd ever seen in our lives.

0:26:290:26:32

-# Well, well, well

-Study war no more

0:26:320:26:34

# No, no, no, no, no Study war no more... #

0:26:340:26:38

'The audiences that Sister Rosetta performed in front of were average people.

0:26:400:26:45

'They were people who worked, people trying to better themselves,'

0:26:450:26:51

and this music was their inspiration.

0:26:510:26:55

So when it came to a show that brought in people like Rosetta Tharpe,

0:26:550:27:00

there were lines three or four times around the block.

0:27:000:27:05

Just to call her name, people would go crazy.

0:27:090:27:14

The people just really loved her.

0:27:150:27:17

All she had to do was walk out on stage and they knew they were going to get a good performance.

0:27:170:27:21

'Before she left there, the public was part of her

0:27:230:27:27

'and she was part of the public, and it was like family.'

0:27:270:27:31

Rosetta had a one on one with everybody.

0:27:370:27:40

There could be 800, 900, 1,000 people,

0:27:400:27:44

but she had a one on one with you

0:27:440:27:47

because she could make that music and make that guitar talk just like

0:27:470:27:53

you were there with her, like you helped to write the song.

0:27:530:27:55

# I'm gonna meet All of my brethren

0:27:570:27:59

# Down by the riverside

0:27:590:28:02

-# Don't you know?

-Down by the riverside

0:28:020:28:04

# Down by the riverside

0:28:040:28:07

# I'm gonna meet all of my brethren

0:28:070:28:09

-# Down by the riverside

-# Yeah Yeah

0:28:090:28:15

# I ain't gonna study Thank God not gonna study

0:28:150:28:19

# Don't you know I'll not study

0:28:190:28:22

# Study war no more

0:28:220:28:24

# Hey Well, well

0:28:240:28:29

# No, no, no, no Study war no more. #

0:28:290:28:36

The biggest hit in Rosetta's entire career was Strange Things Happening Every Day,

0:28:470:28:52

a song that reflected some of the stark contradictions of the times.

0:28:520:28:57

# Oh we hear church people sing

0:28:570:29:00

# They are in this holy way

0:29:000:29:03

# There are strange things happening every day... #

0:29:030:29:08

It was recorded at the end of the war, when prosperity and

0:29:080:29:11

freedom were being proclaimed as the right of all Americans.

0:29:110:29:17

The song expressed some of the sad ironies she was experiencing on the road.

0:29:170:29:22

She was a star, but she was also black.

0:29:220:29:26

-# Every day

-Every day

0:29:260:29:28

# There are strange things... #

0:29:280:29:32

Sister Rosetta had a bus. She was the first person that

0:29:320:29:35

ever had a bus with her name on the side of it that I knew.

0:29:350:29:38

The back section was beds to sleep in,

0:29:380:29:42

and that was something that I thought was very unusual.

0:29:420:29:47

We couldn't stay in some hotels.

0:29:500:29:52

We had to sleep on the bus so the bus was really a good idea.

0:29:520:29:58

Being on the road with Sister Rosetta was very exciting

0:30:010:30:06

because sometimes we met opposition

0:30:060:30:12

and sometimes we met gladness.

0:30:120:30:16

Food and hotels, restaurants, all of this, they were all the same.

0:30:230:30:28

Water fountains, bathrooms,

0:30:280:30:31

everything was segregated.

0:30:310:30:33

They had to, as my father used to say, make do.

0:30:330:30:37

# Jesus is the holy light Turning darkness into light... #

0:30:390:30:44

We would go in and eat and we knew that she didn't have food on the bus.

0:30:440:30:49

Maybe she had crackers or cheese or

0:30:490:30:52

peanut butter, something like that,

0:30:520:30:55

but we would take what we ordered, we would get her the same thing

0:30:550:31:02

and take it to her.

0:31:020:31:04

-# Oh, every day

-Every day

0:31:040:31:08

# Yes, every day... #

0:31:080:31:09

Sometimes we found someone that took a chance

0:31:090:31:13

and say, "Come around to the back door,"

0:31:130:31:16

and they would serve us,

0:31:160:31:20

but we had to bring it back to the bus still. We couldn't eat it there.

0:31:200:31:26

-# Up above my head

-Up above my head

0:31:320:31:35

-# I hear music in the air

-I hear music in the air

0:31:350:31:38

# Now, up above my head... #

0:31:380:31:41

By the age of 30, Rosetta had survived two brief

0:31:410:31:44

and unhappy marriages, and had had numerous affairs with men and women.

0:31:440:31:49

The only constant person in her life was still her mother, Katie Bell.

0:31:490:31:55

However, in the spring of 1946

0:31:550:31:58

she encountered a young singer called Marie Knight.

0:31:580:32:01

She was so impressed by her, she suggested they team up.

0:32:010:32:05

Together they recorded a hugely popular version

0:32:050:32:09

of the gospel classic Up Above My Head.

0:32:090:32:11

BOTH: # I really do believe Yes, I really do believe

0:32:140:32:17

# There's a heaven somewhere Heaven somewhere... #

0:32:170:32:20

One of the things that made Marie and Rosetta so special as performers

0:32:200:32:24

was that they were two women who could go on the road

0:32:240:32:27

without any accompaniment but themselves.

0:32:270:32:31

Marie was a piano player and percussion player.

0:32:310:32:34

Rosetta performed on the piano as well as the guitar,

0:32:340:32:38

and so the two of them together had their entire band with them.

0:32:380:32:41

-# Up above my head

-Up above my head

0:32:430:32:46

-# I hear music in the air

-I hear music in the air

0:32:460:32:49

-# Up above my head

-Up above my head

0:32:490:32:52

-# I hear music in the air

-I hear trouble in the air

0:32:520:32:55

-# Up above my head

-He-he-head

0:32:550:32:58

-# I hear music in the air

-Whoa-oh-oh oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

0:32:580:33:01

BOTH: # And I really do believe Yes, I really believe

0:33:010:33:04

# There's a heaven somewhere... #

0:33:040:33:06

Marie Knight and Sister Rosetta Tharpe were a perfect pair.

0:33:060:33:10

The music was so wonderful that they generated together,

0:33:100:33:16

they were so unified on the stage.

0:33:160:33:19

Together they could rock the house.

0:33:190:33:21

Back then, two women on the road together

0:33:210:33:24

without any men to accompany them was not only novel but pretty risky.

0:33:240:33:29

But it was a risk that Rosetta was prepared to take.

0:33:290:33:32

They were lovers, at least according to

0:33:340:33:37

many, many of their friends at the time.

0:33:370:33:41

Within certain circles they could probably be

0:33:410:33:43

a little bit open about it, but within the wider world

0:33:430:33:46

that would have ruined careers, it would have ruined reputations.

0:33:460:33:50

I think it was an open secret in the entertainment worlds

0:33:500:33:53

in which they moved.

0:33:530:33:54

In 1950, while Rosetta and Marie were performing in California,

0:33:570:34:02

Marie's mother and two small children were killed in a fire.

0:34:020:34:06

Traumatised by the loss, Marie drifted away,

0:34:060:34:09

leaving Rosetta to carry on alone.

0:34:090:34:12

Their dream of independence together was over.

0:34:120:34:16

MUSIC: Wagner's Bridal Chorus

0:34:210:34:26

Less than a year after breaking up with Marie,

0:34:260:34:29

Rosetta took the most outrageous decision of her life

0:34:290:34:32

when two concert promoters came up with an audacious publicity stunt.

0:34:320:34:37

Their plan was to stage Rosetta's third wedding

0:34:370:34:39

in Washington's huge Griffith Stadium.

0:34:390:34:44

They would sell tickets to her fans and the recording rights to Decca.

0:34:440:34:49

Rosetta agreed to go along with the plan,

0:34:490:34:52

but there was just one problem - she had no-one in mind to marry.

0:34:520:34:57

But just weeks before the big day, she found Russell Morrison,

0:34:570:35:01

a minor player in the music industry

0:35:010:35:04

who offered to be both her third husband and her manager.

0:35:040:35:08

Tell the truth, I was surprised when she said she was getting married...

0:35:080:35:14

..and Russell was going to be the groom.

0:35:150:35:18

So she records her wedding ceremony

0:35:200:35:25

and the concert that follows it in 1951.

0:35:250:35:28

25,000 people come out

0:35:280:35:30

and pay admission prices to attend her wedding.

0:35:300:35:33

They bring wedding gifts for her, they bring crystal,

0:35:330:35:36

they bring dishes for her.

0:35:360:35:40

Someone even buys her a television set.

0:35:400:35:42

It's a total show-biz move, and at the same time,

0:35:420:35:46

it's a wedding ceremony conducted by a minister, a real wedding ceremony.

0:35:460:35:52

Rosetta was standing on the pitcher's mound

0:36:010:36:04

and they had everybody around her,

0:36:040:36:06

and all of the matrons of honour and all these people who were

0:36:060:36:09

probably who were probably folks that the promoters got together.

0:36:090:36:12

But they were all there, and it was just a wonderful, wonderful show.

0:36:120:36:18

-ORIGINAL RECORDING:

-I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome you

0:36:180:36:22

to Griffith Stadium where you are about to be guests

0:36:220:36:25

at the wedding of Sister Rosetta Tharpe,

0:36:250:36:27

at which there will be a great spiritual concert

0:36:270:36:30

followed by fireworks.

0:36:300:36:31

And it was nice to see that a lot of her friends had stuck with her

0:36:310:36:34

and were part of the wedding party.

0:36:340:36:36

Lucky Millinder was there, Marie Knight is there

0:36:360:36:39

and The Rosettes are there.

0:36:390:36:41

That stadium was packed.

0:36:440:36:47

It was packed.

0:36:490:36:52

I don't see how they could get anybody else in.

0:36:520:36:55

It was like a circus.

0:36:550:36:58

-ORIGINAL RECORDING:

-Rosetta, will you have this man to be thy wedded husband?

0:37:030:37:07

To live together after God's ordinance

0:37:070:37:09

in the holy state of matrimony?

0:37:090:37:11

It resonated throughout the entire country.

0:37:120:37:16

It was in newspapers, people talked about it.

0:37:160:37:20

My parents were so excited about it.

0:37:200:37:22

For a month in my house before that wedding was just crazy.

0:37:220:37:26

Take him by his right hand, Rosetta.

0:37:290:37:31

Hold it.

0:37:310:37:33

-I, Rosetta...

-I, Rosetta...

0:37:340:37:37

-Take thee, Russell...

-Take thee, Russell...

0:37:370:37:40

It was like she was Cinderella, you know,

0:37:400:37:46

and Russell was Prince Charming.

0:37:460:37:49

It was a storybook thing.

0:37:490:37:51

..that they are man and wife.

0:37:510:37:55

Kiss the bride.

0:37:550:37:57

Man and wife.

0:37:570:37:59

I didn't go to Sister's wedding to Russell.

0:38:040:38:07

I just figured it was another something

0:38:070:38:10

that she had gotten herself into.

0:38:100:38:13

After meeting Russell, I figured he just wanted easy living.

0:38:130:38:19

I said to myself, "Oh, my goodness, she is doing it again."

0:38:190:38:25

-# Don't you know, he's so

-So high you can't get over him

0:38:260:38:29

-# So low

-So low you can't get under him

0:38:290:38:32

-# So high

-So high you can't get... #

0:38:320:38:34

Sadly, the misgivings shared by Rosetta's friends

0:38:340:38:37

proved all too accurate.

0:38:370:38:38

While the wedding did boost her record sales briefly,

0:38:380:38:42

Russell the manager was out of his depth.

0:38:420:38:44

Russell just, like a cool breeze, just came right in,

0:38:480:38:54

took over.

0:38:540:38:56

He wasn't really a manager.

0:38:580:39:00

He THOUGHT he was a manager.

0:39:000:39:02

Of course, so many times when they think they are,

0:39:020:39:05

they aren't, and that's bad.

0:39:050:39:08

It was very clear that he was living off her talent

0:39:080:39:13

and it was very clear that he was two-timing her.

0:39:130:39:16

Many people, especially people close to her like Marie Knight,

0:39:170:39:23

were furious with him.

0:39:230:39:25

In spite of all the criticism,

0:39:270:39:29

Rosetta remained married to Russell for the next 22 years.

0:39:290:39:33

Meanwhile, back in the Mississippi Delta of Rosetta's childhood,

0:39:380:39:43

young white musicians were just beginning to discover

0:39:430:39:46

the raw energy and complex rhythms of African American gospel.

0:39:460:39:50

There was a hip thing happening in Memphis at that time.

0:39:500:39:53

There was a little church,

0:39:530:39:56

and it was a cool thing to do on Sunday nights only,

0:39:560:39:59

you would go there,

0:39:590:40:01

and there would be Elvis and some of the other guys from the area.

0:40:010:40:04

It was unusual, because back in those days

0:40:040:40:07

white people had to sit in the back.

0:40:070:40:10

It was roped off. We would sit back there

0:40:100:40:13

and watch these black spiritual singers sing on Sunday night.

0:40:130:40:17

Of course, this was the music that Sister Rosetta had brought out of

0:40:260:40:30

the church and into the wider world nearly 20 years earlier.

0:40:300:40:33

The thing that gospel spiritual music brought

0:40:350:40:38

to popular music was feeling.

0:40:380:40:40

Gospel spiritual music put the guts and the feeling

0:40:400:40:45

and the real soul into it.

0:40:450:40:47

People like Elvis and Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis and

0:40:470:40:52

Carl Perkins and those guys, Buddy Holly if you will,

0:40:520:40:55

they saw that and they adapted to that,

0:40:550:40:58

and that, really, was the essence of rock and roll.

0:40:580:41:02

Thinking about it,

0:41:100:41:11

Sister Rosetta Tharpe, she had this great feeling,

0:41:110:41:15

and that is what Elvis was looking for - feeling -

0:41:150:41:18

because that is where it all came from.

0:41:180:41:20

She gave a lot people ideas about how to perform.

0:41:200:41:24

The way she performed a song, the way she picked a song,

0:41:240:41:28

the way she presented it, was an inspiration

0:41:280:41:32

to anybody who stood around and watched her,

0:41:320:41:34

and they all watched her.

0:41:340:41:36

Let's do that again!

0:41:370:41:38

She had a major impact on artists like Elvis Presley.

0:41:570:41:59

When you see Elvis Presley singing early songs in his career,

0:41:590:42:03

I think if you imagine that he is channelling Rosetta Tharpe.

0:42:030:42:07

It's not an image that I think we are used to thinking about

0:42:070:42:10

in rock and roll history.

0:42:100:42:11

We don't think of about the black woman behind the young white man.

0:42:110:42:15

At this point, a middle-aged black woman behind a young white man.

0:42:150:42:19

All the kids who grew up in the '40s and '50s knew of her as a superstar.

0:42:200:42:26

That was the singing that all these fellows had in their ears.

0:42:260:42:31

The rhythm they heard, the instrumentation they heard

0:42:310:42:34

would have been the sanctified piano and the kind of guitar

0:42:340:42:38

that they knew from Rosetta's records.

0:42:380:42:41

So, I think it is very fair to say that there's a bit of her

0:42:410:42:45

snuck up in all of rock and roll.

0:42:450:42:49

# Up above my head

0:42:490:42:52

# Music in the air... #

0:42:520:42:55

By the late '50s, rock and roll was here to stay.

0:43:120:43:15

Its idols were young, white men,

0:43:150:43:18

not middle-aged black women. Rosetta, it seemed,

0:43:180:43:22

was on her way out, and the bookings were drying up fast.

0:43:220:43:26

She and Russell, along with her aging mother, were forced to move

0:43:260:43:30

into this small row house in the city of Philadelphia.

0:43:300:43:33

The reason Rosetta's career went south,

0:43:380:43:40

very simply is that because Rosetta didn't keep up with the times.

0:43:400:43:44

Rosetta was still singing, in 1954, '55,

0:43:440:43:49

the songs she had recorded in 1938.

0:43:490:43:52

In fact, it was remarkable that she kept any career going

0:43:520:43:56

when she had really become, essentially, an oldie's act.

0:43:560:43:59

Then, in 1957, Rosetta got a call from one of her most devoted fans -

0:44:030:44:09

a white musician in Britain.

0:44:090:44:11

Chris Barber, the popular Dixieland-style jazz trombonist,

0:44:160:44:20

booked her to go on tour with him and his band for a month.

0:44:200:44:25

We got our agent to contact her somehow.

0:44:250:44:28

We actually paid her to come to Britain. It was so simple.

0:44:280:44:32

It was marvellous working with her. She was unbelievably good.

0:44:320:44:37

We learnt, as we thought we would, an enormous amount

0:44:370:44:40

from even the first day with her, never mind the whole month's tour.

0:44:400:44:44

Basically speaking,

0:45:010:45:03

her guitar by itself was as loud as my entire band.

0:45:030:45:06

It didn't bother anybody.

0:45:060:45:08

It was beautiful music. It was loud. Didn't matter.

0:45:080:45:11

It was enthralling, totally enthralling.

0:45:110:45:13

Everything she did was totally enthralling and totally convincing.

0:45:130:45:17

# This train is a clean train, this train

0:45:170:45:22

# I said this train is a clean train, yes, this train

0:45:220:45:28

# You know this train is a clean train

0:45:280:45:31

# Everybody ride it in his name

0:45:310:45:34

# This train is a clean train, this train... #

0:45:340:45:38

Booked as little more than a supporting novelty act,

0:45:410:45:45

Sister Rosetta stole the show.

0:45:450:45:47

Until now British audiences had only seen white imitations

0:45:490:45:53

of blues and gospel, but here, on stage for the very first time,

0:45:530:45:59

was the real thing.

0:45:590:46:00

Her new-found popularity quickly caught the attention

0:46:040:46:07

of bookers and promoters all across Europe.

0:46:070:46:10

Sister Rosetta was a star reborn, discovering new fans.

0:46:100:46:15

By the early '60s, her influence was continuing to spread

0:46:310:46:35

as yet another generation fell under her spell.

0:46:350:46:38

Here is a recording of Bob Dylan speaking about Rosetta on the radio.

0:46:440:46:48

Sister Rosetta Tharpe was anything but ordinary and plain.

0:46:480:46:52

She was a big, good-looking woman, and divine,

0:46:520:46:55

not to mention sublime and splendid.

0:46:550:46:58

She was a powerful force of nature,

0:46:580:47:00

a guitar-playing, singing evangelist.

0:47:000:47:03

# ..is a clean train Everybody ride it if you can... #

0:47:030:47:09

You know, she travelled to England with Muddy Waters and a whole bunch

0:47:090:47:13

of other blues performers in the early '60s, and I'm sure

0:47:130:47:16

there are a lot of young English guys

0:47:160:47:19

who picked up an electric guitar after getting a look at her.

0:47:190:47:22

# ..is standing in the station This train is waiting on all of you

0:47:220:47:27

# Come on, then, let's go... #

0:47:270:47:29

In the summer of 1964, Rosetta was booked by Granada Television

0:47:420:47:46

to perform in a folk, blues and gospel special.

0:47:460:47:49

The musicians were American, the audience English students,

0:47:520:47:56

the venue a disused railway station - Chorlton-cum-Hardy,

0:47:560:48:00

just outside Manchester.

0:48:000:48:02

The Manchester gig was a curiosity in the middle of the tour for us.

0:48:040:48:09

It was kind of bizarre. But, you know, we were all new to England,

0:48:090:48:13

and we were aware of all this interest in blues and gospel.

0:48:130:48:16

We all thought it was strange,

0:48:190:48:23

the setup with the audience on one platform

0:48:230:48:25

and the musicians on the other.

0:48:250:48:27

And she rose to the occasion.

0:48:350:48:38

She loved the drama of the situation,

0:48:380:48:41

trying to bridge that gap between the platforms,

0:48:410:48:46

sell the whole thing across the track to the audience.

0:48:460:48:51

By now Rosetta was 49 years old

0:48:550:48:57

and she had been on the road for more than 40 of those years.

0:48:570:49:01

But even in cold, wet and windy England, the magic was still there.

0:49:010:49:07

The inimitable Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

0:49:070:49:11

Oh, the sweet horsey. Oh, the sweet horsey.

0:49:190:49:22

Oh.

0:49:220:49:23

This is the wonderfullest time of my life.

0:49:230:49:26

And the people are so sweet to stay here.

0:49:260:49:28

-Oh, ain't they sweet?

-And I'm coming over!

-Yes!

0:49:280:49:32

Let me tell you what...

0:49:320:49:34

Oh, yeah!

0:49:370:49:38

# Didn't it rain, children?

0:50:040:50:08

# Rain, oh, yes

0:50:080:50:10

# Didn't it? Yes Didn't it? You know it did

0:50:100:50:13

# Didn't it? Oh, oh, yes

0:50:130:50:17

# How it rained

0:50:170:50:19

# I said it rained, children

0:50:190:50:22

# Rained, oh, yes

0:50:230:50:25

# Didn't it? Yes Didn't it? You know it did

0:50:250:50:28

# Didn't it?

0:50:280:50:29

# Oh, my Lord, how it rained

0:50:290:50:33

# Somebody at the window Somebody at the door

0:50:580:51:01

# Some crying, "Brother Noah can't you take on more?"

0:51:010:51:04

# But, "No," he cried out "Uh-uh, my friends

0:51:040:51:06

# The angel's got the key and you can't get in"

0:51:060:51:09

# I know it rain, you know it rain

0:51:090:51:12

# Rain too long, all night long

0:51:120:51:15

# Rain all day, rain all night

0:51:150:51:18

# Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain

0:51:180:51:21

# Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain

0:51:210:51:23

# Rain, children

0:51:230:51:26

# Rain, oh, yes

0:51:260:51:29

# Didn't it? Yes, Didn't it? You know it did

0:51:290:51:31

# Didn't it?

0:51:310:51:33

# Oh, my Lord, how it rained! #

0:51:330:51:37

Sister Rosetta was a huge success on the tour.

0:51:480:51:53

She did great. Audiences loved her.

0:51:530:51:57

She was very happy, everybody was happy.

0:51:570:51:59

Oh, I love you so, my English friends,

0:52:040:52:08

forever and ever until I leave this world.

0:52:080:52:12

While Rosetta was away in Europe enjoying the upturn in her career,

0:52:170:52:21

back in Philadelphia, her mother was becoming increasingly frail.

0:52:210:52:27

In 1968, Katie Bell died.

0:52:270:52:31

For 53 years she had stuck close by her daughter

0:52:330:52:36

through good times and bad

0:52:360:52:38

as the one constant figure reminding Rosetta of her faith in God.

0:52:380:52:43

The loss took a heavy toll on Rosetta.

0:52:470:52:51

She became increasingly depressed,

0:52:510:52:53

and to make matters worse, she was diagnosed with diabetes.

0:52:530:52:57

I'm going to sing a song

0:52:590:53:02

that maybe you wouldn't understand it and maybe you do,

0:53:020:53:05

a song that I love so dearly,

0:53:050:53:08

and I have so many friends here in Copenhagen,

0:53:080:53:11

for many, many years I've been coming here,

0:53:110:53:14

and then some time, my friends...

0:53:140:53:16

Made in 1970 in Denmark,

0:53:160:53:18

this is the last known recording of Sister Rosetta performing.

0:53:180:53:22

Maybe you wouldn't understand that, but someone died

0:53:220:53:26

who they dearly love, and mine did too,

0:53:260:53:29

my mother died two years ago and left me alone.

0:53:290:53:34

But nevertheless, I have you.

0:53:340:53:36

I went to see her, and she had this black spot on her foot.

0:53:370:53:41

I said, "Sister, what is that?" and she said, "I don't know."

0:53:410:53:48

I said, "Sister, go see about that, please!"

0:53:480:53:51

That's going to happen.

0:53:520:53:53

But there is a divine power.

0:53:530:53:55

I believe it - I don't know about you, but I got to believe it,

0:53:550:53:59

because I was raised that way.

0:53:590:54:02

I sing this song.

0:54:020:54:04

# Because Lord

0:54:060:54:08

# Take my hand

0:54:110:54:13

# Lead me on

0:54:160:54:22

# And let me stand

0:54:220:54:24

# I'm tired and I've worked so hard

0:54:270:54:31

# And I'm weak

0:54:320:54:34

# My body is worn

0:54:360:54:39

# Whoa, yes

0:54:410:54:44

# But I got to go anyhow

0:54:440:54:46

# Through the storm... #

0:54:460:54:49

She wouldn't listen to anybody.

0:54:490:54:52

So, the next thing,

0:54:520:54:55

foot started turning black.

0:54:550:54:57

Then she did have to go to the doctor,

0:54:570:54:59

then they found out they had to cut her leg off.

0:54:590:55:02

# ..just the same... #

0:55:020:55:06

Sometimes she would call me and say,

0:55:060:55:08

"Sister, please come, please come to see me,"

0:55:080:55:11

and I would say, "All right, I'm coming."

0:55:110:55:15

But the last few months I didn't go, because Russell was acting like

0:55:150:55:21

he didn't want nobody taking over from him.

0:55:210:55:23

When I went over to see Aunt Sis,

0:55:230:55:25

she was in the bed and she would say, "Where's Russell?"

0:55:250:55:30

I'd say, "Downstairs," and she would say,

0:55:300:55:32

"He's asking you about shows, right?"

0:55:320:55:35

and I'd say "No, he didn't say anything!"

0:55:350:55:37

"Yes, he is! He wants to know if I'm going back,"

0:55:370:55:40

she said, "And I'm going back,

0:55:400:55:42

"but I'm not going to tell anybody when I'm coming back.

0:55:420:55:45

"But I am coming back." But she never did.

0:55:450:55:48

# My body

0:55:480:55:50

# Is all

0:55:540:55:58

# Suffering in pain

0:55:580:56:01

# Whoa, yes

0:56:020:56:05

# I got no-one to call on

0:56:050:56:08

# Hear my cry

0:56:080:56:14

# Hear my call

0:56:140:56:16

# Please, hold my hand

0:56:180:56:22

# Lest I fall

0:56:230:56:26

# Hmmm

0:56:260:56:29

# Take my hand

0:56:290:56:31

# Whoa!

0:56:310:56:34

# Precious Lord

0:56:340:56:36

# Lead me on... #

0:56:380:56:40

Rosetta's funeral was very quiet.

0:56:400:56:42

It wasn't any big thing.

0:56:420:56:45

It was no elaborate funeral, I can tell you that.

0:56:450:56:48

The church was half-full,

0:56:480:56:51

and Rosetta looked the best I had seen her in years.

0:56:510:56:57

Marie Knight, her old partner, she made Rosetta up.

0:56:570:57:02

She took care of her coiffure, of her makeup,

0:57:020:57:07

of how the fabrics looked and made her as glamorous as possible.

0:57:070:57:11

She looked a star.

0:57:110:57:13

I think I said, "She would sing until you cried,

0:57:170:57:21

"and then she would sing until you danced for joy.

0:57:210:57:26

"She kept the church alive and the saints rejoicing."

0:57:260:57:30

# Down at the river

0:57:300:57:35

# Oh, stinging

0:57:350:57:38

# Cut my feet

0:57:410:57:43

# Please, hold my trembling hand

0:57:430:57:47

# Hmmm

0:57:470:57:51

# And take my hand

0:57:510:57:53

# Oh, precious Lord

0:57:530:57:58

# Lead

0:57:590:58:05

# Me on. #

0:58:050:58:09

APPLAUSE

0:58:170:58:20

In 2008, some 35 years after Rosetta's death,

0:58:310:58:35

the Governor of Pennsylvania declared

0:58:350:58:38

that henceforth the 11th January

0:58:380:58:41

will be known as Sister Rosetta Tharpe Day.

0:58:410:58:45

-# Up above my head

-Up above my head

0:58:520:58:55

-# I hear music in the air

-I hear music in the air

0:58:550:58:58

-# Now, up above my head

-Up above my head

0:58:580:59:01

-# You know I hear music in the air

-I hear music in the air

0:59:010:59:04

-# Up above my head

-Up above my head

0:59:040:59:07

-# I hear music in the air

-I hear music in the air

0:59:070:59:10

-# And I really do believe

-And I really do believe

0:59:100:59:13

BOTH: # There's a heaven somewhere Heaven somewhere. #

0:59:130:59:16

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