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Coming Down From God
Traditional Spiritual; Adapted by Molly O'Day, Lynn Davis
ARTIST: Ginny Hawker (Molly O'Day, Lynn Davis, and the Cumberland Mountain Folks)
CATEGORY: Traditional and Shape-Note Gospel;
DATE: probably 1800s; 1900s
RECORDING INFO: Coming Down From God - Davis, Lynn/O'Day, Molly
Dickens, Jones, and Hawker. Heart of a Singer, Rounder 0443, CD (1998), trk# 13
Hash, Albert; and the Whitetop Mountain Band. Cacklin Hen, Mountain 313, LP (1977), trk# A.06
O'Day, Molly; with Lynn Davis & the Cumberland Mountain.... In Memory, Old Homestead OHS 196, LP (1990), trk# 4
O'Day, Molly; with Lynn Davis & the Cumberland Mountain.... Sacred Collection, Old Homestead OHCS 101, LP (1975), trk# A.06
Selah Jubilee Singers 1941- Come On Join That Number
OTHER NAMES: "Come On Join That Number"
RELATED TO: "Come On Join That Number"
SOURCES:
NOTES: "Coming Down From God" is a traditional song adapted or collected by Molly O'Day and her husband Lynn Davis. Two earlier African- American versions "Come On Join That Number" (Selah Jubilee Singers 1941) and a version from Negro Songs from Georgia by Melinger Henry in 1931 establish the song as traditional. It's an early version of the now bluegrass gospel song titled, "Coming Down From God." Selah Jubilee Singers version has only one verse and more could be written and added.
The song appears in Negro Songs from Georgia by Melinger Henry published in the
Journal of American folklore, Volume 44 in 1931:
*Don't you want to be in that number that no man can number?
Don't you want to be in that number that no man can number?
Don't you want to be in that number that no man can number?
Come on join that number.
*I don't have access to complete lyrics- the last line is a guess.
"Coming Down From God" from Molly O'Day and her husband Lynn Davis is certainly the same traditional song adapted or collected by them.
From Wiki: Molly O'Day (July 9, 1923 – December 5, 1987) was an American country music vocalist who had some degree of fame and commercial success in the late 1940s. Despite her short recording career, 5 years, she became a legend in her own lifetime.
Early life
Lois LaVerne Williamson was born on a farm in Pike County, Kentucky, as the daughter of Joseph and Hester Williamson. Her father Joseph supported the family as a coalminer. Neither of her parents played music but Lois got together with her two brothers, Cecil and Joe, to practice singing and playing. Lois and her two brothers, who called themselves Skeets and Duke, began performing at local dances. In 1939 Skeets was hired to perform in a radio band: Ervin Staggs and His Radio Ramblers at WCHS, Charleston, West Virginia. One of the more famous members of the group was Johnnie Bailes. That same year Molly also joined the Radio Ramblers as a vocalist under the pseudonym Mountain Fern. She also worked with a banjoist called Murphy McClees and changed her name to Dixie Lee. Within a couple of months, she and her two brothers quit and moved to Williamson, West Virginia, to perform at a local radio station. In 1940 Lois and her two brothers moved to Beckley, West Virginia, to join the Happy Valley Boys led by Johnnie Bailes. The band didn't make much money so it disintegrated in the fall of 1940.
Professional career
Lois, now unemployed, applied for the position as a vocalist in the band Lynn Davis and His Forty-Niners, who had performed on WHIS in Bluefield, West Virginia for the past four years. A few months later, on April 5, 1941, Lynn Davis and Lois Williamson were married. The Forty-Niners appeared on several locations in the southeast and during one gig in Birmingham, Alabama, Hank Williams performed with the group. In 1941 Lois changed her name to Molly O'Day since there already existed another singer named Dixie Lee. After a couple of years, in 1945, Lynn decided to change the band's name to the Cumberland Mountain Folks. Since the World War II had come to an end, people was eagerly looking for entertainment and the new band became a hot act. In the summer of 1946, the head of Acuff-Rose, Fred Rose heard Molly sing Tramp on the Street. He almost immediately arranged for her a recording contract with Columbia Records. Molly O'Day & The Cumberland Mountain Folks made their first recordings on December 16, 1946. On these first recordings, bluegrass legend Mac Wiseman appeared on bass. During her first years as a recording artist Molly O'Day's popularity increased but she started to have second doubts about her life's choice. By 1951 she had made her last recording session for Columbia Records.
Later years
Although Molly O'Day made some home recordings for Bob Mooney's Rem label and GRS Records in the 1960s, she preferred to sing in churches and do evangelistic work. Her only commercial recordings after leaving Columbia Records was one album, recorded for Starday in the mid-1960s. Both the Smithsonian Institution and Ralph Stanley tried without success to get her back onstage. In February 1974, Molly and Lynn started a program on a Christian radio station in Huntingdon featuring gospel recordings.
Death
In the 1980s her health began to deteriorate after she was diagnosed with cancer. She died on December 5, 1987, aged 64, at the Cabell Huntington Hospital in Huntington, West Virginia. She was survived by her husband.
Come On Join That Number- Selah Jubilee Singers 1941
Oh don't you want to join that number that no man can number?
Don't you want to join that number that no man can number?
Don't you want to join that number that no man can number?
Come on join that number.
Holy righteous number that no man can number
That Holy righteous number that no man can number
That Holy righteous number that no man can number
Come on and join that number in heaven.
I just joined that number that no man can number
I just joined that number that no man can number
I just joined that number that no man can number
Come on and join that number in heaven.
Holy righteous number that no man can number
That Holy righteous number that no man can number
That Holy righteous number that no man can number
Come on and join that number in heaven.
VERSE: Well you read in the bible you understand
Sampson was the strongest man
He reached right down in ancient times
He killed ten thousand Phillistines.
Sampson joined that number that no man can number
Sampson joined that number that no man can number
Sampson joined that number that no man can number
Come on and join that number in heaven.
Holy righteous number that no man can number
That Holy righteous number that no man can number
That Holy righteous number that no man can number
Come on and join that number in heaven.
Moses joined that number that no man can number
Moses joined that number that no man can number
Moses joined that number that no man can number
Come on and join that number in heaven.
COMING DOWN FROM GOD- Ginny Hawker (Molly O'Day, Lynn Davis, and the Cumberland Mountain Folks)
REFRAIN:
Better get in that number that no man can number,
Better get in that number that no man can number,
Better get in that number that no man can number,
Coming down, coming down from God.
1. Mother will join that number that no man can number
When Jesus wakes her from her great slumber.
The voice heard from Heaven will be louder than thunder,
Coming down, coming down from God.
2. Oh let me tell you children that'll be a great meeting
When the Saints of God go out to greet Him.
Are you getting ready then to receive Him?
Coming down, coming down from God.
3. Jesus getting us ready for that great day.
Jesus getting us ready for that great day.
Jesus getting us ready for that great day.
Coming down, coming down from God.
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