Simple Gifts


"Simple Gifts" is a Shaker song written and composed in 1848, generally attributed to Elder Joseph Brackett from Alfred Shaker Village. It became widely known when Aaron Copland used its melody for the score of Martha Graham's ballet Appalachian Spring, which premiered in 1944.

Background and composition

The tune and lyrics were written by Elder Joseph Brackett of the Alfred, Maine Shaker community, although there is some disagreement as to which community Elder Joseph belonged to when the song was written. Elder Joseph resided with the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester, Maine community before he was called to serve in the Ministry in 1848. For the next decade, he served the Community in Alfred, later returning to New Gloucester. However, the Alfred community's history makes no reference to "Simple Gifts", although there are several mentions of Elder Joseph.
The first known reference to "Simple Gifts" is an advertisement for a concert in October 1848 by the Shaker Family from the Society of Shakers of New Gloucester, Maine.

Resurgence and enduring popularity

The song was largely unknown outside Shaker communities until Aaron Copland used its melody for the score of Martha Graham's ballet, Appalachian Spring, first performed in 1944.. Copland used "Simple Gifts" a second time in 1950 in his first set of Old American Songs for voice and piano, which was later orchestrated.

Lyrics

Copland used Brackett's original verse for the lyrics to his one-verse song:
Several Shaker manuscripts indicate that this is a "dancing song" or a "quick dance". "Turning" is a common theme in Christian theology, but the references to "turning" in the last two lines have also been identified as dance instructions. When the traditional dance is performed properly, each dancer ends up where they started, "come 'round right".

Tune

A manuscript of Mary Hazzard of the New Lebanon, New York Shaker community records this original version of the melody.
The song resembles, to a slight extent, several repetitions of the opening measures of William Byrd's renaissance composition, "The Barley Break", which Byrd intended to imitate country children playing a folk game.
A somewhat similar musical theme arises also in a brass ensemble work, Canzon per sonare no. 2, by Giovanni Gabrieli.

"Lord of the Dance"

English songwriter Sydney Carter adapted the original American Shaker tune and lyrics for his hymn "Lord of the Dance" published and copyrighted in 1963.
The Carter hymn is also titled "I Am the Lord of the Dance" and "I Danced in the Morning".
In 1996, the Carter hymn was adapted without authorization or acknowledgments of the origins of the tune or Carter's lyrics by Ronan Hardiman for Michael Flatley's dance musical, Lord of the Dance. The melody is used at various points throughout the show, including the piece entitled "Lord of the Dance". The musical's title and version of the "Lord of the Dance" have led to some confusion that the song and lyrics are Celtic; however they are of American and English origin.

Subsequent usage

  • Judy Collins included the song on her 1970 album, Whales & Nightingales.
  • The song is incorporated into both the opening and closing tracks of the 1990 album Simple Gifts: Instrumental Arrangements of Shaker Melodies by William Coulter and Barry Phillips.
  • Yo-Yo Ma recorded a duet with singer/songwriter Alison Krauss, originally released on his 2001 album Classic Yo-Yo, re-released on the 2005 album Essential Yo-Yo Ma, and later included in Apple Music's compilation, Yo-Yo Ma Essentials.
  • An instrumental rendition of "Simple Gifts" was played as the Olympic Flag entered Centennial Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
  • John P. Zdechlik used "Simple Gifts" in "Chorale ′and Shaker Dance", a 1972 composition for concert band. In 2004, Robert Steadman arranged the tune for orchestra featuring an off-stage trumpet and a thumping, dance-music influenced finale.
  • Frank Ticheli composed a variation of "Simple Gifts", presented in Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs.
  • The 1967 album Happy Together by The Turtles includes the song "Too Young to Be One", which Eric Eisner adapted from "Simple Gifts."
  • The central melody of "Simple Gifts" is used in the 2009 song The Sound Above My Hair by German electronic music group Scooter, which utilises bagpipes in the composition.
  • The 2008 song "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived " by Weezer makes extensive use of the "Simple Gifts" melody throughout.
  • The Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps made use of the "Simple Gifts" melody throughout their 2009 production, "Ballet for Martha".
  • The Pride of West Virginia has included the song in its pregame show for every game the band is at since 1973.

    In popular culture

  • John Williams composed a variation for cello, violin, clarinet, and piano titled Air and Simple Gifts. The variation was written specifically for Barack Obama's Inauguration on January 20, 2009. It was performed by Anthony McGill, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Gabriela Montero.
  • Icelandic singer Jónsi covered the song for the 2017 film, The Circle.
  • Several arrangements by composer Rick Krizman were composed for the tabloid news series, American Journal.
  • For many years, an excerpt was used as the opening theme for the CBS News television documentary series, CBS Reports
  • It was used in the 1963 Boulting Brothers' film, Heavens Above!.
  • Hannibal Heyes sings the song in Alias Smith and Jones in the 1971 episode, "The Posse That Wouldn't Quit".
  • The song is performed in the 1990 Shining Time Station Christmas episode 'Tis a Gift.
  • The melody appears prominently in the score of the 2023 Bluey episode Relax.
  • The melody appears in the movie Wake Up Dead Man, where it is played by Simone Vivane, a cellist character in the movie.

    Additional verses

Three additional, later non-Shaker verses exist for the song, as follows:
And an additional alternative:
Another alternate verse:
A Version Broadcast During Music and the Spoken Word: