Some background story about artist: Arizona Juanita Dranes was born on April 4, 1894, in Greenville, Texas, of mixed African-American and Mexican-American ancestry. Cora Jones was her mother, and Dranes was her father’s surname. Early in her infancy, she lost her sight due to an influenza pandemic. From 1896 until 1910, she was a student at Austin’s Institute for Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Colored Youths (later Texas Blind, Deaf, and Orphan School). She eventually became a regular pianist and vocalist for the Congregation of God in Christ (COGIC), a national black Pentecostal church that has grown to be the largest of its type. Dranes spent a lot of time with COGIC in the beginning, traveling across Texas and Oklahoma and assisting in the “planting” of new churches. She returned to Dallas-Fort Worth in the mid-1920s and was quickly discovered by OKeh Record Company scout Richard M. Jones. In 1926, the corporation took Dranes to Chicago for recording sessions, and in 1928, it did it again in Dallas. [The Rev. F.W. McGee and His Jubilee Choir accompanied her to the recording sessions in 1926.]
“My Soul Is a Witness for the Lord” by Arizona Dranes released in 1926. This song released in 1920s where Jazz, blues, swing, dance bands, and ragtime were among the decade’s most popular musical genres. Almost all of these genres sprang from African Americans’ creative labor, which was influenced by their culture and background. That’s why it’s so heavily influenced by Vaudeville blues (also known as classic blues) which is the basis for modern blue music. It originally comes from the variant of country music, where some artist perform it on stage and slowly transform it into a stage version of their song (example the rock remix performance version of some rapper nowaday).
Arizona Dranes’ version is not the original version; it was re-recorded from another gospel song named “Ain’t That A Witness”. It is a traditional African-American spiritual collected and published in 1909 by Howard Odum and recorded by The Fisk Jubilee Singers. Beside the Arizona version, there are many other versions that have been released before. In some opinions these sampled version are almost as intriguing. It will be seen that allusions and words from older songs are frequently applied in these songs, although in new combinations. As a result, they lose their previous value. Comparing the black’s religious beliefs of the Bible and God as represented in these songs with those expressed in the earlier output will be fascinating. However “My Soul Is a Witness for the Lord,” by Dranes is the most famous version. The reason for this is because of the originality of her singing and her novel musical sensibility. she is the one who made nasal singing technique popular which some of R&B artist in current time still using. Nasal singing technique is the irritating nasal sound, or nasality, in some singing voices is a result of a soft palate which is not lifted properly. This technique will help singers easily organize and control their position or transition of voice sources (example from chest to head voice)
Arizona Dranes is regarded as one of the pioneers of Gospel music. Drane’s music style organized due to the fact that Dranes was a Pentecostal is significant in light of her musical accomplishments. Pentecostal praise services, beginning with the Azusa Street Revival, were known for their musical and vocal intensity. Unlike the more solemn mainline churches of the period, Pentecostal congregations promoted the use of instruments during religious services and joyously mixed traditional Christian hymns and African-American spirituals with secular influences like jazz and the blues. Her records feature a unique combination of ragtime, barrelhouse, Protestant hymn, and early boogie woogie piano performance. Dranes delivers a message of redemption by using her clear and occasionally harsh voice in a percussive manner, in effect bouncing it off her piano playing. The backing vocals serve to provide the impression of a real Pentecostal service. The songs “John Said He Saw a Number” and “My Soul Is a Witness for the Lord,” both from her first recording session, show this wonderfully. Dranes is accompanied by a male and female vocalist who reply to her summons as she plays a rollicking pace on the piano in both tracks.
Lyrics:
CHORUS: Witness (for my Lord)
Witness (for my Lord)
Witness (for my Lord)
My soul’s a witness (for my Lord)
Read the scripture, we are told,
We have the way to see God’s soul.
In the dark, thistle and hedges
Down beneath the dam, where the golden wedge is.
Got a steeple, and a staff
Moses ’round the, golden calf.
Put it in the water, turned bitter as gall,
Children of the Lord, couldn’t drink at all.
CHORUS: Witness (for my Lord)
Witness (for my Lord)
Witness (for my Lord)
My soul’s a witness (for my Lord)
[Piano solo]
God is the way, said the Son
God stood with him till the work was done
Work was done, children shouted
God from Heaven began to look out.
Got it to twelve got up to seven
The walls fell down and I heard it in Heaven
Stop the Son, the battle is one,
Stop the Son the battle is two
Stop the Son the battle is three
God has made the sinner free.
Stop the sun, battle is four
God says man has war no more.
Stop the sun, battle is five,
God and man have reconciled.
Stop the sun, battle is seven
The walls fell down and I heard it in Heaven.
CHORUS: Witness (for my Lord)
Witness (for my Lord)
Witness (for my Lord)
My soul’s a witness (for my Lord)
CHORUS: I’m a witness (for my Lord)
I’m a witness (for my Lord)
I’m a witness (for my Lord)
My soul’s a witness (for my Lord)
Workcites:
Aaamc, and Aaamc. “Arizona DRANES – He Is My Story: The SANCTIFIED Soul of ARIZONA DRANES.” BLACK GROOVES, 3 Dec. 2012, https://blackgrooves.org/he-is-my-story-the-sanctified-soul-of-arizona-dranes/.
“Bluegrass Messengers.” Bluegrass Messengers – Ain’t That A Witness- Arizona Dranes 1926, http://bluegrassmessengers.com/aint-that-a-witness–arizona-dranes-1926.aspx.
“Early Gospel Singers – d.” Early Gospel Music, http://www.earlygospel.com/early-gospel-singers-d/.
