Odetta, “The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement” (1930-2008)

Jonathan Adams

Odetta, “The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement” (1930-2008)

Odetta, most famous for singing at the March on Washington in 1963, will not be able to perform as she intended at Barack Obama’s inauguration next month. The woman, known as “the voice of the Civil Rights Movement,” became famous among musicians like Joan Baez and Bob Dylan but did not consider herself a folk singer.

“I’m not a real folk singer,” she told The Washington Post in 1983. “I don’t mind people calling me that, but I’m a musical historian. I’m a city kid who has admired an area and who got into it. I’ve been fortunate. With folk music, I can do my teaching and preaching, my propagandizing.”
In The Washington Post interview, Odetta theorized that humans developed music and dance because of fear, “fear of God, fear that the sun would not come back, many things. I think it developed as a way of worship or to appease something. … The world hasn’t improved, and so there’s always something to sing about.”[Associated Press]

Odetta died Tuesday after battling heart disease. She was 77.

Posted at 11:37 AM, Dec 03, 2008 in Music & Film | Permalink | View Comments

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Lyrics:

Oh freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom over me
And before I'd be a slave I'll be buried in a my grave
And go home to my Lord and be free

No more mourning, no more mourning, no more mourning over me
And before I'd be a slave I'll be buried in a my grave
And go home to my Lord and be free

No more crying, no more crying, no more crying over me
And before I'd be a slave I'll be buried in a my grave
And go home to my Lord and be free

Oh freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom over me
And before I'd be a slave I'll be buried in a my grave
And go home to my Lord and be free

There'll be singin', there'll be singin', there'll be singin' over me
And before I'd be a slave I'll be buried in a my grave
And go home to my Lord and be free

Oh freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom over me
And before I'd be a slave I'll be buried in a my grave
And go home to my Lord and be free

RIP Odetta

Hello there,

Thank you for remembering and honoring this remarkable and unforgettable legend.

John 14:1-3

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

Believe it...and receive it!

Peace, blessings and DUNAMIS!
Lisa