"Trouble in the Amen Corner" is a late 19th or early 20th century poem by
Thomas Chalmers Harbaugh. In 1960,
Archie Campbell turned a slightly modified version of the poem into a
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
song, with spoken words. The song quotes from the hymn "
Rock of Ages Rock of Ages may refer to:
Films
* ''Rock of Ages'' (1918 film), a British silent film by Bertram Phillips
* ''Rock of Ages'' (2012 film), a film adaptation of the jukebox musical (see below)
Music
* ''Rock of Ages'' (musical), a 2006 rock ...
", which is mentioned in the original poem. Campbell's version reached #24 in the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
Top 25.
Description
The elderly Brother Eyer habitually occupied the "amen corner", where the most vocally devout worshipers congregated, in a "fashionable church" with a "stylish congregation". But:
''
His voice was cracked and broken; age had touched his vocal cords.
And nearly every Sunday he would mispronounce the words
Of the hymns, and 'twas no wonder; he was old and nearly blind,
And the choir rattling onward always left him far behind.
The chorus stormed and blustered, Brother Eyer sang too slow,
And then he used the tunes in vogue a hundred years ago;
At last the storm cloud burst and the church was told, in fine,
That the brother must stop singing, or the choir would resign.''
The pastor authorizes a deputation to tell him to desist. This breaks the old man's heart. The other churchgoers soon forget him, but he is now singing sweetly in another place.
Recordings
Recordings of the song by people with Wikipedia articles include:
* 1960Archie Campbell
* 1961
Jim Reeves
James Travis Reeves (August 20, 1923July 31, 1964) was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well known as a practitioner of the Nashville Sound. Known as "Gentleman ...
* 1966
Porter Wagoner
Porter Wayne Wagoner (August 12, 1927 – October 28, 2007) was an American country music singer known for his flashy Nudie and Manuel suits and blond pompadour.
In 1967, he introduced singer Dolly Parton on his television show, ''The Po ...
and the Wagonmasters, on the album ''The Grand Ole Gospel''
* 1966
Wink Martindale
Winston Conrad "Wink" Martindale (born December 4, 1933) is an American disc jockey, radio personality, game show host, and television producer. In his six-decade career, he is best known for hosting ''Gambit'' from 1972 to 1976 (and again from ...
* 1967
Tex Ritter
Woodward Maurice Ritter (January 12, 1905 – January 2, 1974) was a pioneer of American country music, a popular singer and actor from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter acting family (son John, grandsons Jason and ...
, on the album ''Just Beyond the Moon''
* 1993
Bill Anderson, on the album ''Country Music Heaven''
* 1998
Jimmy Dean
Jimmy Ray Dean (August 10, 1928 – June 13, 2010) was an American country music singer, television host, actor and businessman. He was the creator of the Jimmy Dean sausage brand as well as the spokesman for its TV commercials.
He became ...
, on the album ''Inspirational Songs''
* 1999Porter Wagoner and
The Blackwood Brothers
The Blackwood Brothers are an American southern gospel quartet. Pioneers of the Christian music industry, they are 8-time Grammy Award winners in addition to winning 7 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards. They are also members of the Memphis M ...
, on the album ''The Grand Old Gospel''
* 2003Porter Wagoner, on the album ''22 Grand Old Gospel 2004''
* 2003
George Hamilton IV
George Hege Hamilton IV (July 19, 1937 – September 17, 2014) was an American country musician. He began performing in the late 1950s as a teen idol, switching to country music in the early 1960s.
Biography
Hamilton was born in Winston-Salem, ...
, on the album ''On a Blue Ridge Sunday''
* 2006
James Blackwood
James Webre Blackwood (August 4, 1919 – February 3, 2002) was an American gospel singer and one of the founding members of legendary Southern gospel quartet The Blackwood Brothers. He is the only person in any field of music to have been nomin ...
and the
Light Crust Doughboys
The Light Crust Doughboys is an American Western swing band from Texas, United States, organized in 1931 by the Burrus Mill and Elevator Company in Saginaw, Texas. The band achieved its peak popularity in the few years leading up to World War II. I ...
, on the album ''Keep Lookin' Up''
* 2007
Hank Thompson and Porter Wagoner, on the album ''100 Years of Hit Recordings''
*
Gordie Tapp
Gordon Robert Tapp, (June 4, 1922 – December 18, 2016) was a Canadian entertainer, best known as a radio and television presenter, comedian and a CBS broadcaster. He was introduced to U.S. President Gerald Ford as the world's funniest storytell ...
, on the album ''The Good Life''
References
American poems
Gospel songs
1960 songs
Jim Reeves songs
Tex Ritter songs
Porter Wagoner songs
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