Sunday, December 29th
sounds of Chicago
Mighty Clouds of Joy (feat. Joe Ligon), “I’ve Been in the Storm Too Long” (J. Cleveland), live, Chicago (Quinn Chapel), 1991
sounds of Chicago
Mighty Clouds of Joy (feat. Joe Ligon), “I’ve Been in the Storm Too Long” (J. Cleveland), live, Chicago (Quinn Chapel), 1991
sounds of the 1960s
Mighty Clouds of Joy, live (TV), 1964 (“Steal Away,” “He’s So Wonderful” [with Jessie Mae Renfro], “Golden Bells,” “Just Look”), 1968 (“Call Him,” Medley [“Bright Side,” “I’m Glad About It,” “None But the Righteous,” “I’ll Go,” “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”], “How Far Have I Strayed”)
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
Two takes, decades apart.
Joe Ligon (1936-2016) and The Mighty Clouds of Joy, “I’ve Been in the Storm Too Long,” live
more
Joe Ligon (September 11, 1942-December 11, 2016) with the Mighty Clouds of Joy, “I Don’t Feel No Ways Tired” (J. Cleveland), live, Charleston, S.C., 1996
passings
Joe Ligon [AKA Willie Joe Ligon], singer, September 11, 1942-December 11, 2016
Today, remembering him, we revisit a few favorites.
*****
October 18, 2010
“I’ve Been in the Storm Too Long,” live, Albertina Walker Memorial Service, Chicago, 10/14/10
Like a lot of impromptu performances, this starts a little shakily; but then it builds, builds, builds.
*****
May 27, 2012
two takes
“Steal Away To Jesus” (with the Mighty Clouds of Joy)
TV show (TV Gospel Time), early 1960s
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Live, South Carolina (Charleston), 1996
*****
December 20, 2015
old school
“I’m Glad About It” (with the Mighty Clouds of Joy), live, Houston, 1967
*****
Gospel singers don’t retire, you know, they just die doing what they do.
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
old school
Mighty Clouds of Joy (feat. Joe Ligon, lead vocals), live (TV show), 1976
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lagniappe
reading table
God’s Grandeur
by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)The world is charged with the grandeur of God.It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oilCrushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soilIs bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;And though the last lights off the black West wentOh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —Because the Holy Ghost over the bentWorld broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
more
Mighty Clouds of Joy (feat. Joe Ligon, lead vocals), “I Know I’ve Been Changed,” live, South Carolina (Charleston), mid-1990s
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lagniappe
reading table
most end up
stuck in mud . . .
cherry blossoms—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue