Peace In The Valley
Written by Thomas A. Dorsey in 1938 or 1939
Trivia
- "The History of this song is a curious one. The
earliest gospel recording that I'm aware of is a 1949 version of the tiny
Trilon label by the San Francisco-based Paramount Singers, led by Tiny
Powell, with whom Paul Foster had sung extensively in the Bay Area before
joining the Soul Stirrers. Sam's friend Roscoe Robinson had recorded the
song with the Southern Sons for the Jackson-based Trumpet label in May of
1950 - but, according to Marc Ryan, Trumpet Records: Diamonds on Farish
Street, p. 18, the masters burned up in a fire, and no copies of the
record are known to have survived. Why the Soul Stirrers recorded this song
at this particular time will have to remain something of a mystery. It might
have been Paul Foster's familiarity with the song, or Sam's or Crain's, for
that matter - it could very well have been a staple on the live gospel
circuit in Chicago. The reason that country singer Red Foley recorded it
some four weeks later and the song rapidly became an across-the-board
standard (Foley's version went to number five on the country charts) is more
discernible. Red Foley, like Nashville superstar Eddy Arnold, had a
copublishing deal with Hill and Range songs. Hill and Range was owned by two
Viennese-born brothers, Jean and Julian Aberbach, who at this point operated
primarily within the country-and-western marked but would soon dominate much
of pop publishing, particularly after forging a copublishing deal with Elvis
Presley at the start of his career. In early 1951, according to Bar Biszick,
Jean Aberbach's biographer, the Aberbachs made their first tentative foray
into gospel music, setting up an incipient publishing deal with Thomas
Dorsey that would not be completed until August 1952. In the meantime, it
would appear, they set out to expand the market for gospel songs, probably
in order to prove themselves to Dorsey and to further both his interests and
their own. That appears to be the reason for the sudden revival of the
twelve-year-old song, and it certainly helped further the song's promimence
in Elvis' repertoire (he introduced it on The Ed Sullivan Show in
January 1957 and recorded it shortly thereafter). None of this impinged on
the Soul Stirrers, though, whose record came out several weeks before Red
Foley's. Interestingly, Crain wrote to Art Rupe on September 14, in response
to a question about the song's authorship and publishing, and made reference
to the differences between the Stirrers' and Foley's versions.
(source: Peter Guralnick - Dream Boogie, page 659)
Soul Stirrers:
- Sam Cooke (lead)
- Paul Foster (lead)
-
Senior Roy Crain (first tenor)
- Thomas L.
Bruster (baritone)
- R.B. Robinson (baritone)
- Jesse J. Farley (bass)
Recorded March 1, 1951 at Universal Recorders in
Hollywood by Art Rupe
Singles Specialty 802 b/w Jesus Gave Me Water (1951,
sold 65,300 copies)
Albums
Lyrics
O, there will be peace in the valley for me, one day
There will be peace in the valley for me, I pray
No sadness, no sorrow, no more trouble there will be
There will be peace in the valley for me
You know the bear will be gentle
you know wolves gonna be so tamed
Mighty lion, if you will right now,
will lie down with the lamb, oh yes
I know the horse from the wild
Will be led by a little child
and IŽll be changed from this creature
There will be peace in the valley for me, one day
No sadness, no, sorrow, no more trouble there will be
There will be peace in the valley, I pray
Also Recorded By
- Elvis Presley
- Boxcar Willie
- Red
Foley
- Golden Gate Quartet