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
MP3 at
Amazon.com
Singles Specialty 802 b/w Jesus Gave
Me Water (1951, sold 65,300 copies)
Albums
-
The Complete Recordings of Sam Cooke with the Soul Stirrers
- The Gospel Soul of Sam Cooke
with the Soul Stirrers, Vol.1
- My Gospel Roots
- Peace In The Valley
- Sam Cooke With the Soul Stirrers
- Specialty Profiles
- Touch The Hem Of His Garment
- Wonderful
- Brothers Of Soul - Early Years Collection
- You Send Me (Timeless Collection)
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