How I Got Over
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “How I Got Over” | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Song by Clara Ward | ||
| Published | 1951 | |
| Released | 1951 | |
| Writer | Clara Ward | |
| Cover versions | ||
How I Got Over is a Gospel hymn composed and published in 1951 by Clara Ward (1924-1973). Notable recordings of this work have been made by Mahalia Jackson (1961, winner of the Grammy Award for Best Soul Gospel Performance in 1976), Aretha Franklin (1972 on her Amazing Grace record album), and the Blind Boys of Alabama (2008 album Down in New Orleans).
[edit] Inspirations
According to her sister, Willa Ward, one of the inspirations for this song was an experience Clara Ward, Willa, their mother, Gertrude, and members of their singing group had travelling in the racially segregated South in 1951. In the South, en route to Atlanta, Georgia, they were besieged by a group of white men. The men were enraged that Black women were riding in a luxury vehicle (a Cadillac), and surrounded their car and terrorized them with racist taunts. The women were rescued when, in a burst of inspiration, Gertrude Ward feigned demonic possession, spewing curses and incantations at the men, who fled.[1]
Willa Ward writes that later that year Clara composed the song. In her biography of Clara Ward Willa discredits the rumor that Clara pirated "How I Got Over" from William Herbert Brewster, saying that Clara reworked an old spiritual she and Willa sang as children.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Ward-Royster, Willa, "How I Got Over: Clara Ward and the World-Famous Ward Singers", Temple University Press, 1997, paper ISBN 1-56639-490-2, pp. 102-104.
- ^ Id. at p. 99.
