Anyone who has seen "Night of the Hunter," the 1955 film starring Robert Mitchum as a psychopathic preacher in pursuit of two children, will remember him constantly singing, "Leaning On the Everlasting Arms [of the Cross]." Well, it turns out the hymn was written by a Pennsylvania Presbyterian minister, Elisha Hoffman, in the late 1800s, composer of what must be a one of the stoutest Guinness Book of Records, 2000 or so. Among Hoffman's other notable hymns is one with equally gothic associations in my mind, "Are You Washed in the Blood of the Lamb?"
The reason, besides the mere fearful idea of drinking or drowning in Christ's cleansing sacrificial blood, is its, to me, sardonic use by Charles Ives in his 1914 song-setting of Vachel Lindsay's poem, "General William Booth Enters Heaven." The poem was written as an elegiac ode to General William Booth, the British Methodist minister who founded the Salvation Army in 1865, and became its first commander ("General") in 1878--the year Hoffman wrote "Are You Washed in the Blood of the Lamb?" Booth died in 1912 and the poem, written that year, gained instant popularity when published in 1913. Throughout the text, there are numerous references to Hoffman's hymn.
Lindsay's poem has always had ambiguous motives and meanings for me. In it, he describes Booth leading a ragtag army of bedraggled sinners and sufferers into Heaven where they are greeted by Jesus who transforms them into what might be called "heavenly sights for un-sore eyes." Booth, whom Lindsay notes "died blind," does not "see" Jesus come out "Stretched . . . hands above the passing poor." Instead, he leads "his queer ones / Round and round the mighty court-house square." As if impatient with the lack of what should be, I imagine, instant recognition of and salvation by the Lord, Jesus simply does a mass healing of Booth's "blear review" and they march on "spotless, clad in raiment new." There, for me, is the appeal and danger of evangelism. Christ is, to these believers, a carte blanche savior of souls. "Sin now, don't [have to] pay later."
Jesus came from out the court-house door,
Stretched his hands above the passing poor.
Booth saw not, but led his queer ones there
Round and round the mighty court-house square.
Yet in an instant all that blear review
Marched on spotless, clad in raiment new.
The lame were straightened, withered limbs uncurled
And blind eyes opened on a new, sweet world.
Stretched his hands above the passing poor.
Booth saw not, but led his queer ones there
Round and round the mighty court-house square.
Yet in an instant all that blear review
Marched on spotless, clad in raiment new.
The lame were straightened, withered limbs uncurled
And blind eyes opened on a new, sweet world.
Ives did not set Lindsay's entire poem (apparently he used an excerpt that he saw in a newspaper review of Lindsay's book which contained the poem), but he is literally faithful to the instructions he saw and to the spirit of the poem. Every recurrence of the refrain "Are you washed in the blood . . ." clashes with the song, which ends with one final repeat for the listener, as if to ask, "And what about you?" Ives was a deeply religious man and his music is studded with hymn quotes. But there is a savagery to his setting that makes me wonder if WWI had something to do with the composition. Booth's bedraggled band would have been joined with thousands of civilian and soldier dead--and Christ's endless blood bank would have been seriously drained. So it is hard for me not to see a double diabolical meaning to the idea of "army" in Ives' adaptation. The booming bass drum is certainly militaristic in this composition.
Okay, why, out of the blue, am I sending Charles Ives' "General William Booth Enters Heaven"? You have my Vancouver friend, Danny Kasowitz to thank or blame for this. Last night, after watching a new Paul Schrader film, "First Reformed," Danny sent me a version of "Are You Washed in the Blood of the Lamb" by the Antrim Mennonite Choir (1). I don't know whether this is taken from the soundtrack or not, but I'm sending it as an MP3 file. To give the hymn context, let me quote from the movie's on-line publicity site, which says the movie is about "Reverend Ernst Toller (Ethan Hawke) . . . a solitary, middle-aged parish pastor at a small Dutch Reform church in upstate New York on the cusp of celebrating its 250th anniversary. Once a stop on the Underground Railroad, the church is now a tourist attraction catering to a dwindling congregation, eclipsed by its nearby parent church, Abundant Life, with its state-of-the-art facilities and 5,000-strong flock."
It had been years since I listened to the hymn, and then only in a 1927 "roots" version by Da Costa Woltz's Southern Broadcasters (2). These straight versions--the first exuberantly reverential and the second rustic and rollicking--beckoned me to excavate several versions of Ives' song. During archeology, I discovered an orchestral arrangement by Ives' close friend, contemporary, and fellow composer, John J. Becker, written in 1934 for baritone, chorus and chamber orchestra. Ives, who had long tried unsuccessfully to set the song for large forces, must have been elated. The arrangement is much transmission as transcription. Thomas Hampson, who has made frequent recordings of Ives' songs, is the featured baritone.
Get ready for a transmogrification of Hoffman's hymn. Three versions of "Are You Washed In the Blood of the Lamb?" await you here:
General William Booth Enters into Heaven
[To be sung to the tune of The Blood of the Lamb with indicated instrument]
Booth led boldly with his big bass drum—
(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)
The Saints smiled gravely and they said: “He’s come.”
(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)
Walking lepers followed, rank on rank,
Lurching bravoes from the ditches dank,
Drabs from the alleyways and drug fiends pale—
Minds still passion-ridden, soul-powers frail:—
Vermin-eaten saints with mouldy breath,
Unwashed legions with the ways of Death—
(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)
[BANJOS]
Every slum had sent its half-a-score
The round world over. (Booth had groaned for more.)
Every banner that the wide world flies
Bloomed with glory and transcendent dyes.
Big-voiced lasses made their banjos bang,
Tranced, fanatical they shrieked and sang:—
“Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?”
Hallelujah! It was queer to see
Bull-necked convicts with that land make free.
Loons with trumpets blowed a blare, blare, blare
On, on upward thro’ the golden air!
(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)
[BASS DRUM SLOWER AND SOFTER]
Booth died blind and still by Faith he trod,
Eyes still dazzled by the ways of God.
Booth led boldly, and he looked the chief
Eagle countenance in sharp relief,
Beard a-flying, air of high command
Unabated in that holy land.
[SWEET FLUTE MUSIC]
Jesus came from out the court-house door,
Stretched his hands above the passing poor.
Booth saw not, but led his queer ones there
Round and round the mighty court-house square.
Yet in an instant all that blear review
Marched on spotless, clad in raiment new.
The lame were straightened, withered limbs uncurled
And blind eyes opened on a new, sweet world.
[BASS DRUM LOUDER]
Drabs and vixens in a flash made whole!
Gone was the weasel-head, the snout, the jowl!
Sages and sibyls now, and athletes clean,
Rulers of empires, and of forests green!
[GRAND CHORUS OF ALL INSTRUMENTS.
TAMBOURINES TO THE FOREGROUND]
The hosts were sandalled, and their wings were fire!
(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)
But their noise played havoc with the angel-choir.
(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)
O shout Salvation! It was good to see
Kings and Princes by the Lamb set free.
The banjos rattled and the tambourines
Jing-jing-jingled in the hands of Queens.
[REVERENTLY SUNG. NO INSTRUMENTS]
And when Booth halted by the curb for prayer
He saw his Master thro’ the flag-filled air.
Christ came gently with a robe and crown
For Booth the soldier, while the throng knelt down.
He saw King Jesus. They were face to face,
And he knelt a-weeping in that holy place.
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
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