There are so many areas of interest implicit in this brief arrangement of several Black spirituals that I hardly know where to begin. I’ll start with encouraging you to read my post “How Did We Get African-American Spirituals?” Got that? Okay, let’s move on to this specific arrangement that includes texts from “Oh, What a Beautiful City” and “In Bright Mansions Above” as well as fragments from other sources. The words from these are melded seamlessly and beautifully, with the slower, quieter phrases from “Mansions” providing the bridge, or contrasting middle section, for the piece. And of course, since the actual spirituals dating from before the Civil War are all anonymous, anyone can do anything with them. Even if we did know authors’ names the copyright would long ago have expired.
So you may have thought when you read the title of this post that the answers were pretty obvious, and indeed they are to some extent. The “beautiful city” is, of course, heaven, and the “12 gates” are the “pearly gates” mentioned in the book of Revelation, the last book in the Christian New Testament. In fact, let’s just stop here for a moment and read the actual description:
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. (Rev. 21:21 KJV)
I must point out with my usual nit-pickiness that this verse is saying that each gate is one big pearl, not that they’re decorated or covered with pearls. Just a-sayin’. And of course here’s where the famous idea of heaven’s having “streets of gold” comes in, although I always wondered as a kid (and still do now) how “pure gold” can look like “transparent glass.” John the Apostle is clearly straining to put into words the glorious visions that he sees and is using imagery that he’s familiar with.
So the book of Revelation is the source for the “gates” imagery. What about the “bright mansions”? Well, for that idea we have to backtrack to the Gospel of John, in which Jesus says to his disciples,
In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:2-3 KJV)
Other translations use the words “rooms” or “dwelling places” for “mansions.” The idea is of a vast palace or city where there’s a welcome for all believers. And then our arranger, Andrè J. Thomas, brings in wording from other spirituals. The speaker wants to go to the beautiful city because his/her mother, father, sister and brother are all up there and so “I want to live there too.” This idea of having loved ones who’ve died and whom you’ll get to see after death is very common in many Christian songs and hymns and not only in spirituals. And then, in kind of a master stroke, Thomas brings in one more fragment: “I want to be in that number.” That little phrase should ping some bells in your memory. Remember the spiritual “John Saw Duh Numbuh”? In that song the speaker asks that John not “call the roll” until he gets there, to heaven—in other words, don’t close out the list until I make it in. And also “When the Saints Go Marching In,” with its statement “Oh Lord, I want to be in that number when the saints go marching in.” Marching in where? Why, heaven. (I include a video of “Saints” at the end of the post on “John.”)
André Thomas, the arranger of this lovely, spirited piece, is quite a character in and of himself. A “force of nature,” as my husband and I often say. I’m not even going to try to summarize his career since you can watch the following nine-minute documentary about him and find out all about him that way.
Here’s an excellent performance, sadly not a live video but worth listening to:
And here’s a TOTALLY live performance, not of our arrangement but so joyful and uplifting that I just had to include it:
And another great performance, this time just of the “Gates” spiritual:
© Debi Simons
