There was an article on the origins of the song, originally titled "Conversation With Death," in the May 2004 issue of The Journal of Folklore Research [http://www.indiana.edu/~jofr/issues.php?issue=v41n2-3]. The story, as reported on CMT's website in April of this year, goes like this:
It is believed the song was written by Lloyd Chandler (born 1896), an itinerant, crippled Freewill Baptist preacher from Madison County, North Carolina. He supposedly authored "Conversation with Death" (better known by the title "O Death") after receiving a God-sent vision in 1916, following a weekend of sinning & 'shining.
He claimed he had a terrifying visitation of the Holy Spirit in which Death spoke to him & gave him a song he called "Conversation With Death." Lloyd's song closely resembles "O Death." During his lifetime, Lloyd traveled mountain to mountain, from North Carolina to Virginia & Kentucky, from Tennessee to Alabama, by horseback, bus, car or on foot to preach the Word. He always sang the song he called his gift from the Heavenly Father. Lloyd died in 1978. Handwritten lyrics of the song were passed down through the years. Followers called it "Lloyd's Song" or "Crippled Lloyd's Song." During revivals, Lloyd's preaching brother-in-law would sing the song & tell the story behind it. Friends & kin sang the song at church & home prayer meetings.
After the movie O Brother became available on home video, mountain folks began renting & watching the DVD & sharing it with neighbors. Those who could read were! puzzled when they
After the movie O Brother became available on home video, mountain folks began renting & watching the DVD & sharing it with neighbors. Those who could read were! puzzled when they
failed to find Lloyd's name on the O Brother credits. Older relatives & friends, who still talk about him in the present tense, claimed folks would "fall to the altar & get right with God" when Lloyd sang his song.
His niece, Bertha Wallin McDevitt, claims residents in their 70s, 80s & 90s -- who are expecting judgment day at any minute -- affirm it is Lloyd's song & his testimony. Frances Juanita Gosnell says Lloyd was "under the anointment power of God" when he wrote the song. Robena Adams allowed she was watching the Grammy Awards on TV when she heard Ralph Stanley singing & the first thing she said was, "He's a-singing Lloyd Chandler's song." Lloyd's son, Garrett Chandler, & daughter-in-law, Barbara Roberts Chandler, as well as other kin & friends, claim Lloyd would make your hair stand up when he'd sing the song.
In March 2002, folklorist Carl Lindahl was transcribing information at the Library of Congress. Also in the room, Jan Sohayda, a copyright specialist, was engaged in what she called a "labor of love" as she investigated a North Carolina family's claimed that their father, Lloyd Chandler, composed "Conversation W! ith Death" in 1916. When she showed Lindahl the song's text, he immediately recognized it as "O Death" & told her so.
When Sohayda asked for evidence, Lindahl tried -- but failed -- to prove Lloyd was not the author & also failed to find proof that the song originated, as some suggested, in Africa or the British Isles. In 2002 and 2003, he traveled to North Carolina, where he interviewed several locals around the town of Marshall to gather the information published in The Journal of Folklore Research.
What you think is as close to right as what anybody else thinks. Lloyd is dead, but he still lives in the minds of those who knew him & knew of him. And the song, regardless of who wrote it, is more alive today than ever before, no small thanks to Ralph Stanley, through his original recording of it with the Stanley Brothers, as well as on the soundtrack of O Brother Where Art Thou.
bw
Mullins Darrell W SSgt 859 MSGS/MCSR <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Mullins Darrell W SSgt 859 MSGS/MCSR <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Howdy everyone!
I am Darrell Mullins... I grew up in Kentucky, riding the same school bus as
Johnathan Rigsby... he even had my mother for a teacher in elementary...
Love the music.
Anyway, I was wondering if Ralph Stanley knows the history on how the song
O' Death came to be? I have found out some or all of it... possibly, and
wondered if it holds water...
If anyone knows, please let me know.
Darrell
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