Samson & Delilah
I'm not exactly back... it's just that a snatch of song came into my head just now and try as I might I can't find any reference on Google, and it's puzzling me...
I learnt this song at junior school, in the mid to late 70s. I have no idea where it comes from, but it has the definite feel of something out of a musical. Indeed, it's got distinct Tim Rice / Andrew Lloyd Webber leanings. Was there maybe a musical called Samson and Delilah? I don't know. I'd love it if someone else remembered the song too, or could even tell me where it comes from. Here's what I remember of the lyrics, but I may have mangled them a bit in my ageing memory:
Samson was a hero in the days of old
The spirit of the Lord had made him bold
The muscles on his arms stood out like iron bands...
...and he had big hands.
I do love that last line. It always made me giggle.
So, any ideas?
Update: Hurrah for never throwing anything away. I just had a bit of a hunt about and found the original 30-yr-old typed songsheets from when I was 7 or 8. There are six songs here, all about Samson and Delilah, and the whole lot is entitled "Swingin' Samson". And a bit of Googling reveals it was a "popular cantata for children's groups", by a bloke called Michael Hurd. From here:
"The composer, choral conductor and writer Michael Hurd ... [had a] long-standing association with Novello & Co, who not only published almost all his music, but also his books, and whose history, Vincent Novello & Company, he wrote in 1981. When, in 1983, Novello issued a brochure listing Hurd's works published by them, it ran to 12 pages.
His many commissions came from local societies such as the Havant Symphony Orchestra and Havant and District Schools Music Festival, Southern Orchestral Concerts Society, the Farn-ham Festival, the Petersfield Music Festival, the Stroud Festival and the Hampshire Federation of Women's Institutes. Out of these, Hurd developed an accessible line in popular cantatas for children's groups including Jonah-man Jazz (1966), Swingin'Samson (1972), Hip Hip Horatio (1974), Rooster Rag(1975) and Captain Coram'sKids (1988), which for perhaps 20 years were widely performed."
I wonder if it was commissioned by the Hampshire Confederation of Women's Institutes??
___
I learnt this song at junior school, in the mid to late 70s. I have no idea where it comes from, but it has the definite feel of something out of a musical. Indeed, it's got distinct Tim Rice / Andrew Lloyd Webber leanings. Was there maybe a musical called Samson and Delilah? I don't know. I'd love it if someone else remembered the song too, or could even tell me where it comes from. Here's what I remember of the lyrics, but I may have mangled them a bit in my ageing memory:
Samson was a hero in the days of old
The spirit of the Lord had made him bold
The muscles on his arms stood out like iron bands...
...and he had big hands.
I do love that last line. It always made me giggle.
So, any ideas?
Update: Hurrah for never throwing anything away. I just had a bit of a hunt about and found the original 30-yr-old typed songsheets from when I was 7 or 8. There are six songs here, all about Samson and Delilah, and the whole lot is entitled "Swingin' Samson". And a bit of Googling reveals it was a "popular cantata for children's groups", by a bloke called Michael Hurd. From here:
"The composer, choral conductor and writer Michael Hurd ... [had a] long-standing association with Novello & Co, who not only published almost all his music, but also his books, and whose history, Vincent Novello & Company, he wrote in 1981. When, in 1983, Novello issued a brochure listing Hurd's works published by them, it ran to 12 pages.
His many commissions came from local societies such as the Havant Symphony Orchestra and Havant and District Schools Music Festival, Southern Orchestral Concerts Society, the Farn-ham Festival, the Petersfield Music Festival, the Stroud Festival and the Hampshire Federation of Women's Institutes. Out of these, Hurd developed an accessible line in popular cantatas for children's groups including Jonah-man Jazz (1966), Swingin'Samson (1972), Hip Hip Horatio (1974), Rooster Rag(1975) and Captain Coram'sKids (1988), which for perhaps 20 years were widely performed."
I wonder if it was commissioned by the Hampshire Confederation of Women's Institutes??
___
4 Comments:
I just googled that song as i was looking for the musical score online and i came up with the link to your blog.
The song is from "Swingin'Samson", by Michale Hurd. When i was in junior school (well over 30 years ago!) we made a record of Swingin' Samson. He also did a "Jonah Man Jazz", telling the story of Jonah and the Whale through song, which we also preformed at junior school.
Now, years later i am going to teach it to a class of 10-12 year olds for a church performance!
Ah yes Brigitte, you'll see I tracked it down in the end.
how funny to thiknk of others also googling for it, and now landing on my site!
I was just talking about this song yesterday, so thought I'd Google it. The reason for the discussion was that we performed it at Middle School, when I was aboout 10 or 11. During the preformance (with me on the second row-middle) my voice decided to break. Well, not so much break, but explode into a milling pieces!) Everyone around me started to giggle. It must have ruined the performance. LOL!
Oh dear, Darren! Still, makes a great story now...
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