Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen (also Nobody Knows the Trouble I See ) is an American spiritual . The song, whose author is unknown, is considered an outstanding example of this genre; it has also become the jazz standard .

history

Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen (“Nobody knows the suffering I've seen”) is considered “the most poignant complaint about the suffering of slavery” ( Monika Plessner ). The piece was handed down in writing by the baritone Harry Thaker Burleigh , a student of Dvořák .

Marian Anderson recorded the song for the Victor label in 1925 . Probably more than a hundred years after the creation of the spiritual, Mahalia Jackson celebrated a great success at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival . Not only the most diverse gospel groups (from the Staple Singers to the Golden Gate Quartet ) had the song in their repertoire, but also blues singers like Big Bill Broonzy or Jimmy Witherspoon . Also Tennessee Ernie Ford and Johnny Cash had the song in the program. Louis Armstrong recorded a version as early as 1938 , and Jack Teagarden in 1946 . Lena Horne recorded her version in 1946.

Modern jazz musicians , such as Dizzy Gillespie , Dave Brubeck and Grant Green, also dedicated themselves to this spirituality . Representatives of the Free Jazz as Albert Ayler (with Call Cobbs ) have interpreted this song by Hans-Jürgen Schaal reached a "high degree of expressiveness" with their "cry bitterly, despair and dignity" - but the record company published the piece first not (it didn't appear until 1982). Even George Adams (with Don Pullen ), Charles Mingus (1977), Archie Shepp (with Horace Parlan ), David Murray and Charlie Haden (with Hank Jones ) who Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen placed in the context of contemporary jazz. John Coltrane used the melody as the basis for his piece Spiritual , a well-known recording of which is included on the Coltrane album "Live" at the Village Vanguard .

Bernd Alois Zimmermann used the spiritual as the basis for his trumpet concerto of the same name, composed in 1954/55. In an introduction to the work, Zimmermann pointed out that the concert was "written under the impression of racial madness (unfortunately still existing today)" and "intended to show a way of fraternal connection by merging three stylistically seemingly heterogeneous design principles".

The song achieved cinematic popularity in the feature film comedy Spaceballs from 1987. There Daphne Zuniga aka Princess Vespa sings the song in a deep, male voice. It is also sung in the 1994 Disney cartoon The Lion King by Zazu when he is stuck in a cage, but in the variation in which "my sorrow" is sung in the second line.

In the series The Big Bang Theory (episode 75, season 4 - episode 12) Sheldon sings the song and accompanies himself on a theremin .

The traditional text

Nobody knows the trouble I've seen
Nobody knows but Jesus
Nobody knows the trouble I've seen
Glory hallelujah!
Sometimes I'm up, sometimes I'm down
Oh yes, lord
Sometimes I'm almost to the ground
Oh yes, lord
Although you see me going 'long so
Oh yes, lord
I have my trials here below
Oh yes, lord
If you get there before I do
Oh yes, lord
Tell all-a my friends I'm coming too
Oh yes, lord

Variations

  • The second line (“Nobody knows but Jesus”) has been changed in some traditions and becomes “Nobody knows my sorrow”.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Hans-Jürgen Schaal: Jazz Standards , p. 356ff.
  2. ↑ See George Reasons They Had a Dream , Volume 2. San Francisco 1971, p. 21, Rose Blue, Corinne J. Naden The History of Gospel Music 2001, pp. 58f.
  3. ^ Joel Whitburn, Pop Memories 1890-1954 (1986), Record Research Inc.
  4. ^ Decca Records in the 2000 to 2499 series
  5. ↑ See Bielefelder Catalog Jazz 1988
  6. ^ Black and White Records
  7. ↑ Ben Ratliff : Coltrane - Siegeszug einer Sound , Hannibal (2008), p. 94 (Original Coltrane - The Story of a Sound , 2007, translator not mentioned)
  8. ↑ Quoted from: Klaus Ebbeke: Bernd Alois Zimmermann. The concerts for violoncello, oboe and trumpet. CD supplement Philips 434 114-2, page 9.