Simple Gifts


"Simple Gifts" is a Shaker song written and composed in 1848, generally attributed to Elder Joseph Brackett from Alfred Shaker Village.

Background and composition

The tune was written in 1848. There are two conflicting narratives of Shaker origin as to the composer of the song. One account attributes the song to a "Negro spirit" heard at Canterbury, New Hampshire, which would make the song a "gift song" received by a Shaker from the spirit world. Alternatively, and more widely accepted, the song's composer is said to be Joseph Brackett of Alfred, Maine. A lifelong resident of the state, he first joined the Shakers at Gorham when his father's farm helped to form the nucleus of a new Shaker settlement.

Resurgence and enduring popularity

The song was largely unknown outside Shaker communities until Aaron Copland used its melody for the score of Martha Graham's ballet Appalachian Spring, first performed in 1944.. Copland used "Simple Gifts" a second time in 1950 in his first set of Old American Songs for voice and piano, which was later orchestrated.

Lyrics

These are the lyrics to his one-verse song:
’Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
When true simplicity is gained,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Several Shaker manuscripts indicate that this is a “dancing song” or a “quick dance”. "Turning" is a common theme in Christian theology, but the references to "turning" in the last two lines have also been identified as dance instructions. When the traditional dance is performed properly, each dancer ends up where they started, "come 'round right".

Tune

A manuscript of Mary Hazzard of the New Lebanon, New York, Shaker community records this original version of the melody:
The song resembles to a slight extent several repetitions of the opening measures of William Byrd's renaissance composition, "The Barley Break", which Byrd intended to imitate country children playing a folk game. Similarly, Brackett is claimed to have come up with the song as an imitation of what folk music sounds like.
A somewhat similar musical theme arises also in a brass ensemble work Canzon per sonare no. 2 by Giovanni Gabrieli.
Many people have mistakenly believed that the tune of "Simple Gifts" was a traditional Celtic one but both the music and original lyrics are actually the compositions of Brackett. "Simple Gifts" has been adapted or arranged many times since by folksingers and composers.

"Lord of the Dance"

A well known version is by English songwriter Sydney Carter, who adapted the Shaker tune for his song "Lord of the Dance", first published in 1963.
The Carter lyrics were adapted, in ignorance of the actual origins, without authorization or acknowledgments by Ronan Hardiman for Michael Flatley's dance musical Lord of the Dance, which opened in 1996. The melody is used at various points throughout the show, including the piece titled "Lord of the Dance." Other adaptations of the lyrics by Carter have occurred in the widespread belief that they are traditional, and in the public domain.

Subsequent usage

  • The Shakers' "Simple Gifts" melody appears in Aaron Copland's music for the ballet Appalachian Spring. For many years, an excerpt was used as the opening theme for the CBS News television documentary series, CBS Reports.
  • Classical guitarist Christopher Parkening included an arrangement for guitar of "Simple Gifts" on his "Simple Gifts" CD released in 1990.
  • For its Red Album, the rock band Weezer recorded "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived ", on which the theme is clearly heard in the piano intro and the chorus.
  • The Turtles recorded a song called "Too Young To Be One" which owes much of its melody to the classic Shaker work.
  • Judy Collins included the song on her 1970 album Whales & Nightingales.
  • R.E.M. used this song to open their song "I Believe" during the last half of their Work Tour in 1987.
  • The British punk band Toy Dolls adapted the song in their song "My Girlfriend's Dad's a Vicar", from studio albums "A Far Out Disc" and the compilation album "Ten Years Of Toys".
  • The song is incorporated into both the opening and closing tracks of the 1990 album "Simple Gifts: Instrumental Arrangements of Shaker Melodies" by William Coulter and Barry Phillips.
  • In 1998, Windham Hill Records released a collective album titled "Thanksgiving" which featured an arrangement of "Simple Gifts" performed by Thea and Tracy Silverman.
  • John P. Zdechlik used "Simple Gifts" in "Chorale and Shaker Dance," a 1972 composition for concert band. In 2004, Robert Steadman arranged the tune for orchestra featuring an off-stage trumpet and a thumping, dance-music influenced finale. Frank Ticheli also wrote a version of "Simple Gifts", presented in Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs.
  • Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krauss performed a duet of "Simple Gifts" on his 2001 album "Classic Yo-Yo".
  • On their Grammy-winning CD Simple Gifts, The King's Singers perform an a cappella version titled Gift to be Simple.
  • In 2009, singer Jewel released a version on her album "Lullaby".
  • "Simple Gifts" was performed in 2009 by the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps as part of their program "Ballet for Martha".
  • The Norfolk, England, Kipper Family — Sid and Henry Kipper — wrote and recorded a version of "Lord of the Dance", calling it "Bored of the Dance". It tells of the men attending a village hall social evening being forced by the women to join in the various dances when they would rather be drinking with their friends, or getting the women to bed. It has the memorable line: "It's hard to dance when you're lying on your back".
  • John Williams's Air and Simple Gifts was premiered at U.S. President Obama's inauguration on January 21, 2009. It was performed by Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Anthony McGill and Gabriela Montero. It was a classical quartet based on the original Simple Gifts.
  • The Appalachian State University and the West Virginia University marching bands play arrangements of "Simple Gifts" as part of their pre game shows for football games. West Virginia University's band's version of the song also has been featured in the university's television advertisements.
  • An a cappella arrangement of "Simple Gifts" is included on Minneapolis choir Cantus' 2011 album That Eternal Day.
  • Roger Lee Hall has arranged "Simple Gifts" for chorus and it is performed by The Canterbury Singers on the album Celestial Praises.
  • The theme is intertwined into "Over the Rainbow / Simple Gifts" by the Piano Guys.
  • David Evan Thomas's Variations on Simple Gifts, a work for organ, was published by MorningStar Music Publishers in 2013.
  • "Simple Gifts" is the opening song in a combined dance, music and theatrical collaboration called "Angel Reapers," by Martha Clarke and Alfred Uhry. The work is a celebration of the Shakers, their history, their practices and their accomplishments. It first appeared in its present form in Boston and New York in November 2011. It has since been revived by the Signature Theatre Company in New York in February 2016.
  • Icelandic singer Jónsi covered the song for the 2017 film The Circle.
  • Raffi sings this song on his Bananaphone album.
  • Aberdeen Football Club use the tune for this song as one of their Fans' Songs, "Stand free, wherever you may be"

    In popular culture

  • In 1982, "Simple Gifts" was used as the background music track for the "Smurf: Rescue In Gargamels Castle" video game for the Colecovision and Atari 2600 systems.
  • In the movie A Time for Dancing a version of Simple Gifts is played as the opening song. It is sung by Anastasia Breeze, the "Simple Gift" choir and Táta Vega.
  • The TV series Little House on the Prairie had the Ingalls family singing this song.
  • The then-10-year-old Jodie Foster sang this song in the 1973 episode "Alethea" of Kung Fu.
  • It was used in the 1963 Boulting Brothers' film Heavens Above!.
  • Hannibal Heyes sings the song in Alias Smith and Jones in the 1971 episode "The Posse That Wouldn’t Quit"; mere months later the actor would take his own life.
  • "Simple Gifts" in such pieces as "Chorale and Shaker Dance" and the Appalachian Spring have been popular music repertoire for drum corps and marching bands. Among them are 1987 Garfield Cadets, 1992 Blue Knights and 2009 Santa Clara Vanguard. The Appalachian State University marching band also performs a rendition of "Simple Gifts" as part of a pre-game tradition, prior to football games. A snippet of Simple Gifts is also played after every Mountaineer first down. The West Virginia University Mountaineer Marching Band, known as The Pride of West Virginia, has performed an arrangement of the song during Mountaineer football games since 1973.
  • "Simple Gifts" is the corps song for Revolution Drum & Bugle Corps
  • "Simple Gifts" was sung by the cast of Shining Time Station, along with guest actress Rachel Miner in its 1990 Christmas Special .
  • "Simple Gifts" was used as the theme song for the syndicated TV newsmagazine American Journal, starting as a majestic instrumental arrangement in early seasons and promos, and then upgrading to a rock format in later seasons and promos.
  • During the mid to late 1990s, the song was used in advertisements for the Oldsmobile Aurora luxury sedan.
  • For many years, WNYC in New York used the tune as its sign-off song.
  • The Aaron Copland version was used during the movie The Ultimate Gift in 2006
  • In 2008, the Baz Luhrmann movie Australia with a score by David Hirschfelder which featured variations on the melody of Simple Gifts as a recurring theme in several scenes as well as some of the songs.
  • In 2009, electronic artist Scooter, sampled the tune in their single, "The Sound Above My Hair".
  • On the November 23, 2009 edition of WWE Raw, "Simple Gifts" was used as the entrance theme for a team of "Pilgrims" composed of Jillian Hall, Layla and Michelle McCool for a "Mayflower Melee" Match.
  • On January 12, 2011 "Simple Gifts," in an arrangement by Grant Cochran, was sung at the Memorial for the victims of the 2011 Tucson shooting at the McKale Center at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
  • In Aug Sept 2012 "Simple Gifts" was used as the melody in the background, of TV spot ads for both Whirlpool, Simple Designs, Washer Dryers, and also Arborday.com.
  • The melody was also adapted and used in Michael Flatley's river dance performances.
  • "Simple Gifts" was the opening song in the Hulu series The Handmaids Tale, for their Season Finale in Season One.
  • Simple gifts is heard at the end of the Season 4 episode Something's A-mish of the TV show In Plain Sight.
  • "Simple Gifts" was used as the theme music for the Extra History series on the history of paper money.

    Additional verses

Two additional, later non-Shaker verses exist for the song, as follows:
And an additional alternative:
Another alternate verse:
A Version Broadcast During Music and the Spoken Word