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Chapter 50: Lift Every Voice and Sing

Gospel & Christian worship

I am not Christian, but it’s impossible not to feel a holy spirit animating the best Christian gospel. That electricity is (in my heathen opinion) more human than divine, and it comes from communion - communion between mellifluous choir singers, or between an inspired preacher and the congregation he is expertly leading. When the Fairfield Four hit an impossible note over and over again, when Kirk Franklin’s Family finds an ecstatic harmonic peak at last, it’s rapturous.
1. Kirk Franklin

The Family Worship Medley (Live)

2. The Fairfield Four

Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around

3. The Mighty Clouds of Joy

Lord, You Wake Me Up This Morning

4. James Cleveland & The Angelic Choir

I Stood On the Banks of the Jordan

5. Mahalia Jackson

I Will Move On Up a Little Higher

6. Zion Harmonizers

Lift Every Voice and Sing

7. The Edwin Hawkins Singers

Oh Happy Day

8. The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi

Old Ship of Zion

9. The Charles Fold Singers & James Cleveland

Can't Nobody Do Me Like Jesus (Live)

10. LaShun Pace

I Know I've Been Changed