Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet...

Browsing around the Guardian website a few days ago, I found a contribution from David Bowie in which he lists the things he's listening to on his iPod. Being the good fan of the Thin White Duke that I am, I plugged the playlist into Spotify and had a listen to his selection. All very interesting, but the thing that really grabbed me was the final track - Gavin Bryars' "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet".

For those of you who don't have Spotify (sorry guys - I don't have any invites), let me talk you through this track. It's basically a recording of a tramp singing a few lines from the song of the title, looped over and over for the duration... which is 25 minutes. He starts out unaccompanied, and by the time we reach the end of the song, he is accompanied by a full orchestra. This accompaniment, of course builds with beautiful subtlety over the course of the piece, so at times we barely notice it building.

The effect is something quite hypnotic - soothing, and yet a little frustrating. And when I gave it enough time, I found it quite meditative. Here's an excerpt from the rationale, from the composer's website:

"... I left the tape copying, with the door open, while I went to have a cup of coffee. When I came back I found the normally lively room unnaturally subdued. People were moving about much more slowly than usual and a few were sitting alone, quietly weeping."

Inevitably, this track has been around for years, without ever entering my field of awareness. But now it has, I can't shake it. Apparently, the the reason it's only (!) 25 minutes long is simply due to the limitations of tape... there's an hour long version that was recorded in the 90s with Tom Waits joining in the singing towards the end! I'm trying to get my hands on a copy...