Kavanah (James Levin)

In June of this year I heard an interview on NPR’s Speaking of Faith, with Joe Carter.  The interview explored the African American Spiritual.  Joe Carter, until his death at the age of 57, was one of the preeminent authorities on the African American Spiritual.  He, the descendent of a slave family, rediscovered the spiritual at the age of 15 when he formed a duo with a Jewish friend while growing up in the Boston area.

The spiritual for the slave community was a form of expression and more often then not focused in on survival and death – for what else did the slave have to live.  If you think about the words as you listen to or as you read the lyrics to the African American spiritual, then you will understand the meaning – think about the lyrics to the spiritual that we all know, “Swing low sweet Chariot, comin’ for to carry me home. Swing low”.

Joe Carter, when he heard of his father’s death, he was on tour at the time, said that he immediately thought of a spiritual that he felt epitomized his father (and it was with that spiritual that he ended all of his performances thereafter).

I will spare you with my attempt to sing the spiritual, but recite it, in that it really does in a few words relate to Judah.

Let the work that I’ve done speak for me.Let the work that I’ve done speak for me.When I come to the end of this road And lay down this heavy loadLet the work that I’ve done speak for me. Let the life that I’ve lived speak for me.Let the life that I’ve lived, Lord, speak for me.When I come to the end of this roadAnd lay down this heavy loadLet the life that I’ve lived, oh Lord, speak for me. Oh, let the prayers that I’ve prayed speak for me.Let the love that I’ve shared, Lord, speak for me.Oh, Lord, when I come to the end of this roadAnd lay down this heavy loadLet the life that I’ve lived speak for me.

Oh, yes, let the love that I’ve shared speak for me.