When Gavin Bryars first looped a field recording of a destitute, old man singing about the blood of Christ, he wondered if he might be on to something special.
The strong emotional responses from those who heard it certainly suggested as much. Inspired to go further, the English composer added a lush orchestral accompaniment to the old man’s hypnotic repetitions. The result is a work of singular beauty that explores the nature of faith and the indomitable human spirit.
Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet was the first release on Brian Eno’s Obscure label in 1975. It’s 25-minute length determined by the vinyl format. Tom Waits declared it to be his all time favourite recording, later collaborating with Bryars on the definitive 75-minute CD version of 1993.
‘I was working with a friend on a film about people living rough’ Bryars has said. ‘In the course of being filmed, some people broke into drunken song…and one, who in fact did not drink, sang a religious song, Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet.’ Moved by the old man’s faltering but enthusiastic delivery, Bryars looped a 13 bar fragment of the song and wrote a simple chordal accompaniment on piano. ‘It repeated in a slightly unpredictable, but inevitable way’ which the composer found ‘curiously effective.’
It was while he was copying the audio loop at the Leicester Polytechnic that Bryars came to realise the real power of his source material. Having left it playing while he took a short break, Bryars returned to find the mood in the communal space had changed. ‘People were moving about much more slowly than usual’ he said ‘and a few were sitting alone, quietly weeping.’
The event left Bryars in no doubt as to the emotional power of the recording and the need for him to approach the project cautiously. He determined that the orchestral accompaniment must be ‘simple, to gradually evolve, yet at the same time respect the tramp’s humanity and simple faith.’
Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet begins with the voice loop alone. The old man sounds downtrodden but not defeated. His voice may be frail and his timing erratic, but his faith is strong and his singing strangely joyous.
Jesus’ blood never failed me yet
Never failed me yet
Jesus’ blood never failed me yet
There’s one thing I know
For he loves me so
Jesus’ blood never failed me yet
Slowly, a string quartet is added, followed by more orchestral instruments until a full ensemble is present. The contrast between the old man’s fragile humanity and the power of the swelling music is stark. It threatens his fragile existence and tests his faith but undeterred he keeps on singing, his belief in salvation intact.
The old man’s vulnerability, emphasised by his role as the sole carrier of the melody, is eased by the arrival of Tom Waits at around the 60-minute mark. For the first time the old man is not alone. Soon a choir joins them and then another. We are, all of us, singing now, our voices raised as one as we momentarily ascend, on a cloud of reverb, from the gutter to the stars. After nearly 150 repetitions of the verse, the flicker of mortal life is extinguished and the old man is gone.
Tom Waits has described how the music ‘settled like a dust on the evening’ the first time he heard the original release. Attracted by a naivety rarely captured in a formal studio he played it incessantly before eventually losing the recording. It was his request to Bryars for a replacement copy that led to their collaboration on the extended version in the 90s.
Sadly, the old man passed away before Gavin Bryars could play him the finished piece. Yet in the work, the old man’s noble spirit lives on, a testament to the comfort of faith and our capacity to suffer hardship without losing hope.
‘There is considerable irony in the relationship between what the tramp is singing and his circumstances at the time’ Bryars has said. ‘For me there is great poignancy in his voice and although I do not share the simple optimism of his faith I am still touched by the human-ness of his voice and with this piece I try to give it new life.’