Original score of "Motherless Child" by William E. Barton, D.D., 1899.
"Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child", also "Motherless Child", is a traditional spiritual. It dates back to the era of slavery in the United States.
An early performance of the song was in the 1870s by the Fisk Jubilee Singers.[1][2] Commonly heard during the Civil rights movement in the United States,[3] it has many variations and has been recorded widely.
Description
The song is an expression of pain and despair as the singer compares their hopelessness to that of a child who has been torn from its parents. Under one interpretation, the repetition of the word "sometimes" offers a measure of hope, as it suggests that at least "sometimes" the singer does not feel like a motherless child.[4]
Renditions
Multiple recordings of the song were made by Paul Robeson, starting in 1926.[5]
Bessie Griffin and The Gospel Pearls recorded the song on their Portraits in Bronze album in 1960.[6][7]
Sweetwater recorded the song on their self-titled debut album, and often opened their live performances with it.
Richie Havens performed a historical rendition of the song – retitled Freedom (Motherless Child) – on August 15, 1969 at the opening of the Woodstock festival.
Elvis Presley used the first verse of the song to open the gospel sequence in his Comeback Special in 1968, sung by Darlene Love.
Jimmy Scott recorded this song in 1969 for his album The Source.[9]
Thea Bowman, a Black Catholic religious sister, recorded the song in 1988 for the stereocassette, "Songs of My People". She then sang it at a meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops the next year, shortly before her death from cancer, while giving a speech on Black Catholic history and experience. The studio recording was re-released in 2020 for the 30th anniversary of Sister Bowman's death as part of the digital album, Songs of My People: The Complete Collection.
Boney M. recorded a disco version of the song titled "Motherless Child" on their 1977 album Love for Sale with singer Liz Mitchell taking the lead vocal. She had previously recorded the song as part of Les Humphries Singers in 1971.
Billy Preston recorded a version of the song titled "Motherless Child" on his 1978 album Behold!
Van Morrison recorded a version for his 1987 album Poetic Champions Compose. In his rendition, writes biographer Brian Hinton, "it is 'Mother Ireland' whom Van is missing and his world weary vocals are like sobs of pain."[11]
Martin Gore recorded his rendition of the song (titled only "Motherless Child") on his 1989 EPCounterfeit.
Hootie and the Blowfish closed out their biggest-selling 1994 album Cracked Rear View with an a cappella rendition. It is a hidden track as its presence is not announced on the album's track listing. It is also the shortest track on the album, clocking in at only 53 seconds.
Prince performed his rendition of the song at many concerts beginning in 1999.[12][13]
Soprano Barbara Hendricks sang it when she received the 2002 Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts.[14]
^Barton, Hymns of the Slave and the Freedman, p.17 ("Not very long ago I attended a concert given by a troupe of jubilee singers, whose leader was a member of the original Fisk company. Toward the end of the programme he announced that a recently arrived singer in his troupe from Mississippi had brought a song that her grandparents sang in slave times, which he counted the saddest and most beautiful of song of slavery. It was a mutilated version of Aunt Dinah's song ['Motherless Child' or 'I feel like I'd never been borned.']")
