I Will Bow And Be Simple: A Song History

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“I Will Bow and Be Simple” is a brief Shaker song that Edward D. Andrews printed in The Gift to Be Simple, his 1940 book on Shaker songs, dances and rituals, where he placed it among the songs of humility.[1] In his note on the tune, Andrews identified it as a “bowing song” from the North family at New Lebanon, set down by Mary Hazzard in 1847, though on the page where he prints the words he puts a question mark after that attribution.[1] He notes that Hazzard, an eldress of the Church family at New Lebanon, was among the Shakers’ most active scribes, thanks to her fine penmanship.[1] Roger Hall, who compiled the notes for Rounder’s Shaker collection Let Zion Move, goes further in an online article, suggesting that Hazzard (he spells it Hazard) wrote the song herself around 1843, though he cites no evidence there.[2]

Plain Shaker side chair of maple with a woven tape seat

Shakers (United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing), Side Chair, maple, 1840–60. Shown as an example of Shaker craftsmanship; it has no connection to the song.

Hall also points out that its opening words resemble those of “Simple Gifts,” and he credits Andrews’s book and Daniel W. Patterson’s collection The Shaker Spiritual with making the song known.[2] According to the Shaker Museum, “Simple Gifts” appears to be the work of Elder Joseph Brackett, written while he lived at Alfred as a member of the Maine Shaker Ministry; 1848 is the generally accepted date, though the museum suggests the song may have been sung before then.[3] Lorinda Jones includes the song, labeled a Shaker hymn, in her Sacred Music Collection, a 66-page book of 31 well-known hymns, spirituals and gospel songs arranged for mountain dulcimer, published by Fingers Of Steel.[4]

Our book that contains the song "I Will Bow And Be Simple"

Sources

  1. Internet Archive: “Edward D. Andrews, The Gift to Be Simple: Songs, Dances and Rituals of the American Shakers (1940)”.
  2. American Music Preservation: “Shaker and Non-Shaker Tunes”.
  3. Shaker Museum: “‘Tis a gift to be simple, but things aren’t as simple as they seem”.
  4. Fingers Of Steel: “Lorinda Jones, Sacred Music Collection”.
  5. Image: Shakers (United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing), Side Chair, maple, 1840–60. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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