Albert E. Brumley - I'll fly away

First performance: 22/04/2008


Coverinfo

Bruce covered the song only once:
 
2008-04-22 St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, FL
 
Show rescheduled from April 21. Incredibly emotional show after the passing of Danny Federici. This show and all others on the rest of this leg of the tour open with a tribute film montage set to "Blood Brothers." Several songs are played clearly with Danny in mind - <3 

"Good evening ....good evening and thank you for coming out tonight…we appreciate that…we, uh, we wanna thank you for all the prayers and condolences received for, for Danny ... thank you very much…he was able to come out and play with us, I guess it was about three weeks back and we had a lovely night…so, uh…alright…Roy, you better get this one right, man..... somebody´s watching … You know, the cops finally busted Madame Marie for telling fortunes better than they do…I think she´s in Florida ....she is…"
 
Official concert recording available for purchase in multiple formats at live.brucespringsteen.net
 
 
 
 
 

Songinfo

"I'll Fly Away", is a hymn written in 1929 by Albert E. Brumley and published in 1932 by the Hartford Music company in a collection titled Wonderful Message. "I'll Fly Away" has been called the most recorded gospel song and it is frequently used in worship services and performed at funerals. Earliest known recoring is from " The Selah Singers " But the Chuck Wagon Gang ( 1948 ) made the song popular. Brumley's writing was influenced by the 1924 secular ballad, "The Prisoner's Song". Albert E. Brumley has been described as the "pre-eminent gospel songwriter" of the 20th century with over 600 published songs. Other popular songs by Brumley include "Jesus, Hold My Hand", "Turn Your Radio On", "I'll Meet You in the Morning", and "This World Is Not My Home". According to interviews, Brumley came up with the idea for the song while picking cotton on his father's farm in Rock Island, Oklahoma. Brumley says that as he worked he was "humming the old ballad that went like this: 'If I had the wings of an angel, over these prison walls I would fly,' and suddenly it dawned on me that I could use this plot for a gospel-type song." The song Brumley described appears to be "The Prisoner's Song". It was an additional three years later until Brumley worked out the rest of the song, paraphrasing one line from the secular ballad to read, "Like a bird from prison bars has flown" using prison as a metaphor for earthly life. Brumley has stated, "When I wrote it, I had no idea that it would become so universally popular."
 
 
Albert E. Brumley
 

Bruce on the artist

Lyrics

Some glad morning when this life is over,
I'll fly away.
To a home on God's celestial shore,
I'll fly away.

I'll fly away, O Glory,
I'll fly away. (In the morning)
When I die, Hallelujah, bye and bye,
I'll fly away.

When the shadows of this life are gone,
I'll fly away.
Like a bird from prison bars has flown
I'll fly away.

I'll fly away, O Glory,
I'll fly away. (In the morning)
When I die, Hallelujah, bye and bye,
I'll fly away.

Just a few more weary days and then,
I'll fly away.
To a land where joy shall never end,
I'll fly away.

I'll fly away, O Glory,
I'll fly away. (In the morning)
When I die, Hallelujah, bye and bye,
I'll fly away.