You Can Fly

The gospel song I'll Fly Away was written by Alford E. Brumley in the 1920's. The writing was influenced in part by an older secular ballad that was probably "The Prisoner's Song." He had the idea for I'll Fly Away while picking cotton on his family's farm as he hummed the ballad. I imagine he thought to himself, "That'll preach!"

The authorship of The Prisoner's Song is disputed, but it is probable that it originated from Guy Massey, who heard the song from his brother Rob Massey.  Rob Massey spent time in prison, and probably heard the song there. One story says that the lyrics were carved into the wall of a county jail in Georgia.  

I was thinking of that song (I'll Fly Away) after Bishop Abrahams of South Africa told us that it was part of African folk-lore that "you can fly." He told of an older man who would whisper it in the ears of men who had been captured in the slave trade as they waited to board the boats. It gave them courage to face the horrible.

These stories have nothing to do with each other. The African folk-lore story is not part of the history of I'll Fly Away. As far as I know, anyway.

I linked these two stories in my mind because I hear some pastors who judge I'll Fly Away - not liking its theology. I think about the encouragement offered to the man who was about to become a slave (You can fly), the fear of the man in prison who carved a poem into rock that said, "Now if I had the wings of an angel, over these prison walls I would fly," and the hearts of those who have been lifted by I'll Fly Away.

Maybe it's best not to judge, but to encourage. It might be one of the ways we can fly.