SONGS OF SURRENDER
The New Yorker|October 09, 2023
The musical legacy of a notorious Mississippi prison.
HANIF ABDURRAQIB
SONGS OF SURRENDER

The best-known version of the gossong Give Myself Away," by Pastor William McDowell, is an opulent display of religious praise. For more than nine minutes, backed by swelling instrumentation and a full choir, McDowell sings of surrendering himself in lines such as "Lord, my life is in your hands." A stripped-down but equally powerful version of the song opens the new album "Some Mississippi Sunday Morning," which was recorded inside the Mississippi State Penitentiary, a maximum-security prison also known as Parchman Farm. Around three minutes long, with piano as the lone accompaniment, the song begins with a single vocalist repeating the line "I give myself away/ so you can use me." Midway through, another singer joins in, and then another; the language doesn't change, but the vocals accumulate, stunning and imperfect. If you feel uncertain about the existence of God-and therefore about the meaning of words of surrender echoing through the halls of a place like Parchman-you may find the performance only heartbreaking.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October 09, 2023 من The New Yorker.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October 09, 2023 من The New Yorker.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.

المزيد من القصص من THE NEW YORKER مشاهدة الكل
INSIDE JOB-"Hit Man"
The New Yorker

INSIDE JOB-"Hit Man"

Years before Hannah Arendt coined, in the pages of this magazine, the phrase \"the banality of evil,\" popular films and fiction were embodying that idea in the character of the hit man. In classic crime movies such as \"This Gun for Hire\" (1942) and \"Murder by Contract\" (1958), hit men figure much as Nazis do in political movies, as symbols of abstract evil.

time-read
6 mins  |
June 10, 2024
WHATEVER YOU SAY
The New Yorker

WHATEVER YOU SAY

Rereading Jenny Holzer, at the Guggenheim.

time-read
6 mins  |
June 10, 2024
SUBCONSCIOUSLY YOURS
The New Yorker

SUBCONSCIOUSLY YOURS

Does every generation get the Freud it deserves?

time-read
9 mins  |
June 10, 2024
BY A WHISKER
The New Yorker

BY A WHISKER

Louis Wain and the reinvention of the cat.

time-read
10+ mins  |
June 10, 2024
Beyond Imagining
The New Yorker

Beyond Imagining

Bessie, Lotte, Ruth, Farah, and Bridget, who had been lunching together for half a century, joined in later years by Ilka, Hope, and, occasionally, Lucinella, had agreed without the need for discussion that they were not going to pass, pass away, and under no circumstances on.

time-read
10+ mins  |
June 10, 2024
STATES OF PLAY
The New Yorker

STATES OF PLAY

Can advocates use state supreme courts to preserve-and perhaps expand-constitutional rights?

time-read
10+ mins  |
June 10, 2024
THE LONG RIDE
The New Yorker

THE LONG RIDE

The surf legend Jock Sutherland's unlikely life.

time-read
10+ mins  |
June 10, 2024
ARE WE DOOMED?
The New Yorker

ARE WE DOOMED?

A course at the University of Chicago thinks it through.

time-read
10+ mins  |
June 10, 2024
GOD EXPLAINS THE RULES OF HIS NEW BOARD GAME
The New Yorker

GOD EXPLAINS THE RULES OF HIS NEW BOARD GAME

Guys, want to play this new board game? It’s called Life. No, it’s not “one of God’s impossible-to-understand games that take three hours to learn.” It’ll be fun, I promise!

time-read
3 mins  |
June 10, 2024
RED LINE
The New Yorker

RED LINE

With the election approaching, the U.S. and Mexico wrangle over border policy.

time-read
10+ mins  |
June 10, 2024