Gavin Bryars (born 1943) Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet

Please note in this version of the work the ensemble join with the tape four minutes into the piece In 1971, when I lived in London, I was working with a friend, Alan Power, on a film about people living rough in the area around Elephant and Castle and Waterloo Station. In the course of being filmed, some people broke into drunken song sometimes bits of opera, sometimes sentimental ballads and one, who in fact did not drink, sang a religious song Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet. This was not ultimately used in the film and I was given all the unused sections of tape, including this one. When I played it at home, I found that his singing was in tune with my piano, and I improvised a simple accompaniment. I noticed, too, that the first section of the song 13 bars in length formed an effective loop which repeated in a slightly unpredictable way. I took the tape loop to Leicester, where I was working in the Fine Art Department, a