Fisher traces this classic American song past the jazz
rendition that Louis Armstrong popularized, even beyond its first recording in 1923 by
the New York gospel group, the Paramount Jubilee Singers, back to—if you can
believe it—the plainchant “In Paradisum,” which became part of the Catholic
requiem mass after being written down sometime between 996 and 1011.
Now, I’m not going to argue with Fisher’s credentials
as a well-informed music maven. But I can assure him that nothing in the “rich history
of transformation” he mentions compares to the rendition of this song on the
sideline of football games played by St. Cecilia High School (what else did you
expect?) in Englewood, NJ.
At the zenith of my alma mater’s gridiron glory, stretching
from Vince Lombardi’s start as a football coach to a couple of years before it
closed in 1986, “Saints” cheerleaders would lead the packed stadium with
syncopated hand clapping and shouts as fans sensed victory.
I can assure Fisher that, no matter what he might
believe, nothing before in the history of this much-played song could compare
to the groundswell of glorious noise on these occasions—and, at this increasingly late stage in my life, I doubt that anything from now on ever will.
