Earworms: "Alla That's All Right, But" by Sweet Honey in the Rock
A great song by one of the greatest musical collectives of my lifetime
Certain songs take hold in my head, sometimes old, sometimes new, for reasons which may or may not be obvious. So, I’ll write stuff about them.
I remember seeing a documentary about Sweet Honey in the Rock on PBS sometime in the early 80s. I was immediately captivated by these women and their exciting harmonies, their commitment to a cappella singing, their spirited blend of African-American musical influences from jazz to gospel to blues to soul. I’m pretty sure I went out the next day and bought the first album I could find by them, the 1981 release Good News.
One song on that record has rarely left my consciousness over almost forty years. “Alla That’s All Right, But” is their adaptation of a poem by June Jordan. Jordan was an activist in the civil rights, antiwar, feminist, and gay and lesbian movements (this according to her website bio), which made her a perfect fit for the women of Sweet Honey in the Rock. But this particular poem/song is about desire for pleasure, a need for something other than struggle to recharge life itself. Set to music, it sounds like the deepest kiss possible.
Sweet Honey in the Rock was founded in 1973 by Bernice Johnson Reagon back in 1973. Reagon was a founding member of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee back in the early 60s, and she can be seen and/or heard in various documentaries on the Civil Rights events of those days. Over the years, more than 20 different women have moved in and out of the group’s line-up. I’ve personally seen them at least 15 different times, though I admit I lost touch with them after Reagon left the group in 2004. But many of the most intense musical experiences of my life were at Sweet Honey concerts. If you never saw them, you can’t really imagine just how powerful those voices could be on stage.
Back to this song. “Somebody come and carry me into a seven day kiss,” is chanted first by Reagon, then by two women, then by more. Voices move in and out of the forefront, exclaiming cries of “I don’t need no historic no national no family bliss” in hopes of that “absolutely one to one that seven day kiss.” One woman cries, “Help me now,” making the song a communal desire. There is a verse sung against background chanting of “Alla that’s all right, but” which contrasts the woes of the world with the need for a powerful connection of pleasure. (Just to clarify the confusion I first had about the title – Alla is not short for Allah, but a contraction of “all of.”) Then everybody comes back together to repeat the first chorus, and a final “Help me now” is shouted before a big fake smooch sound ends the song. I never get tired of this!
At the time of this album, Sweet Honey in the Rock consisted of Reagon, Evelyn Maria Harris, Ysaye Maria Barnwell, and Yasmeen Bheti Williams. By the time I started seeing them in the mid-eighties, the line-up had changed, and while I became quite adept at recognizing the voices of the women I saw so often, I don’t know which one sings which parts in this quartet version, except for Reagon’s powerful gospel tone.
The St. Louis jazz group Jasmine used to do a nice version of this song, but I can’t find it online to share.