Needy Time

The video link in this posting is for a performance of an old song that is called Needy Time, Needed Time, or Come By Here, depending on the performer or the time period. At its roots, it’s all the same song, and probably has its origin in songs sung by slaves. In the The Ruby Pickens Tartt Collection of Religious Folk Songs from Sumter County, Alabama, the song is called Lord, won’t you come by here.

I first heard this song in the movie Sounder, in 1972, and I’ve been playing and singing it since then. In the movie, Taj Mahal sings the song. It has been recorded by Sister Clara Hudman, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and Eric Bibb.

I’ve been overdosing on news lately, most of it bad, full of the perfidy of people in power, and the results of unchecked human aggression. We are a sad bunch, and I often despair that we will ever get better. You may call it original sin, a hereditary stain, or a failure to evolve. Whatever you call it, humans are afflicted with it.

When I start feeling this kind of despair, I turn to the arts. I read poetry, fine writing, look at painting, sculpture and other visual arts; most of all, I look to music to find the spark of possibility in human nature.

I am a Christian, but often reticent to admit it, since the hijacking of religion by extremists on all sides has become so visible. It has been happening since the beginning of time, but we live in a world of information overload, and the misuse of religion is frequently in the headlines. When I sing the song Needy Time, I mean it. I mean it in the sense of maranatha. I mean it as John of Patmos meant it in Revelation 22:20: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

You don’t have to be a believer to hear the plea for help in this song. We are living in needy times, and if you hear the song with secular ears, or religious ears (all religions, I mean), the universality of the supplication comes through, even with an unskilled musician like me.