DANA Just a Closer Walk with Thee 1974 (FoD106)

Thanks to DANA's favourite nun our favourite singer is among a long list of artists who have covered this popular gospel song. Mother Imelda* was her music teacher at Thornhill College in Derry, and she asked her to sing this particular number when the former student returned to film the Who Is Rosemary Brown? documentary. DANA's soft and gentle vocal performance along with her fingerstyle playing is one of its musical highlights, and shows why she really should have recorded an acoustic album or three. Pity she didn't include that excerpt from The Mikado, like I've Got a Little List!

“Just a Closer Walk with Thee is a traditional gospel song that has been performed and recorded by many artists. Performed as either an instrumental or vocal, A Closer Walk is perhaps the most frequently played number in the hymn and dirge section of traditional New Orleans jazz funerals. The title and lyrics of the song allude to the Biblical passage from 2 Corinthians 5:7 which states, 'We walk by faith, not by sight' and James 4:8, 'Come near to God and He will come near to you.' By the end of the 1970s, more than a hundred artists had recorded the song.” (Wikipedia)

Just a closer walk with Thee
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea
Daily walking close to Thee
Oh, let it be, dear Lord, let it be

I am weak but Thou art strong
Jesus, keep me from all wrong
I'll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee

Just a closer walk with Thee
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea
Daily walking close to Thee
Oh, let it be, dear Lord, let it be
Oh, let it be, dear Lord, let it be

*"During my third year in Thornhill, I was given the lead part in the school musical, Love from Judy.** It was a great success and I enjoyed every minute of it but it meant a great deal of additional work for me. Our music teacher Sister Imelda helped me more than anyone else during that time. We'd met during my first year when she reported me to the headmistress for talking in the chapel and I'd written her off as a bad-tempered old nun. But after that disastrous first meeting I got to know her better as she taught me music off and on throughout my time in school. I had thought her severe but I soon discovered the very caring and beautiful personality inside that little lady. I felt a great sense of loss when she died in March 1983. When I last visited her she was very frail; having suffered a stroke she could barely speak or move, yet she still looked radiant and I told her so. "You don't expect me to believe that," she answered softly, and when I insisted her smile grew into her familiar mischievous grin and she said, "All right then, beautiful except for my feet."" (All Kinds of Everything, published 2007)

**"Love from Judy. Synopsis: Based on Jean Webster's famous play Daddy Long-Legs this delightful musical contains such numbers as Mardi Gras, It's Better Rich, Daddy Long-Legs, A Touch of Voodoo, Kind to Animals, Ain't Goin' to Marry and Love from Judy. The story of Judy, a pretty little drudge in a New England orphanage. One day, a visiting trustee becomes interested in Judy and decides to give her a chance. She does not know the name of her benefactor, but simply calls him Daddy Long-Legs, and writes him letters brimming over with fun and affection. From the Home she goes to a fashionable college and there develops the romance that constitutes much of the play's charm." (guidetomusicaltheatre)