This Week in Christian History: Oliver Cromwell, 'Oh Happy Day,' and The United Methodist Church
"Oh Happy Day" Debuts on Billboard Hot 100 - April 26, 1969
This week marks the debut of Edwin Hawkins' hit song "Oh Happy Day" on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, which was part of the album "Let Us Go into the House of the Lord."
A reworking of a 1755 hymn of the same name and recorded in 1968, "Oh Happy Day" was added to the National Registry in 2005.
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"What made 'Oh Happy Day' resonate is anyone's guess. The original version by British educator Phillip Doddridge was published in 1755 — four years after the composer's death — and was sung in a yearning plea similar to some Appalachian songs," explained Hawkins publicist Bill Carpenter in an essay published by the Library of Congress.
"Hawkins unintentionally transformed the song from a church hymn into more of a mainstream pop record with a catchier arrangement of the chorus that featured subtle jazz drumming, some Latin percussion and an echoey upright piano groove that buttressed the slick but passionate choir harmonizing against soloist Dorothy Morrison's earthy, straight-from-the-church vocal technique."
The song was later famously performed in the 1993 movie "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit."
