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Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show Lyrics
Hot August night
And the leaves hanging down
And the grass on the ground smelling sweet
Move up the road
To the outside of town
And the sound of that good gospel beat
Sits a ragged tent
Where there ain't no trees
And that gospel group
Telling you and me
It's Love
Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show
Pack up the babies
Grab the old ladies
Everyone goes
Everyone knows
Brother Love's show
Room gets suddenly still
And when you'd almost bet
You could hear yourself sweat, he walks in
Eyes black as coal
And when he lifts his face
Every ear in the place is on him
Starting soft and slow
Like a small earthquake
And when he lets go
Half the valley shakes
It's Love, Love
Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show
Pack up the babies
Grab the old ladies
Everyone goes
Everyone knows
Brother Love's show
Sermon
Take my hand in yours
Walk with me this day
In my heart, I know
I will never stray
Halle, halle, halle, halle, halle, halle, halle
It's Love, Love
Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show
Pack up the babies
Grab the old ladies
Everyone goes
Everyone knows
Brother Love's show
Amen
And the leaves hanging down
And the grass on the ground smelling sweet
Move up the road
To the outside of town
And the sound of that good gospel beat
Sits a ragged tent
Where there ain't no trees
And that gospel group
Telling you and me
Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show
Pack up the babies
Grab the old ladies
Everyone goes
Everyone knows
Brother Love's show
And when you'd almost bet
You could hear yourself sweat, he walks in
Eyes black as coal
And when he lifts his face
Every ear in the place is on him
Like a small earthquake
And when he lets go
Half the valley shakes
Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show
Pack up the babies
Grab the old ladies
Everyone goes
Everyone knows
Brother Love's show
Walk with me this day
In my heart, I know
I will never stray
Halle, halle, halle, halle, halle, halle, halle
Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show
Pack up the babies
Grab the old ladies
Everyone goes
Everyone knows
Brother Love's show
Amen
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I love when david spade karaokes this song in that movie Lost anf Found. it makes me want to do it. Neil Diamond is the man.
It's funny, although I can SEE how the subject matter can induce cynicism (maybe mildly expressed in the moniker of the traveling Brother Love), to me the song's always really been about a recognition of power - the power that "higher" human faith and emotion, (especially in a group setting) can have on its participants.
To me that's the genius of the song. It takes you there. Right into the tent, a ringside seat to the whole thing. It doesn't comment on it at all, it just reports the action.
According to Wikipedia, Neil wrote this song after attending such a traveling salvation show in California.
Diamond is a genius. And he said that he went to these revivial shows and he said that he thought that they were so fake and that's how he originally wrote the song but then he thought about it and he realized that the other people there liked it and so he changed it. This song is awesome and you definitely should check it out.
@trapperjohn I saw a video on youtube of Diamond on the Johnny Cash Show performing this song and in the middle of the song he stops singing and explains that he went to one of these shows while he was in college with the intention of debunking this guy with his "education" but he was the one who got an education instead
@trapperjohn I saw a video on youtube of Diamond on the Johnny Cash Show performing this song and in the middle of the song he stops singing and explains that he went to one of these shows while he was in college with the intention of debunking this guy with his "education" but he was the one who got an education instead
Diamond's Jewish, his grandparents coming to the USA from Russia and from Poland. One wonders if he is a bit cynical about Christian revivalism, as is portrayed in this song.
Don't get me wrong, I like the song. I was a little ticked when it wasn't the recorded version on his 2001 double CD release, "The Essential Neil Diamond."
I like his earlier stuff. Once you get to "Love on the Rocks" it's all downhill for me.
my parents played a neil diamond "greatest hits" LP a lot when I was a little kid. you know how literal-minded kids can be. I got quite a mental image from "when he lifts his face," although better still was "every ear in the place is on him."
There's a Youtube video with him and Johnny Cash on Cash's TV show/special. They be Superfriends like Bowie and Mercury. Would give my left pinky to have seen it live (Going out to all you budding time-travel technicians. I mean it.)