The University Museum

EZEKIEL SAW THE WHEEL

This song is based on a passage from Old Testament in which Ezekiel, a prophet living in exile in Babylon during the 500s BC, was sent a vision from God. According to the text, as God spoke to him, in addition to seeing four winged "creatures" in the middle of a thundercloud, Ezekiel also saw

In the same way that this story has inspired different kinds of visual art, it lives on into the present in a variety of musical contexts.

"Ezekiel Saw the Wheel" began its life as an African American spiritual. The first version (Track One) of "Ezekiel" is a recording of a group of singers from the White Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Mounds, Illinois, made by Professor McIntosh in Cairo, Illinois on November 30, 1954. Announced by Ms. Geraldine Smith, the group delivers a dignified and stately version of this song accompanied by piano. This is followed by a solo performance of the same song by Mr. Lewis Flowers, again with piano accompaniment.

Listen to Track One in one of three formats.

Track Two is a contemporary version of "Ezekiel" performed a cappella by Sally Rodgers, Claudia Schmidt, and Howie Bursen on the 1987 CD Closing the Distance. The driving tempo and repetitive phrases of this version suggest the circular motion of the spinning wheels in Ezekiel's vision.

Listen to Track Two in one of three formats.

Good News Bible: The Bible in Today's English Version 1976. Nashville and New York: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Rogers, Sally, and Claudia Schmidt 1987. Liner notes from the CD Closing the Distance. Chicago, IL: Flying Fish Records.