Simple Gifts
| "Simple Gifts" | |
|---|---|
| Folk dance by Joseph Brackett | |
| Released | 1848 |
| Genre | Folk |
| Language | English |
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 Songs of America - Simple Gifts - Shaker Hymn, 1:40, Cibertracker Imperium |
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I Danced in the Morning (LORD OF THE DANCE), 3:55, First-Plymouth Church Lincoln Nebraska-Videos |
"Simple Gifts" is a Shaker song written and composed in 1848 by Elder Joseph Brackett.
It has endured many inaccurate descriptions. Though often classified as an anonymous Shaker hymn or as a work song, it is better classified as a dance song.
The tune was written by Joseph Brackett (1797–1882) in 1848. Brackett, a lifelong resident of Maine, first joined the Shakers at Gorham, Maine, when his father's farm helped to form the nucleus of a new Shaker settlement.
The song was largely unknown outside Shaker communities until Aaron Copland used its melody for the score of Martha Graham's ballet Appalachian Spring (Shakers once worshipped on Holy Mount, in the Appalachians), first performed in 1944. Copland used "Simple Gifts" a second time in 1950 in his first set of Old American Songs for voice and piano, which was later orchestrated. Many people thought that the tune of "Simple Gifts" was a traditional Celtic one but both the music and original lyrics are actually the compositions of Brackett. "Simple Gifts" has been adapted or arranged many times since by folksingers and composers.
"Simple Gifts" was written by Elder Joseph while he was at the Shaker community in Alfred, Maine. These are the lyrics to his one-verse song:
Several Shaker manuscripts indicate that this is a "Dancing Song" or a "Quick Dance." "Turning" is a common theme in Christian theology, but the references to "turning" in the last two lines have also been identified as dance instructions. When the traditional dance is performed properly, each dancer ends up where he or she began, "come 'round right."
A manuscript of Mary Hazzard of the New Lebanon, New York, Shaker community records this original version of the melody: 
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