Amen

"Amen" was a song popularized by The Impressions. The song was written by Jester Hairston, for the Sidney Poitier film Lilies of the Field (1963). Curtis Mayfield said "I'd gone to see 'Lilies of The Field,' and the song in it, 'Amen,' was very inspiring for me as was the movie . . . Of course, I'd decided to do a version of it. We put it together in the studio starting off with a musical 'swing low sweet chariot', and then we fell into that particular song with somewhat of a marching rhythm."^[1] The song was the first Impressions' hit that Mayfield did not write.

The song went to number one on Cashbox Magazine's R&B chart for three weeks and reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1964.^[2] The B-side, "Long, Long Winter", peaked at #35 on the Cashbox R&B chart. A new version was released by The Impressions in 1969 under the title "Amen (1970)", reaching #44 on the Billboard Best Selling Soul Singles chart in January 1970.

Cover versions

• Also a minor chart hit for Lloyd Price and Erma Franklin in 1964 (Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles at #124)
• In 1968, Otis Redding had a posthumous hit with his version of the song, reaching #15 on the R&B chart.^[3]
• In 1969, The Winstons recorded an instrumental Funk cover including the most sampled peace of Music, the Amen Break

References

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