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I'm on the Firing Line was recorded by gospel quartet the Soul Stirrers in 1951. Their lead vocalist was pretty good: a young kid named Sam Cooke who had joined the year before, at age 19.

According to Anthony Heilbut in The Gospel Sound, "Sam Cooke was the greatest sex symbol in gospel history."

"He was a bobby-sox idol, the first singer to bring in the younger crowd." The Soul Stirrers' audience had always been older, but when Sam arrived, "teen-age girls lined up around 125th Street to see 'that pretty child' at the Apollo." Jesse Farley, by then the only original member of the group, saw a big change: "In the old days, young people took seats six rows from the back, the old folks stayed up front. When Sam came on the scene, it reversed itself. The young people took over. They started this pattern of standing up when the lead singers start bearing down."

I'm not sure what those kids were doing way in the back row. Down front though, they seem to have invented the mosh pit.

The Soul Stirrers with Sam Cooke became enormous, and pretty much created the modern gospel quartet sound.

lyrics

This world and its allurements
May try to sway my soul.
But it can never sway me
I've given to him control.
In him I am confiding
In his love I am abiding.
He will keep me on the firing line

I'm on the firing line
To heaven I am flying.
I'm on the firing line
I'll do my soldier time.
Satan had bound but Jesus he found me.
I'm on the firing line, to stay

Well it's worth the while to serve him
Whatever may betide.
For in his precious promise
He'll be right by our side.
Though all the world forsake us
In his arms he will take us
If we stay right on the firing line.

I'm on the firing line
To heaven I am flying.
I'm on the firing line
I'll do my soldier time.
Satan had bound but Jesus he found me.
I'm on the firing line, to stay

And when the work has ended
And we near the swelling tide
We shall hear our savior calling
From the other side.
With joy he will meet us,
All the angels there to greet us
If we stay right on the firing line

I'm on the firing line
To heaven I am flying.
I'm on the firing line
I'll do my soldier time.
Satan had bound but Jesus he found me.
I'm on the firing line, to stay

credits

from Spadina Saturday Night, released December 19, 2020
C M Durham 1951
Recorded by the Soul Stirrers with Sam Cooke, 1951
Vocal Patrick Tevlin
Photo Linda Rose

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