Back In The Day Praise

Tamela Mann's “Back In The Day Praise” is a nostalgic gospel number about the church gatherings of an earlier time. It asks if anybody remembers going to the midnight musical, praising God’s name in song all night long, and the old tent revival with people singing “Wade in the Water” as the praise rose higher.

The chorus states what she wants: “a back in the day praise,” the kind she lives for and the kind she says this thing was built on. In the verses she lists the memories. There were conventions with praying and preaching, all-night shut-ins, and a prison night when the singing carried something different. Between the lines she slips in pieces of hymns the old saints used to sing, such as “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” “I'll Fly Away” and “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.” The call is to get down on the knees and pray as people used to, and then to clap hands and stomp feet because God is worthy to be praised. The track is lively and shaped like a church service, with a choir answering the lead and the groove growing as it goes. It will appeal to older listeners who miss those days and to younger ones who want to hear what praise sounded like in the past. Its point is that the fervor of earlier worship can be recovered.

Praising with instruments and dance is Psalm 150:4-6. Entering his gates with thanksgiving is Psalm 100:4, and a sacrifice of praise is Hebrews 13:15.