Review of Bryars: Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet

Also known as The Sad Hobo Earworm.

In 1971, Gavin Bryars took a left-over audio snippet of a singing tramp on the streets of London and set it to music. He left it to record at the studio while he went out for a cup of coffee. When he returned, he discovered his singing tramp tape loop had reduced nearly everybody in the studio to melancholic states and had even driven a couple of people to tears. Bryars realized he had something quite special. In a further display of genius, he had Tom Waits and a full orchestra accompany his singing tramp, thus immortalizing this strange little ditty for all time. It’s poignant, totally unique, and oddly hypnotic, but be forewarned: it may get stuck in your head.