Flee As A Bird - Corinne Morgan (1906)

"Flee As A Bird"

Corinne Morgan

Victor 4835

1906

Flee as a bird to your mountain,
Thou who art weary of sin.
Go to the clear flowing fountain,
Where you may wash and be clean.
Fly, for th’avenger is near thee.
Call, and the Saviour will hear thee.
He on his bosom will bear thee,
Thou who art weary of sin,
O thou, who art weary of sin.

He will protect thee for ever.
Wipe ev’ry falling tear.
He will forsake thee O never,
Sheltered so tenderly there.
Haste, then, the hours are flying.
Spend not the moments in sighing.
Cease from your sorrow and crying.
The Savior will wipe ev’ry tear.
The Savior will wipe ev’ry tear.

Corinne Morgan was born Corinne Morgan Welsh in 1875 in Columbus, Ohio, to John and Rachael Welsh.

Under her real name of Corinne Welsh she sang for churches and appeared in concerts.

The contralto used only her first two given names for phonograph work. At that time, church and concert singers generally made up new names when making records--church singing could bring prestige to a singer but records did not.

Her association with Frank C. Stanley in church singing (she knew him by his real name, William Stanley Grinsted) led to recordings.

She worked for Edison from 1902 to 1905.

She was among the first female singers to record regularly.

In announcing the release of Standard 8427, featuring "The Lord's Prayer" and "Gloria" sung by a quartet featuring two male voices (Frank C. Stanley and George M. Stricklett) and two female (Morgan and one Miss Chapell, who Walsh said was Edith Chapman), the June 1903 issue of Edison Phonograph Monthly frankly admitted the difficulty of recording females: "It has always been a difficult matter to make successful Records of female voices, and after months of careful experimentation our Record Department has succeeded in getting perfect results in quartettes and duets. It is now at work on solos, and expects before long to list some very good songs by female voices."

When the September 1903 issue of Edison Phonograph Monthly announced the October release of Morgan's debut as a solo artist, it again acknowledged that the female voice was difficult to record: "A fourth feature for October is the listing of one of the best Records ever made by a woman's voice. It is No. 8499, 'Happy Days,' and is sung by Miss Corrinne [sic] Morgan, with violin obligato...It is sung by Miss Morgan with entire absence of all objectionable features of Records made by women's voices..."

She was "Helen Haydn" on six G & T discs and "Ethel Clarke" for two performances issued on the British Zonophone label.

She made her first Victor recording on October 13, 1903 but this performance of "Down on the Farm" was unissued. The first Victor discs featuring Morgan were duets also featuring Stanley.

Morgan's first solo recording on a Zon-o-phone disc, "Bonnie Sweet Bessie" (6033), was issued in February of 1904.