"Will the Circle Be Unbroken": A Bridge from the Past

Part 3 (of 5) of a recently re-discovered document that I wrote for an independent study with Dr. John Kimsey while I was at DePaul University in 2008. Works cited available upon request.

The Carter Family first recorded what would be their signature song in Camden, New Jersey in June 1933.  RCA Victor, their record company, never released this version and the song sat until 1935 when the Carters, once again, recorded “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”, a song about a mother’s funeral.  This song would go on to be one of their most famous songs and inspire the title of an album that would re-introduce the Carters to a different audience 40 years later (Zwonitzer and Hirshberg, 168, 172, 177).

The song was one of A.P. Carter’s original songs, but the melody was very similar to the one they used on another song, the gospel number, “Sunshine in the Shadows”.  According to Mark Zwonitzer and Charles Hirshberg in their biography of the Carters, Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone: The Carter Family and Their Legacy in American Music, “The tune was summoned, for instance, by the hallelujah shouters of The Elders McIntosh and Edwards Sanctified Singers – of the Church of God in Christ, Chicago’s hotbed of black Pentecostalism” (177).  While the song is based around the grief of seeing your mother buried, the storyteller is anchored by his faith in an after-life, as they proclaim in the chorus, “There’s a better home a-waiting, in the sky, Lord, in the sky” (LyricsFreak.com).

While the song is credited to A.P. Carter, it is, like many other Carter Family songs, descended from earlier material.  According to Bill Malone, in his book, Don’t Get Above Your Raisin’: Country Music and the Southern Working Class, the song originated as a gospel hymn by Ada R. Habershon and Charles Gabriel (290).    However, the lyrics to the hymn, “Can the Circle Be Unbroken (Bye and Bye)” vary a great deal from the Carters’ version.  The chorus is very similar, but the verses bear no resemblance to the famous, later version.  The lyrics of the Habershon and Gabriel song serve more as a warning than a tale of sadness.  The moral of the story is, “your loved ones are in heaven, will you join them?” or “Your loved ones taught you to live a good Christian life, are you following that path?” (Timeless Truths). 

 If the Habershon and Gabriel song served as a stern warning to those left behind, A.P.’s song served to tell a personal story, perhaps one many of us could relate too.  Gone were the warnings of heaven and hell and gone were the questions of how you are living your life, those messages were better left to the pulpit.  A.P. tells a simple story of the day of his mother’s funeral and the pain and sadness caused by her passing.  The saving grace is that, “there’s a better home a-waiting” for her (LyricsFreak.com). 

“Will the Circle Be Unbroken” ended up taking on many lives of its own.  Sure, it was a hit song when it was released and it was covered by many country, blues, folk, rock, gospel and bluegrass acts over the years (The Staple Singers, The Chieftains, The Black Crowes, John Lee Hooker, Bill Monroe, and Jeff Buckley to name but a few), but the song ended up coming around, full circle if you will, for Mother Maybelle Carter in more ways than one.  Throughout their book, Zwonitzer and Hirshberg tell story after story of how Maybelle became a mother figure to so many people, especially of note country legends Hank Williams and Johnny Cash.  When Mother Maybelle passed away in 1978, it was “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” that was sung a capella at her graveside, sung by her family and friends in a tribute to the mother of her children, a mother figure to many more, and the mother of country music (392).

While the song was a perfect tribute to the woman as a human being, it was also the song, or the title of the song, that also brought her career full circle and introduced her and the music of the Carter Family to a whole new audience.  Mother Maybelle had been a frequent guest on her son-in-law, Johnny Cash’s TV show, but it was her appearance on the album, Will the Circle Be Unbroken by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, that introduced her and the rest of the Carters to the rock and roll crowd.  According to Zwonitzer and Hirshberg, there were many people who had never bought a country record in their lives who bought this album, including Bruce Springsteen, and thus possibly altered rock music forever (368-369). 

“Will the Circle Be Unbroken” was more than just a hit song for the Carter Family in 1935; it was many things to many people.  For most people, it was simply a great song that they could relate to, a song that gave them hope in a time of sadness.  However, to Mother Maybelle Carter, it was a parallel to her own life and career.