Jonestown Audiotape
Primary Project : Summaries
Summary
prepared by Fielding
M. McGehee, III. If you
use this material, please credit The Jonestown Institute. Thank you.
Tape Number : Q 978
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Tape Number Q 978
FBI Catalogue: Music
FBI preliminary tape identification note: None
Date cues on tape: None
People named:
Members of Peoples Temple:
Julie Runnels
Bible verses cited: None
Summary:
The people of Peoples Temple sing five songs. Jim Jones leads two of them, and an unidentified woman leads two. The two led by Jones extol socialism and the community’s leader – i.e., himself – and all speak of freedom, struggle, and unity.
As with other songs performed by Peoples Temple, at least two – and perhaps others – are gospel songs adapted to relevance to Jones’ followers. The lyrics of the first song, “Climbing up the Mountain,” for example, have been changed from “I can see Jesus/ Standing there to meet us,” to “I can see Father standing just to the left.”
Given the poor quality of the recording, and the single organ as instrumentation, and the number of voices participating in the singing, it is likely that this is a recording of the Peoples Temple congregation in song, with a single microphone set closely to Jim Jones or the lead vocalist.
FBI Summary:
A recording which contains approximately five minutes of music by the Jonestown Express with the remaining time on the tape being blank.
Differences with FBI Summary:
This music recording is not of the Jonestown Express.