GLADYS KNIGHT & THE PIPS - WHERE PEACEFUL WATERS FLOW

WHERE PEACEFUL WATERS FLOW

GLADYS KNIGHT & THE PIPS

SONGWRITER: JIM WEATHERLY

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: IMAGINATION

LABEL: BUDDAH

GENRE: POP

YEAR: 1973

 

            Gladys Knight & the Pips were an American R&B/soul/funk family music group from Atlanta, Georgia, that remained active on the music charts and performing circuit for over three decades.

Starting out as simply The Pips in 1952, derived from a cousin's nickname, the founding members were Gladys Knight, brother Merald "Bubba" Knight, sister Brenda Knight and cousins Eleanor and William Guest. After a couple of years performing in talent shows, the group signed with Brunswick Records in 1957, recording a couple of singles that failed to chart. Brenda Knight and Eleanor Guest eventually left the group and were replaced by another cousin, Edward Patten and a non-relative, Langston George in 1959. This lineup produced the group's first hit single, "Every Beat of My Heart". After the single was released on three different labels, they changed their name to Gladys Knight & the Pips in 1961. Langston George left the same year and Gladys Knight left in 1962 to start a family with musician Jimmy Newman. Knight rejoined in 1964 and this lineup continued until the group's disbandment in 1989.

               The group reached commercial success after signing with Motown Records in 1966. After a year and a half, the group recorded the first hit single version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" in 1967, which led to several hit singles for Motown's Soul Records label, including "Nitty Gritty", "Friendship Train", "If I Were Your Woman", "I Don't Want to Do Wrong" and the Grammy-winning "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)", before leaving the label for Buddah Records in 1973. At Buddah, they recorded the hits "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me", "I've Got to Use My Imagination", "I Feel a Song (In My Heart)" and their Grammy-winning and number-one hit single, "Midnight Train to Georgia". In 1974, they recorded the soundtrack to the successful film Claudine with producer Curtis Mayfield, which included the songs "On and On", "The Makings of You" and "Make Yours a Happy Home". Contractual difficulties with their labels forced the group to record side projects from 1977 until 1980 when they signed with Columbia Records. Later hits included "Landlord", "Save the Overtime (For Me)" and the Grammy-winning single "Love Overboard". In 1989, the group disbanded with the Pips retiring and Knight embarking on a successful solo career.

              Gladys Knight & the Pips are multiple Grammy and American Music Award winners and are inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1996 and 2001 respectively.

      Imagination is the eleventh studio album recorded by American R&B group Gladys Knight & the Pips, released in October 1973 on the Buddah label. The album, the group's first for Buddah after leaving Motown, includes their first and only Billboard Hot 100 number-one hit "Midnight Train to Georgia", which also reached number-one on the R&B singles chart.

       The album also produced other successful singles, including "I've Got to Use My Imagination" and "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me", with both songs peaking at number-one on the R&B singles chart and top five on the Billboard Hot 100, and the moderately successful single "Where Peaceful Waters Flow". The album was also their second studio album to make the top ten on the Billboard 200 and their second of five R&B albums chart-toppers.

                                   
(Come and walk with me)
(We can go where peaceful waters flow)
 
If loneliness surrounds you
And rain clouds always hang around you
And wakin up each day gets you down (Gets you down, gets you down)
And if the life that youre leading
Seems hollow, then maybe what youre needing
Is someone to turn your world around
 
(Take my hand) Come take my hand and walk with me (And walk awhile)
(Let me teach you how to smile) Let me teach you how to smile
(And Ill show you skies ) And Ill show you skies where gentle breezes blow
(Where breezes, gentle breezes blow) Yeah, hey
 
And Ill take you where peaceful waters flow (Peaceful waters flow)
If you let me Ill take you where peaceful waters flow
(Come and walk with me) Mmm, hmm
(We can go where peaceful waters flow)
 
Now if the sunshine hurts your eyes, boy
Then its time for you to realize, boy
Beyond this moment theres
A better day (Better day), mmm, hmm (Better day)
 
And if you let me
Ill guide you, mmm
Ill always be there, right there beside you
Reaching every step of your way
 
(Come take my hand and walk) Come take my hand and walk with me awhile
(And walk awhile) Yeah, hey, hey
(Let me teach you how to smile ) Let me teach you how to smile
And Ill show you skies (Ill show you skies ) where gentle breezes blow
(Where breezes, gentle breezes blow) Hey, yeah, hey, hey, hey
 
And Ill take you where peaceful waters flow (Peaceful waters flow)
Hey, hey, if you trust me, Ill take you there where peaceful waters flow
(Come and walk with me) Mmm...hmm...
(We can go where peaceful waters flow).