Keep A Light in the Window Until I Come Home

Annotation

The song "Keep a Light in the Window Till I Come Home" (Mirwood Records # 5518), a composition written and performed by the Mississippi-born soul singer J.W. Alexander (1916-1996), came from the perspective of a soldier away at war. Alexander mainly worked as a session musician in the 60s and 70s with Sam Cooke, the Bar-Kays, and Isaac Hayes. He was also a member of the The Pilgrim Travelers. Solomon Burke covered the song in 1967 ("Keep a Light in the Window Till I Come Home"). This song tells the story of a soldier asking his loved one not to forget him. It also includes the patriotic line: "I'm risking my life to win this fight, for in my heart I know our cause is right".

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

About the artist

James Woodie Alexander II (born 21 January 1916 in Hamilton, Mississippi; died 8 July 1996 in Hollywood, California, aged 80) was a singer, songwriter, producer and manager who was a central figure in the passage of gospel singers into secular soul. He sang first tenor with and managed the Pilgrim Travelers from 1945, heard the young Sam Cooke in 1949 and brought the Soul Stirrers to Specialty Records, urged Cooke's move into pop from 1957, and in 1960 became Cooke's business partner in SAR Records and the Derby label; after Cooke's death in 1964 he managed Lou Rawls and recorded Johnnie…

Themes

Soldier's Perspective · Patriotic

In collections

US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs · Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs