Welcome the Boys Back Home
1973 · Westbound W-40 · USA
- Artist
- Bill Moss & The Celestials
- Title
- Welcome the Boys Back Home
- Release
- I'm Moving On / Welcome the Boys Back Home
- Year
- 1973
- Label
- Westbound # W-40
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- USA
- Songwriter
- W. Moss
- Genre
- Soul, Gospel & Funk · Soul
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation — Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs
The gospel song "Welcome the Boys Back Home" (Westbound Records # 040) celebrated the end of the war. The narrator thought that "they've been away too long", and sent out a prayer to "the mother who had a son over there", as well as the wives of the soldiers. The song also noted that some would return with serious injuries: "some coming crippled, some coming lame", but the singer was just pleased that "its come to an end". Bill Moss (1931-2007) came from Selma, Alabama, and moved to Detroit, Michigan in the 60s where he formed the Celestials with his wife Essie Moss.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
Gospel singer Bill Moss Sr. (1931-2007), born in Selma, Alabama - brother of Mattie Moss Clark and uncle of the Clark Sisters - formed the Celestials in Detroit in the 1960s with his wife Essie, one of the first gospel groups to use electric instruments; 'Welcome The Boys Back Home' (Westbound W 40) was his own composition and production. He died in a Detroit-area hospital in June 2007. [Source: Wikipedia; Philadelphia Inquirer obituary]