Why do people like the "kumbaya" song so much? I just don't understand the fascination.

Haha, I don’t mind the song until people sing it over and over again and it gets extremely annoying…Anyway, from Wikipedia;

”‘Kumbaya’ (also spelled Kum Ba Yah) is a spiritual song from the 1930s. It enjoyed newfound popularity during the folk revival of the 1960s and became a standard campfire song in Scouting and other camping organizations.

The song was originally associated with unity and closeness.”

More here.

The lyrics are easy to remember. It gets stuck in people’s heads a lot, too so I just like to sing a few bars once in a while to torture someone. It’s fun!

@loser : Haha. Yeah, but nobody knows the words besides “Kumbaya, my Lord, kumbaya. Kumbaya, my Lord, kumbaya. Kumbaya, my Lord, kumbaya,” and they sing it over and over and over again…droning on and on… [ugh!]

Yes, I just can’t understand how everyone doesn’t find that song extremely annoying.

I would guess that people use it to represent togetherness, thus the campfire-and-hippie-ness of the song.

How people don’t find it annoying? If you’re screaming the song at the top of your lungs with a bunch of giggly girls, I would imagine that wouldn’t even really be paying attention to the song, more just being crazy and having fun.

Oh man, now it’s stuck in my head…

I don’t find it annoying. It reminds me of summer camp when I was young, :)

That’s great Nayeight; my wife and I were just laughing about our memories of this song at summer camps while growing up; I kept remembering the camp counselors would always select one among then to lead the song and between each stanza they would say the next verb for the group to sing: “sleeping” “praying” “dying”...it was hard to keep a straight face during those moments (even though I was raised Catholic, but that may have contributed to the hilarity if the situation). Someone surely will say I’m going to hell but I feel for those kids who still have to do it.

Nayeight, I have to agree with you on this one. My feelings exactly. Maybe it was a camp song because it was easy to sing (in many people’s range) and easy to accompany.

Kumbaya is a Christian song. Kumbaya means (come by here). You are inviting God to come when you sing this song. Now sing it in english Come by here ma Lord come by here.

beacuse it gets people out of trouble because it is a Christian song. i was thorwing snowballs with my friends at little kids then a teacher came out and we sat in a circle and sang this song, and she didn’t do anything. ITS MAGIC!!!!!!!