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Title: Spiritual Folk-Songs of Early America - Two Hundred and Fifty Tunes and Texts With an Introduction and Notes
Author: Jackson, George Pullen
Language: English
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_Spiritual Folk-Songs
of Early America_
Two Hundred and Fifty Tunes and Texts
With an Introduction and Notes
Collected and Edited
by
GEORGE PULLEN JACKSON
DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.
NEW YORK
Published in Canada by General Publishing Company, Ltd., 30 Lesmill
Road, Don Mills, Toronto, Ontario.
Published in the United Kingdom by Constable and Company, Ltd., 10
Orange Street, London W. C. 2.
This Dover edition, first published in 1964, is an unabridged and
unaltered republication of the work first published by J. J. Augustin,
Publisher, New York City, in 1937.
The publisher is grateful to the University of Virginia Library for
furnishing a copy of the book for purposes of reproduction.
_Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 64-8268_
Manufactured in the United States of America
Dover Publications, Inc.
180 Varick Street
New York 14, N.Y.
_TO THE MEMORY
OF MY WIFE
INEZ EMELINE WRIGHT JACKSON_
Preface
The ancestors of the bearers of the Southern tradition of folk-music
began in very ancient times the practice of singing religious songs to
folk-tunes. Nor must one think that this custom showed a lack of
respect for religion. On the contrary, it rather emphasized the
respect and love of the folk for their traditional music. As their
most loved and treasured possession, they brought this noble musical
heritage and laid it on the altar of their worship. There is a strong
probability that this practice has continued unbroken for at least
thirteen centuries. William of Malmsbury, writing in the twelfth
century, gives an anecdote of St. Aldhelm, the Anglo-Saxon abbot of
Malmsbury during the seventh century, which he took from the notebook
of King Alfred the Great, which was extant at that time. According to
this story, the Saint would station himself on a bridge in the guise
of a gleeman and would collect an audience by singing popular songs.
He would then gradually insert into his entertainment the words of the
holy scriptures and so lead his hearers to salvation. The chronicler
also states that one of the popular songs made by St. Aldhelm and
mentioned by King Alfred was still being sung by the folk at the time
of his writing, almost five hundred years later.
Chappell, in his _Popular Music of the Olden Time_, says: “We may date
the custom of singing hymns to secular tunes from this time [The
Norman Conquest] if, indeed, it may not be carried back to the time of
St. Aldhelm. William of Malmesbury records of Thomas, Archbishop of
York (created in 1070), that ‘whenever he heard any new secular song
or ballad sung by the minstrels, he immediately composed parodies on
the words to be sung to the same tune.’
“In a contribution to _Notes and Queries_, Mr. James Graves gives a
curious list of eight songs similarly parodied in _The Red Book of
Ossory_, a manuscript of the fourteenth century, which is preserved in
the archives of that see. Six of the songs are English (there are two
parodies on one of them), and the remaining two are Anglo-Norman. The
Latin hymns seem to have been written by Richard de Ledrede, Bishop of
Ossory from 1318 to 1360. The names of the six English songs are as
follows:
1. Alas! how should I sing, yloren is my playinge.
How should I with that olde man,
Sweetest of all, singe,
Leven and let my leman.
Sweetest of all, singe.
2. Have mercy on me, frere, barefoot that I go.
3. Do, do, nightingale, syng ful mery
Shall I never for thine love longer kary.
4. Have good day, my leman _etc._
5. Gaveth me no garland of greene,
But it ben of wythones (withies—wyllowes?) yrought.
6. Hey, how the chevaldoures woke all night.”
In the sixteenth century, the early Presbyterians continued this
usage, as is evidenced by Wedderburn’s hymnal published in Edinburgh
in 1560, quaintly entitled: _Ane Compendius Booke of Godly and
Spirituall Songs, Collected out of Sundrie Parts of the Scriptures,
with Sundrie of Other Ballates Changed out of Prophaine Songs, for
Avoiding of Sin and Harlotrey_. Among these latter was a parody of
‘John, Come Kiss Me,’ the wide and enduring popularity of which is
attested by its inclusion in Queen Elizabeth’s _Virginal Book_,
Playford’s _Introduction, Apollo’s Banquet for the Treble Violin_,
Walsh’s _Division Violin_, Playford’s _Division Violin_ and _Pills to
Purge Melancholy_. There are also references to it in Thomas Heywood’s
_A Woman Killed with Kindness_, _Westminster Drollery_, Burton’s
_Anatomy of Melancholy_, _The Scourge of Folly_, Braithwaite’s
_Shepherd’s Tales_, _Tom Tiler and his Wife_, and Henry Bold’s _Songs
and Poems_. Allan Cunningham quotes the parody in _The Songs of
Scotland, Ancient and Modern_, as follows:
John, come kiss me now,
John, come kiss me now,
John, come kiss me by and by,
And make nae mair ado.
The Lord thy God I am,
That John does thee call:
John represents man
By grace celestial.
For John Goddis grace it is,
Who list till expone the same:
O John, thou did amiss
When that thou lost this name.
My prophets call, my preachers cry
John, come kiss me now
John, come kiss me by and by
And make nae mair ado.
A similar book appeared in 1642, called: _Psalms, or Songs of Zion,
turned into the language and set to the tunes of a strange land, by
William Slatyer, intended for Christmas Carols and fitted to divers of
the most noted and common but solemn tunes, everywhere in this land
familiarly used and known_. That the Puritans of that century did not
invariably confine themselves to “solemn tunes” is indicated by
Shakespeare when the Clown in _The Winter’s Tale_, in praising the
vocal prowess of the shearers, assembled for the sheep-shearing feast,
says: “Three-man song-men, all, and very good ones...; but one Puritan
amongst them, and he sings Psalms to hornepipes.” In the _New
Variorium Shakespeare_, H. H. Furness, in commenting on the passage,
says: “He sings Psalms to the lively tunes to which horn-pipes were
danced,—a practice which, we know was extremely popular in France, and
from allusions like the present we can infer that it was not unknown
in England.”
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Puritan congregations
of New England are said to have had music committees one of the chief
duties of which was to go among the folk and gather attractive
melodies to be used as hymns. And this was also the custom of the
Primitive Methodists, both in Great Britain and in America. In writing
of this usage at a later date, Chappell says: “The Primitive
Methodists ... acting upon the principle of ‘Why should the devil have
all the pretty tunes?’ collect the airs which are sung at pot and
public houses, and write their hymns to them ... in this sect we have
living examples of the ‘puritans who sing psalms to horn-pipes,’ They
do not mince the matter by turning them into slow tunes, ... but sing
them in their original lively time.”
This brings us to the nineteenth century, in which appeared the
“shape-note hymnals” from which the material in this volume is chiefly
drawn. The existence of these books was scarcely known to musicians
and music-lovers until recently, when they were vividly brought to the
attention of the musical world by Dr. George Pullen Jackson in his
book, _White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands_. Music lovers were
astonished to learn of the existence of these old books, containing a
wealth of uniquely beautiful hymn-tunes, largely folk-tunes and others
composed in the same idiom. A majority of these are in the old modes
and among them are the tunes of folk-songs, ballads, country-dances
and even morris-dances. But musicians were even more surprised to
learn that there are literally hundreds of thousands of devotees, in
homes, in little gatherings and big singing conventions covering a
broad region which stretches from the Valley of Virginia to the plains
of Texas, who enthusiastically preserve and practise this tradition.
That this usage should have lived on from pioneer times into our
present day, when not only what we buy but what we are, is stereotyped
by the processes of mass production, seems little short of miraculous.
But it is explained by the innate vigour of the tradition itself, by
the great love of the tradition-bearers for the old tunes and, not
least, by the fact that the books embodying the material used shape
notes.
Shape notes, as is explained in _White Spirituals_, indicate their
pitch by their shapes, independently of the lines and spaces of the
staff. They were invented to simplify the reading of music. There are
two principal systems, the Four Shape and the Seven Shape. In the Four
Shape, the first and fourth degrees of the scale are called _fa_ and
are represented by a right triangle; the second and fifth are called
_sol_, represented by a round shape; the third and sixth, _la_, by a
square head and the seventh, _mi_, by a diamond. The Seven Shape
system has a different form of note for each degree of the scale and
the nomenclature accords with our general practice. The nomenclature
of the Four Shape system is of especial interest because it was known
and practised by Shakespeare. Numerous references to it occur in his
plays. In _King Lear_ this system is employed in an almost Wagnerian
manner to characterize the archvillain, Edmund, who in soliloquy says:
“My cue is villanous melancholy” and then sings: “Fa, sol, la, mi.”
These four tones measure the extent of a tritone, the forbidden
interval called the _diabolus_ or the devil and supposed to be filled
with sinister, ominous and evil potency.
As shape notes increased in popularity, bitter controversy arose
between their supporters and those of the ordinary staff notes. This
was most fortunate, for it gave the fa-sol-la folk a coherence and a
sturdier determination to abide by their principles and practices,
which enabled them to resist the erosion of modern life and so
preserve their beautiful heritage.
Many folk-tunes associated with sacred words have been passed down
also solely by the process of oral tradition. Mr. Ernest La Prade,
author of _Alice in Orchestralia_, recently learned of two groups of
Primitive Baptists, one in New Jersey and the other in Philadelphia,
which still use in their worship only tunes preserved by this process.
He was fortunate enough to record several of the hymns from a member
of the New Jersey congregation, some of which were modal and all of
which were of the type contained in the shape-note books.
The value of these books to students and lovers of our folk-music is
incalculable. For although many of the tunes are still extant in the
oral tradition, a large portion of them, of indubitable folk origin,
have vanished from the oral tradition and, but for these books, would
be entirely lost. All who are familiar with the folk-dance revival in
England realize the importance of Playford’s _English Dancing Master_
in preserving a large number of tunes and dances that were no longer
traditionally extant. The folk material embodied in the shape-note
books is no less important and far more varied; it is, in fact,
indispensible to all who desire a comprehensive knowledge of British
and American folk-music.
Gratitude is due Dr. Jackson for making this material accessible to
the public, and admiration, for the painstaking and scholarly way in
which he presents his fascinating subject. The tunes are historically
important in showing approximately the state of the oral tradition at
the time they were written down in the past century. It would be
difficult to overestimate their esthetic value. In metrical and
rhythmic structure, especially in balance and contrast in phrase
lengths; in beauty and eloquence of melodic line, many are unsurpassed
by even the best of our traditional tunes. It is not too much to hope
that a revival of interest in this music may result in a general use
of it in our churches, where its native vigour, unaffected
straightforwardness and lyric beauty could go far in freeing us from
the insipid banalities of much present-day church music.
John Powell
Table of Contents
Preface vii
Introduction 1
_Recent Trends in Song Search_ 2
_Varieties of Religious Songs_ 4
Religious Ballads
Folk-Hymns
Revival Spiritual Songs
_Folk-Song Collectors of Yore_ 10
_Features of American Folk-Tunes_ 12
Tonal Trends, Tune Families
Metrical Patterns
Scales, Modes
Rufty’s Classification, Chart of Tunes
_Tunes of Religious and Worldly Folk-Songs Compared_ 17
_Conclusion_ 21
_Acknowledgments_ 23
Fifty-one Religious Ballads 27
Ninety-eight Folk-Hymns 87
One Hundred and one Revival Spiritual Songs 169
Bibliography 241
List of Abbreviations of Titles 245
Index of Songs by Titles 246
Index of First Lines of Texts 250
Illustrations
1. Typical country singers of early American spiritual
folk-songs Frontispiece
2. The “big singings” take place at county seats and in even
larger centers Frontispiece
3. “Dinner on the grounds” xii
4. Classification chart of tunes facing page 16
5. The Original Sacred Harp, 1911 edition 24
6. The sole occurrence of ‘The Babe of Bethlehem’ 26
7. The ‘Morning Trumpet’ in seven-shape notation 26
8. Benjamin Franklin White, and Thurza Golightly White, of
Hamilton, Georgia 86
9. The White memorial in Atlanta 86
10. The Sacred Harp appeared in 1844 86
11. The Southern Harmony, 1835 166
12. William (Singin’ Billy) Walker, of Spartanburg, South
Carolina 168
13. William Walker’s grave in Spartanburg, South Carolina 168
Introduction
Since the sort of folk-song indicated by the title of this book is in
all probability unfamiliar to many, I shall assume that my chief task
in this Introduction is to make its nature clear. The first step in
this explanation will be to distinguish the present material from some
other better known sorts of folk-song.
“Is it mountain songs you are collecting? Is it those old ballads?”
“Is it the negro spirituals?” These questions were put to me again and
again by interested persons while the present collection was in the
making.
No, these are not mountain songs and still they are. What do we mean
by mountain songs? The very first mountain song I ever recorded was
sung to me on the treeless flats of North Dakota. It had arrived there
from Kentucky by way of Saint Louis and Los Angeles and had been
carried over this circuitous route to its northwestern place of
recording by the singers in three generations of one family. The first
sailor’s shanty I ever heard was in the mountains of Virginia. It had
come from a logging camp in Michigan by way of Chicago. Every
folk-song hunter can tell similar tales; and all such experiences
convince us that the naming of a type of song after a restricted
region or a particular environment, while furnishing a convenient
designation, may lead also to much misunderstanding.
The mountain songs designation is one of the least appropriate. Its
only justification lies in the fact that some types of traditional
song, the secular ballads among them, have persisted perhaps in larger
numbers in mountainous regions like those of the southern Appalachians
and the Ozarks and are more widely sung there than elsewhere. These
songs were Irish, Scotch, and English across the water. They came from
highlands and lowlands. They were the common possession of early
Americans of those ethnic stocks,—those people who never left the
tidewater parts, those who came into the highlands and settled there,
and those greater numbers who trekked through the mountain gaps, down
the western slopes and spread into the rolling country and plains. The
present collection is of songs sung by all these people in all of
these parts in early and more recent times and now. Hence, to call
them “mountain songs” would be quite inadequate and misleading.[1]
Those who asked if the present collection were to be of the “old
ballads” manifested by their question some acquaintance with one
variety, an important one withal, of traditional secular folk-song in
America. My answer to them was negative, as it is to my present
readers. This collection is made up neither of the secular ballads nor
of their close relatives, the secular folk-_songs_, as far at least as
their _texts_ are concerned. Nor is it a collection of negro
spirituals or negro songs of any kind. And yet it is one of
folk-songs, and spiritual ones, as its title truthfully indicates. I
shall now attempt to explain this; for it must seem to some an
anomaly. The explanation will necessitate my making a brief survey
first of recent trends in the activities of those interested in
folk-songs.
_Recent Trends in Song Search_
Until recent years practically all the folk-songs published in America
have been those with secular texts. The existence of traditional
spiritual folk-songs in this land seems not to have been recognized by
folklorists. Negro songs were, to be sure, largely spiritual and they
have been regarded as folksongs; but that was an entirely different
matter, one in which the students of the white man’s culture were not
primarily interested. Early curiosity as to the “slave songs” was not
academic. It was rather a popular interest allied with one which was
of a missionary-religious nature. The songs themselves, as they became
known in northern and eastern centers during the post-Civil War period
through the activities of traveling concert groups from southern negro
schools, were popularly believed in those parts to be the negroes’ own
creations and to be rooted in Africa. They were regarded thus as lying
essentially outside the sphere of the white man’s cultural traditions.
These attitudes of mind tended to hold apart the two groups, those
concerned with the white man’s song traditions and those interested in
the religious songs of the black folk. It was a negro-song apologist,
Henry E. Krehbiel, who signed, as he thought, the decree of complete
separation of the two song bodies with his book _Afro-American Folk
Songs_ in 1914; and for most people that was definitive. Even as late
as the end of the 1920’s Krehbiel’s word stood practically
unchallenged. I shall adduce evidence presently however of the error
of his assumption.
In the mean time knowledge of our own American folk-songs deepened and
broadened. The earlier interest, one which grew out of the soil tilled
by Francis J. Child and was confined to the ballads alone, shorn of
their tunes, expanded in the latter part of the second decade of the
present century into one which included also folk-_songs_ and the
tunes of both ballads and songs. Notable among folklorists with this
more comprehensive outlook was the late Cecil J. Sharp who, after long
experience in the English folk-song field, took up the hunt in the
southern Appalachians. Even the first collection of a part of his
findings, published in 1917, provided a revelation as to the wealth of
the existing material and was recognized as a model in the matter of
musical recording. From then on, the gathering of folk-songs was
carried on with renewed enthusiasm and with greater stress laid on the
melodies.
One phase of song hunting began in the middle of the 1920’s outside
the circle of the folklorists and in complete ignorance of the facts
that what was sought was genuine folk material. I refer to the study
in the field of the southern religious “country singings”. I make this
charge of ignorance the more unhesitatingly since it was my own, and
since I worked alone in that field for some years. A report of the
early stages of my work appeared in 1933 in a volume entitled _White
Spirituals in the Southern Uplands_. Readers of that book have
probably recognized that, while I may have told the story of the
country singing institution quite thoroughly, I realized then only
dimly that the songs under observation were folk-traditional. This
realization has come since then gradually, first by reason of a series
of accidental findings and more recently as the result of rather
extended study.
Why the folklorists never came upon this material before it fell into
my hands is not hard to explain. One reason is that the strongest link
binding the songs in question to the traditional secular folk-songs is
their _tunes_, and all musical considerations were generally
neglected, especially by the earlier folklorists in this land. Another
reason was probably that folklorists never thought, any more than I
did, of singing _groups_ which used _song books_, as likely
environment for their search. A third reason was that the country
songs were _religious_, a sort which was and is still generally
thought of as _church music_ and thus as being far removed from the
folk. And finally, collectors have as a rule sought folk-songs in the
mountains and other _remote_ places; whereas the country singings are
found in the less sparsely populated parts of the lower uplands.
Cecil Sharp should have escaped much of this prejudice and
misconception; for his own British Isles are full of religious
folk-songs, as he well knew; even though they do not appear there to
any extent in a group-singing environment. But that he did not escape
it is indicated clearly by his experience in the southern mountains,
as he tells of it in the Introduction to his _English Folk Songs from
the Southern Appalachians_. When he came to a home in the mountains
and made known his desire to hear songs, he was generally
misunderstood. The mountain people thought he wanted to hear them sing
“hymns”. But he did not; and though he does not tell us why, he
indicates that it was because he was convinced that the “hymns” were
not folk-songs. At any rate, he soon learned to ask for “love songs”.
And as a result there appeared but two songs of a religious nature,
the ‘Cherry Tree Carol’ and ‘Hicks’ Farewell’, among the 122 in his
first publication. In the subsequent two-volume collection of his
American findings, edited by Maud Karpeles and published in 1932, we
find a group of but half a dozen religious songs under the heading
“Hymns”. There are also a few biblical ballads in the collection.
Some years after Sharp missed all but completely his opportunity to
become the discoverer, or uncoverer, of American religious folk-songs,
one of his English co-workers, Anne G. Gilchrist, found some
remarkable analogies between the secular folk-songs of England on the
one hand and the spiritual songs of the early Primitive Methodists of
that land and the early American revivalists on the other; and she
published a report of her research in the _Journal of the [English]
Folk-Song Society_, viii (1927-1931), pp. 61-95, in an article
entitled “The Folk Element in Early Revival Hymns and Tunes.” This was
a real though brief contribution to the very subject which engages us
here; for it demonstrated the linking of the nineteenth century
religious songs with the older and principally secular folk tradition
of her land.
At about the same time, two Americans made smaller contributions.
Ethel Park Richardson recorded eleven of the white man’s “spirituals”
from oral tradition, as it seems, and included them in her _American
Mountain Songs_; and Samuel E. Asbury furnished the Texas Folk-Lore
Society with a group of camp-meeting songs which he had heard in the
1880’s in western North Carolina. The Society published them in 1932.
On Miss Gilchrist’s pages and even more often on the pages of American
collectors in the late 1920’s appeared indications of a growing belief
that the old white spirituals were the progenitors of the negro
spirituals and that, therefore, Krehbiel’s assumption as to negro
authorship of the slave songs was in a measure erroneous. Among those
who shared constructively in this belief were Newman I. White and Guy
B. Johnson. Mr. White consulted a number of the old country-song
manuals to good advantage in the preparation of his _American Negro
Folk-Songs_. His use of them was to find merely _textual_ antecedents
of negro spiritual borrowings. Mr. Johnson used some of the same
manuals happily in the preparation of his _Folk Culture on St. Helena
Island_. His purpose, like that of Mr. White, was to show negro song
sources; but his work had the added merit of calling attention to some
_musical_ analogies between the spiritual songs of the white and the
black Americans. My own contributions to the solution of the problem
of negro song sources are mentioned on page 9 of this Introduction.
All this evidence assumes considerable weight in proof of the thesis
that the negro spirituals, instead of lying outside the white people’s
song tradition, represent a selective adoption and carrying-on of that
tradition.
If the preceding paragraphs have in a measure made clear the nature of
the songs to be presented here, they have done so by the method of
elimination and by a review of some of the directions taken recently
by students of song, trends which seem to have led inevitably to the
uncovering of the body of song found in the old manuals of the country
singers and to the establishing of its status as folk-song. It is the
revealing of this material and the establishing of its identity which
are the chief reasons for the existence of the present volume.
_Varieties of Religious Songs_
The old song books spoken of above contain various sorts of religious
pieces. Among these are the early psalm tunes, evangelical hymns,
spiritual songs, religious ballads, “fuguing” songs, and anthems. Each
of these varieties represents loosely a phase of, or a period in,
religious, musical, or poetic development. Some are folk-songs and
many are not. The psalm tunes with their Old-Testament texts—the sober
song fare of the early Protestants in Europe, in the British Isles,
and in the American Colonies—are probably to some extent of folk
origin; but since psalm singing in early America can not be looked on
as a free expression of the folk, and since the psalm tunes themselves
gave way easily to other far more folky types of religious song, I
have chosen to exclude them from the present discussion and
collection. The fuguing songs are examples of an early American art
development in composing and in group singing in New England during
the latter part of the eighteenth century. Despite their enduring
popularity in southern rural folk-singing circles and despite the fact
that many of them are found to be constructed on the basis of
folk-melodic themes, I have decided that they would be inappropriate
to this collection. The same objection, that they are of an
essentially _composed_ nature, holds also for the anthems and has
demanded their elimination.
After making these exclusions I centered attention on three mutually
rather distinct types of song all of which seemed to be in varying
degrees folk products—the _religious ballads_, _hymns_, and _spiritual
songs_.
Religious Ballads
The religious ballads by and large are folk-produced beyond any
reasonable doubt. They are uniformly songs for individual singing, not
for groups. The sung _story_ was the thing. In one ballad it would be
the story of some bad woman, Wicked Polly for example, “who died in
sin and deep despair” and went to hell; in another, of some good
woman, the Romish Lady for instance, who was burned at the stake for
espousing the Protestant cause. Much ballad material was furnished
also by the Bible. Scriptural events like the curing of the man sick
with the palsy, the restoring of sight to blind Bartimeus, Daniel’s
experience in the lions’ den, the raising of Lazarus, the baby Moses
in the rushes, the Prodigal Son parable, the birth of Christ, His
crucifixion and death,—all are retold in the ballads.
A younger variety of song which I include under the heading of
_religious ballads_ is that in which the singer tells his story in the
first person. Such stories are those of the poor wayfaring stranger
just a-going over Jordan, the departing preacher or missionary, a
dying boy or girl, and even a pious gold hunter dying on his way to
California. The story may be also the plaint of the religious
“mourner”, the backslider, and the criminal sinner, or the exultant
tale of the saved. Still another group of ballads is aimed more
directly at the conversion of the “young, the gay, and proud.” They
usually begin by telling the religious experience of the singer and
close with a warning as to the tragic results of worldliness and an
exhortation to turn from “this vain world of sin.” These songs are
quite similar to the worldly ballads in form, and their tunes are, as
will be pointed out presently, of the common folk stock.
Folk-Hymns
The ballads (excepting the _experience_ variety) probably did not
originate in any particular organized religious movement. The
folk-hymns were, on the other hand, bound up genetically with the
protestant evangelical activity which followed John Wesley’s lead in
England and then in America. The Wesleyan Revival began as an ordered
small-group affair and spread and developed ultimately into a movement
whose aspects and practices were completely free-affairs of the
uninhibited masses. In the same way the song of that movement,
beginning with merely the taste of textual freedom offered by Watts
and the Wesleys, and of musical freedom offered by those who furnished
the melodies, spread ultimately far beyond the “allowed” tunes and
hymn texts of the authorities until religious gatherings were
musically completely liberated.
When John Wesley picked up a popular melody here and there on his
travels through England and set it to a good hymn text, he little
realized that he was setting an example and starting a movement which
was to bring into existence hundreds of folk-hymns; that is, songs
with old folk-tunes which everybody could sing and with words that
spoke from the heart of the devout in the language of the common man.
With the spread of this movement to America a fertile soil for its
further development seems to have been found. Here it became known as
the Great Southern and Western Revival. Here its store of songs, made
after the pattern used in England, was greatly enlarged. In fact the
masses took the matter of what they were to sing so completely into
their own hands that the denominational authorities, especially the
Methodists, though they tried to control it, became helpless.[2]
In looking through the folk-hymns in the second part of this
collection one will see scores of tunes which are clearly recognizable
as those still sung to ‘Barbara Allen’, ‘Lord Lovel’ and other ancient
ballads. This is adequate evidence, I assume, as to where the folk
sought and found its hymn tunes. The extent of this tune borrowing
process is indicated on page 18f of this Introduction. The texts, on
the other hand, may be from the pen of Watts or other eighteenth
century English religious poets, or they may be the humbler creations
of rural American religious verse makers, like John Adam Granade, or
John Leland.
It is impossible to date the beginning of folk-hymn making and singing
in America definitely. But on the assumption that they were a part of
the Wesleyan movement, we cannot place the beginning of their general
use in America before the 1770’s. The part of the land where they
first attained popularity—again judging by their Wesleyan
affinities—was the upland and inland South; for during the last two
decades of the eighteenth century (the time of the first spread of the
Methodist movement) four-fifths of the adherents to this sect were to
be found in that section.[3]
Revival Spiritual Songs
The revival spiritual songs represent a further advance of the song
movement which brought forth the folk-hymns, toward the folk level. As
the eighteenth century expired the post-Wesleyan religious tide was
high and the camp meeting, the significant institution which became
the cradle of the revival spiritual songs, was born. One may therefore
get a clearer insight into this new song development if one recalls
the character of its early environment. One might well remember, for
example, that the camp meetings began and remained in nature
surroundings, in the wilderness; that they were immense holiday
gatherings;[4] that they thus took on the free-and-easy aspects of the
pioneers as a whole rather than of any particular class; and that they
were completely free from denominational and all other authoritarian
control.
Bearing all this in mind it is perhaps easier to understand how the
folk-hymns—grown up in a less boisterous environment—failed to satisfy
the new conditions. At the camp meetings it was not a question of
inducing every one to sing, but of letting every one sing, of letting
them sing songs which were so simple that they became not a hindrance
to general participation but an irresistible temptation to join in.
The tunes of the folk-hymns were adequate. But the texts (Watts,
Wesley and their schools) still demanded a certain exercise of
learning and remembering which excluded many from the singing. The
corrective lay in the progressive simplification of the texts; and it
was in the main this text simplification which brought about and
characterised the type of camp-meeting song which was called, in
contradistinction to all other types, the spiritual song.
The methods of song-text reducing are familiar. When the American
youth sings
Found a horse-shoe, found a horse-shoe,
Found a horse-shoe, just now;
Just now found a horse-shoe,
Found a horse-shoe just now
he is not only following a practice of the early spiritual song makers
and singers—his horse-shoe song itself is a parody of a spiritual in
this collection—but he is singing in the infinitely older manner of
his race. He is singing an organically constructed tune and refusing
to let words interfere with it, a tendency which may be observed from
‘Sumer is icumen in’ to the nineteenth century songs of sailors and to
other work-songs and children’s songs, like that of ‘The Big Bad
Wolf’, today.
The text simplification in religious folk-songs began modestly. The
variety of spiritual song which is closest to the folk-hymn is that in
which each short stanza of text (four short lines usually) is followed
by a chorus of the same length, as for example:
On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand
And cast a wishful eye,
To Canaan’s fair and happy land
Where my possessions lie.
_Chorus_
I’m bound for the promised land,
I’m bound for the promised land;
O who will come and go with me?
I’m bound for the promised land.
The verse was mastered probably by comparatively few singers, even
though it may have been “lined out” by the song leader. But the whole
assemblage had its chance to join lustily in singing the chorus.
A simpler form of spiritual song went directly into a refrain after
the first text couplet:
O when shall I see Jesus
And dwell with him above,
_And shall hear the trumpet sound_
_In that morning._
And from the flowing fountain
Drink everlasting love,
_And shall hear the trumpet sound_
_In that morning_.
Then came the chorus:
_Shout O glory_
_For I shall meet above the skies_
_And shall hear the trumpet sound_
_In that morning._
An offspring of this same ‘Morning Trumpet’ song may serve to
illustrate the next step in simplification, one in which the singers,
instead of using new poetic lines in subsequent stanzas, were
satisfied with slight variations of those already sung:
Oh, brother, in that day
We’ll take wings and fly away,
_And we’ll hear the trumpet sound_
_In that morning._
Oh, sister, in that day
We’ll take _etc._
Oh, preachers, in that day,
and so on, with “leaders,” “converts,” etc. without end.
The next step is seen in those songs where one short phrase is sung
three times and then followed by a one-phrase refrain:
Where are the Hebrew Children,
Where are the Hebrew Children,
Where are the Hebrew Children?
_Safe in the promised land._
These songs were sometimes called “choruses,” for they are often
really nothing else,—detached choruses, the text varied a bit from
verse to verse, functioning as complete songs.
The last word in brevity of text is where simply one short phrase or
sentence, sung over and over, is made to fill out the whole tune frame
as a stanza. ‘Death, Ain’t You Got No Shame’, in this collection is
one example among many. Such songs as this were too meager to be
welcomed warmly into the old song books. They survive therefore
chiefly in oral tradition. But meagerness of text is not, we must
remember, any criterion of the worth of a religious folk-song. ‘Hebrew
Children,’ for example, the song from which I have just cited a
stanza, is at once extremely chary of words and rich in tonal beauty.
This becomes evident when one sees Annabal Morris Buchanan’s
arrangement of it for modern chorus.
It was the _spiritual songs_, rather than the _hymns_ or the
_ballads_, which appealed subsequently most deeply to the negroes and
have reappeared most often among the religious songs of that race. In
_White Spirituals_ I presented twenty different negro songs and traced
them, both tunes and texts, directly to as many early religious songs
of the white people. In the present collection upwards of 60 songs
have been found to be the legitimate tune-and-words forebears of the
same number of negro spirituals. (Incidentally, all of the songs just
used here to illustrate the steps in text simplification have been
borrowed by the black man and made over.) These negro offspring songs
are mentioned by title, and information as to where I found them is
given in the notes under each of the songs concerned.[5]
The _tunes_ of the secular folk-songs came into the religious
environment—into the folk-hymns and spiritual songs—with little
change. What _one_ could sing by himself to secular words _all_ could
sing in a gathering to religious words. The new surroundings made only
one added demand,—that the singers indulge in fewer vocal liberties
than they might have enjoyed when singing the same tunes in their
homes and alone. I refer to those liberties in personal
interpretation, a quaint characteristic of individual folk singing
which has given the collectors their numerous variants of one and the
same song. Group singers had now to agree on one version of a tune and
stick fairly closely to it. I say fairly closely, for the religious
singers allowed but few of their tunes to become completely
standardized. This will become clear when one studies the variants of
certain folk-hymn and spiritual-song tunes in this compilation.
Folk-Song Collectors of Yore
In the earlier years of the camp-meeting movement, few if any of the
songs produced in and for that environment appeared in print. The
whole body of revival song was therefore generally known as “unwritten
music.” The first recordings were of the texts only. They appeared in
the form of booklets and bore some such title as “Hymns and Spiritual
Songs / for the Pious of all Denominations / as Sung in Camp
Meetings.” They were prepared first by itinerant preachers or song
leaders who saw in the Great Revival a chance to serve the cause, and
perhaps to make money. That these books filled a great need is
attested by their ubiquity during the period which may be designated
roughly as from 1800 to 1840.
The musical notation of the tunes they sang was the least concern of
the revival folk. It is quite probable that the camp-meeting crowds of
those times never saw their tunes in musical notation. It is evident
that the first recordings of this unwritten music were not made by the
revivalists themselves, and that the first book collections of such
recordings were not made primarily for use in revivals. The books in
which these tunes first appeared were the country singing manuals of
which I have spoken above. The singing masters were quick to recognize
the value of the rousing revival songs and saw to it that their own
institution benefitted from their vogue. _The Christian Harmony_,
published in New Hampshire in 1805 was perhaps the first book to
record the revival tunes. _The Olive Leaf_, a Georgia book of 1878 was
the last.[6]
We sometimes have the compiler’s own story of his sources. In the
preface to William Caldwell’s _Union Harmony_ for example, the
compiler tells us that “many of the airs which the author has reduced
to system [notated] and harmonized have been selected from the
unwritten music in general use” among Baptists, Methodists and
Presbyterians. William Walker says, in the preface to his _Southern
Harmony_, “I have composed parts to a great many good airs, which I
could not find in any publication or in manuscript, and assigned my
name as the author.” William Hauser’s preface to his compendious
_Hesperian Harp_ is lacking in my copy of his work (the only copy in
existence, I believe); but the compiler’s method of finding songs
becomes clear when we peruse his pages of song. On the page with
‘Patton’, for example, he notes that he first heard the Rev. William
Patton, of Missouri, sing the song which bears his name “at a
camp-meeting, North Cove, Burk Country, North Carolina, in 1831 or
1832.” The song entitled ‘Houston’ was an “air I learned from my
mother when a small child.” As to ‘Land of Rest’ he states that the
“inspiration of this tune [was] caught from a female voice at a
distance, at Barbee’s Hotel, High Point, N. C., June 9th, 1868.” Under
the song entitled ‘Rev. James Axley’s Song,’ in the same compiler’s
_Olive Leaf_, he tells who the Rev. Axley was and how he, Hauser, came
to record the preacher’s favorite tune. John G. McCurry gives a song
called ‘Good-By’ in his _Social Harp_ and tells that he put it down
“as played on the accordion by Mrs. Martha Hodges of Hartwell,”
Georgia.
Instances like these cited above are numerous. They all go to convince
us of the great service rendered by the rural singing masters of yore
in the preservation of a body of song, in the collecting and
publishing of which no one else seems to have been interested.
The country singing books on which I have drawn for most of the songs
of this collection, are in the main those which were at my disposal
while I was preparing _White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands_. From
the Georgia-Carolina section were _The Southern Harmony_ in its 1835
and 1854 editions; _The Southern and Western Pocket Harmonist_ (1845);
_The Sacred Harp_ which first appeared in 1844 but whose oldest
edition at my disposal has been that of 1859; its three descendants,
_The Union Harp_ (1909), _The Sacred Harp_ (Cooper edition, 1902 and
four subsequent printings; I consulted the fifth reprint), and _The
Original Sacred Harp_ (1911);[7] _The Hesperian Harp_ (1848); _The
Social Harp_ (1855); _The Christian Harmony_ (1866); and _The Olive
Leaf_ (1878). Among the books originating in the eastern half of
Tennessee I searched _The Western Harmony_ (1824); _The Columbian
Harmony_ (1825); _The Union Harmony_ (1837); _The Knoxville Harmony_
(1838); _The Harp of Columbia_ (1848); and _The Western Psalmodist_
(1853). From the Valley of Virginia I used _The Kentucky Harmony_
(1814); the German _Choral-Music_ (1816); _The Supplement to the
Kentucky Harmony_ (1820); _The Virginia Harmony_ (1831); _Genuine
Church Music_ (1832); and _The Union Harmony_ (1848). From Saint Louis
I had _The Missouri Harmony_ (1820). I found also some material in two
publications which are still in use among the Primitive Baptists, _The
Primitive Baptist Hymn and Tune Book_ (1902) and _Good Old Songs_
(1913).[8] Two books, invaluable compendiums of the very sort of songs
I was seeking, came to my hand too late for consideration in _White
Spirituals_. They were _The Revivalist_, published in Troy, New York,
in 1868; and Jeremiah Ingalls’ _Christian Harmony_, published in New
Hampshire in 1805. The latter contains scores of religious
folk-songs—among them many _spiritual songs_—which duplicate, though
in variant forms, the songs which are found in abundance in the
southern country-song manuals. The _Revivalist_, more than 60 years
younger, is a veritable treasure trove of the same sorts of song.
Together the two books open new vistas as to the spread and active
life period of the song movement under observation. The New Hampshire
book, made by a Vermont compiler, proves beyond doubt that the
movement did not remain in the South—the section of its first
prevalence presumably and of its present persistence—but spread early
also into New England. The New York book points definitely to the
persistence of the tradition in the northeastern section far longer
than we would, without this evidence, have been warranted in assuming.
I went song hunting also among the authored hymn-and-tune-books of the
big denominations, but I found little, and that little was already
familiar to me from its appearance in the country-singing books.[9]
Further information as to the identity of the books mentioned above
may be found in the Bibliography at the end of this volume. The
abbreviations which will be used in the body of this song collection
when referring to the source song books are explained in the List of
Abbreviations of Titles.
_Features of American Folk-Tunes_
Even after recognizing the three types of religious folk-song as they
are described above, it was not always easy in particular instances,
to decide on acceptance into this collection or on rejection as
non-folk material.
There are literally thousands of songs in the books searched. In the
_Original Sacred Harp_ alone there are 609, and the _Hesperian Harp_
holds 677. And while other books are slimmer and duplications from
book to book are numerous, it must still be quite evident that it was
no easy task to identify just the songs I was after. At times I had to
apply a number of criteria. Often the folky nature of the text pointed
to an equally folky tune. There was another hint sometimes in the name
given as that of the composer of the song. When I met with the names
Moore, Walker, Chapin, Breedlove, White, Carrell, Davisson, Hauser,
McCurry and a number of others, in the upper right corner of the song
page, then I was practically certain that the song on that page was
usable. For the men in question were, in reality, not composers. They
were recorders and arrangers of unwritten music.[10]
When an example of the old unwritten music made its way into the
authorized church hymnals—as happened to a restricted degree from
fifty to seventy-five years ago—it was called a “Western Melody” or a
“Southern Melody.” Such designations became another reliable token of
folk source.
More important than any external indications in determining whether I
was dealing in a particular instance with a folk-tune, was the
character of the tune itself. The ability to recognize a folk-tune
comes to the student of such music gradually, somewhat as does the
recognition of a strange language or dialect. It came to me that way;
but after assembling my tunes I felt that their general folk character
might to some degree be reduced to a set of definite traits. I
therefore reexamined not only my own melodies but also those far more
numerous tunes in the secular collections of Sharp and others, for
such characteristics as tonal trend, rhythmic trend, tonality (modal
character), and musical form. Since there is no available definition
of a folk-tune and since probably no succinct one can be made, I am
hoping that my deductions in the following paragraphs as to some
earmarks of American folk-tunes may be helpful to others who are
interested in our traditional melodism, as they have been helpful to
me.
Tonal Trend, Tune Families
The very beginning of a folk-tune has characteristic marks. The first
accented note is usually the tonic of its scale. In almost all cases
this first-accent note is preceded by an up-beat note which also is
usually a tonic. The upbeat note coming second in frequency is the
lower 5 of the scale, with the higher 3 even less often thus employed.
The interval, if any, between the up-beat and the first accented note
is thus either an ascending fourth, an ascending third (in those cases
where these first two notes are 1 and 3) or descending third. And
these intervals, though small, are often broken or bridged by an
unaccented intervening note. Tunes beginning with an interval of a
fifth (ascending 1 to 5 or descending 5 to 1) are quite rare. Common
folk-tune beginnings are thus:
As to melodic trend within the body of the tune, I shall speak only
briefly. It is a broad subject, too broad to be discussed adequately
in this connection. A survey of my tune-thematic card catalog reveals,
however, a few characteristics of this melodic trend. The first is
that the tunes assume usually an initial upward trend. Another is that
the steps or intervals employed are small, predominantly seconds,
thirds, fourths, and fifths. Greater intervals are found however at
the juncture of two phrases. From these observations we may assume
that the American folk-singer does not like big intervals.[11] This
assumption, based on recorded tunes, is strengthened when one listens
to folk singing and notices their anticipatory slides or scoops in
approaching a tone that is only a little higher or lower than the one
just sung, a practice which may be interpreted as an anticipation of,
and an attempt to master, that which is vocally difficult. But while
the individual jumps from note to note are not as a rule great, the
pitch compass of the entire tune is often surprisingly wide. The
melodies usually end in a descending cadence to the tonic.
Along with the great variety in form which we meet among American
folk-tunes, there are certain melodic formulas which seem to be
favorites and reappear with unimportant variations as the tonal
vestment of many different songs, so many indeed that they might well
be looked on as wandering tunes (reminding one of the familiar
wandering stanzas in folk texts) or, since they are not identical from
song to song, tune families.
In the present collection I have come upon six tune families of
different sizes and have named them in each instance after the song
which seems to be the most representative member of the family. They
are the ‘Lord Lovel’ family, cast in the ionian mode; ‘I Will Arise’,
aeolian and ionian; ‘Hallelujah’, mixolydian; ‘Kedron’, aeolian; ‘Babe
of Bethlehem’, dorian; and ‘Roll Jordan’, ionian. The tunes in this
collection and elsewhere belonging to the ‘Lord Lovel’ family are
listed under the song ‘Dulcimer’. Those belonging to the other
families are listed under the songs for which the family is named.
Metrical Patterns
In the matter of metrical patterns we find also a variety, and
favorites. We have noted the almost universal use of the up-beat. The
up-beat initiates two different rhythmic trends, one of which is the
iambic, the prevalent one in American folk-tunes: ²/₄ ♩ | ♩′. This
two-part type of accent unit (of notes or syllables, whichever way we
approach the matter), while occurring in series of four and three, as
we have seen, may be found occasionally also in twos, fives, and
sixes. Indeed the folk-tunes not infrequently show a refreshing
independence of the demands of perfect quadraticality. The other
rhythmic trend initiated by the up-beat is the less often used one
made up of three-part units, which appear either in three-four time, ¾
♩ | ♩′ ♩ or slow six-eight time, ⁶/₈ ♪ | ♪′ ♪. With more notes
(syllables) in this single amphibrachic unit, the series of such units
grows naturally in syllabic length. It often outgrows thus its
function as a mere melodic phrase and tends to assume that of the
melodic sentence. A fine example of this is in Sharp’s recording of
the ‘Cherry-Tree Carol’.
But while the vast majority of folk-tunes follow one or the other of
the above described patterns, we must remember that metrical precision
or mechanical adherence to any formula is the least of the folk’s
concerns. Indeed, we should be justified in assuming such exactness,
as seen in text lines of carefully measured lengths and in perfection
of rhyme, to be sure signs of individual creative participation;
whereas greater freedom and variability in tune and text aspects are
obviously characteristic of the folk’s vocalism.
Scales, Modes
The folk-tunes of America are not, in the main, built up on scales of
the diatonic major and minor systems which, as is well known, have
assumed their present form under the demands of _harmony_; but on a
modal system which grew out of _melodic_ exigences long before harmony
made its conquest of the music of western civilisation. Nor do the
folk-tunes of this country make use of all the tones of even these
modal scales. They often employ but five or six of the seven available
tones, leaving characteristic gaps in such scales.
American folk-tune collectors have had their troubles in the
interpretation of modal melodies. I have had mine. Even such a
life-long student of these things as Cecil Sharp met many a knotty
problem in classifying his Appalachian tunes. In view of this
difficulty I called on Hilton Rufty, a thorough musician and a
reliable authority in the folk-music field, to lend a hand in the
modal classification of these tunes. He generously acceded to my
request; and by the time my requests had ceased and before his
generosity had been exhausted he had checked or corrected all my modal
classifications of the tunes in this collection. In making clear Mr.
Rufty’s effective and practical method of identifying the character of
tunes I shall reproduce his Classification Chart and quote here his
explanation of it.
Rufty’s Classification; Chart of Tunes
In identifying the modal character of the “gapped” tunes I have
deemed it advisable to proceed by an entirely arbitrary method, free
from any sort of theoretical connotation. Should a missing tone be
presupposed to make either a major or minor, perfect or imperfect,
interval with the tonic, there arise at once ambiguities of
modality. For purposes of harmonic treatment it is quite necessary
to decide upon which particular mode a gapped tune suggests, but in
studying the purely melodic aspects it is reasonable to accept the
tune as an entity, considering it in its actual tonal structure and
not with regard to its possible modal permutations. To accomplish
this purpose I have evolved a chart, based on methods used by Cecil
J. Sharp in his _English Folksongs from the Southern Appalachians_,
which for the great majority of the tunes in this collection is an
adequate system of classification. The arrangement of the chart is
very simple: there are five columns, each beginning with one of the
five pentatonic scales. Immediately below each pentatonic scale are
four hexatonic scales which are formed by the addition of the
missing tones, singly and in their variable positions. The system
permits these variables to be read in terms of natural and flatted
tones. Lastly in each column are three regular heptatonic modes
which are the outgrowth of supplying both missing tones
simultaneously and in variable combination. The gaps in the
pentatonic and hexatonic scales are indicated by slurs and the
numerical positions from the tonic of the missing tones. The
supplied missing tones are indicated by black notes, and in fitting
any given tune to any scale on the chart I have endeavored where
possible to let these black notes indicate the weak tones. Since it
was possible, so far as the _actual tonal structure_ of the tunes
was concerned, to have a choice in the placing of them, the device
of indicating weak tones was a happy solution to a more careful
classification. Above each tune in this book I have indicated the
modal and, following this and in parentheses, the tonal pattern of
the tune with the heptatonic scale as a norm, that is, treating
gapped tunes arbitrarily as broken-down heptatonic tunes. A Roman
numeral indicates a major or perfect interval with the tonic; an
Arabic numeral a minor interval. In event of augmented or diminished
fourths or fifths I have used conventional signs. A gap is indicated
by a dash.
As a practical example of classification let us take at random, say,
‘Weeping Savior’, a song of the present collection. Counting the
tones of the melody we find six with the sixth degree missing. We
observe that the tune has a major second, minor third, perfect
fourth and fifth, no sixth, and a minor seventh. By transposition we
see that from a standpoint of the tonal pattern alone the tune can
be listed either as Hexatonic, Mode 2, A or Mode 4, b. But the
examination of structural detail shows clearly that 3 being a strong
tone and 2 being decidedly weak gives preference to the first
classification under Mode 2.
While pentachordal and hexachordal tunes (which do not conform to
this system of classification) may be perfect entities, I have,
nevertheless, for purposes of uniformity classified them on a
heptatonic basis, that is, as heptatonic tunes with the sixth and
seventh, or seventh alone, missing respectively. Similarly, while it
is somewhat tautological to say, for instance, a tune is heptatonic
ionian, I have prefixed the term heptatonic to facilitate
identification and to balance the constantly recurrent pentatonic
and hexatonic.
An examination of these spiritual folk-tunes reveals a great
predominance of gapped scales. Only 23 per cent of them use the full
seven-tone series; 44 per cent are hexatonic; 23 per cent are
pentatonic; and seven tunes use only from 1 to 5 of their scale.
The incidence of the different modes has been impossible to ascertain.
We are sure of a mode, as Mr. Rufty has noted, only when the scale
tones are all represented in the melody. Proceeding however in
questionable instances according to the more or less clear modal
_implication_, I have found that about 52 per cent of these tunes may
be interpreted as ionian (major), about 30 per cent as aeolian, 7.5
per cent each as dorian[12] and mixolydian, and three tunes as
phrygian.
I leave the interpretation of the significance of these figures to
others. I venture to suggest however that they will be found to
indicate a survival of gapped and modal tunes that is unique in the
folk-music of today among peoples of European stock.[13]
A modally constructed tune is, as I have indicated, almost sure to be
a folk-tune. And if a melody shows the characteristic gaps, its folk
nature is quite assured. Indeed, the complete filling-in of the gaps,
creating two half steps, is a sign, though not always a sure one, of
art influence.[14]
The above paragraphs show in a general way a few of the more important
and evident _features by which American folk-tunes may be
recognised_.[15] Their presence or absence in specific cases has
helped me to decide as to the fitness of a tune for acceptance into
this collection.
_Tunes of Religious and Worldly Folk-Songs Compared_
I have indicated above (page 6) that many of the present tunes were
borrowed outright from secular folk-songs. The tune-to-tune
relationships were discovered to some degree, as I have indicated, by
accident. A spiritual tune would remind me of a secular one. I would
look it up in Sharp or elsewhere, verify the relationship, and note it
under the proper song in this collection. Such accidents, however,
account for but comparatively few of my related-tune discoveries. In
most instances they came to light as the result of a methodical
comparison made possible by my having catalogued my spiritual
folk-tunes and a large number of secular folk-melodies. I shall not go
into a detailed explanation of this cataloguing method here, chiefly
because it is one which, though it answered my own purposes well,
would probably be found inadequate as a tool for students of
comparative melody in general. I shall say merely that the catalog was
a card index of tune beginnings, all transposed to a key which had two
flats as its signature. The arrangement was based on the scale
position or relative pitch of the first few tones. At the beginning of
the catalog were those tunes which began on _b_-flat, then came those
beginning on _c_ and so on. The arrangement among those tunes
beginning on any one tone, followed the same pitch sequence, from
lowest to highest, taking into consideration the second, third, and
more notes of the tune beginnings where necessary. That is, my
lexicographical arrangement was like that of the dictionary, but with
notes on a regular staff taking the place of letters, and with the
scale steps taking the place of alphabetical sequence.
The actual working out of this scheme may be observed in the
arrangement of tunes in this collection. In each of the three parts
the tunes appear in their catalog sequence.[16]
Through a consistent comparison of the tunes in this catalog with
those in secular tune files made on the same plan, I have been able to
discover the organic relationship of upwards of 150 melodies in this
collection to an even greater number of traditional folk-tunes
associated with _secular_ texts. This greater number is explained by
the fact that one and the same tune in this collection was often found
related to a number of worldly songs. To one tune ‘Pilgrim’, for
example, I discovered 17 secular related melodies. The relationship
runs in degree all the way from one which is barely recognizable to
one which consists in an almost note-for-note identity.
The catalogs were also of distinct value in bringing to light scores
of interrelated tunes _within_ the collection, and thus in bringing to
light the tune families mentioned on page 14 above.
The search for kindred secular tunes was most fruitful in the case of
the ballads and somewhat less so for the hymns. Among the spiritual
songs the search yielded surprizingly meager results. The reason lay
probably in the nature of the spiritual-song tunes themselves. These
tunes—whatever their source—were often altered through the arbitrary
intrusion of refrains and choruses. Among these tunes, therefore, my
finding of secular analogies was limited usually to melodic _parts_
instead of whole tunes.
To be sure, the tune relationships, religious to secular, which I have
pointed out, touch little more than half the songs under scrutiny. But
when it is taken into consideration that the related secular tunes
were all found in a body of British Isles-American melodies not much
greater than that of the spiritual tunes themselves, then it would not
seem unreasonable to assume that a complete catalog of American
worldly folk-tunes would reveal cognates to many more, possibly to all
of the tunes presented here. The kinships already discovered, however,
warrant the assumption that _these spiritual tunes are part and parcel
of the ancestral folk-melodism of the English-speaking peoples_.
The worldly-religious tune comparison has also shed more light on the
motives which led the revival folk to borrow from the store of secular
melody and on the manner of that borrowing. We have indicated above
our belief that one motive was the crying need for rousing and
familiar tunes. Another reason seems to have been the mere fact that
the borrowed tunes _were_ worldly. Worldliness was of itself an asset.
Fighting the devil with his own weapons had its distinct advantages in
revival technics. But just how and why a _particular_ secular tune
came into the religious atmosphere is not always evident. In some
instances, however, the examination of the secular original song makes
this clear.
When the revivalist heard the Scottish-American sing
Will you go, Lassie, go
To the braes o’ Balquhidder?
he evidently saw at once the possibilities of turning the text to his
own evangelistic purposes, and wasted little time in making it over
into ‘Sinner’s Invitation:’
Sinners go, will you go
To the highlands of heaven?
which he sang to the same tune.
The ballad tune to
O’Reilly on the rolling sea
Bound for Amerikee
went over easily into the song which told of the Christian voyager who
was ‘Bound for Canaan.’
The old ballad ‘Geordie’ begins
As I walked over London bridge.
The revival singers took this hint, with its tune phrase, and
produced, in ‘Victoria’:
I have but one more river to cross.
In the traditional ballad ‘In Seaport Town’ there is a recurring
phrase:
Till at last they came to that lonesome valley.
This “valley” suggested to the religious mind the emotional depression
of the almost converted mourner as well as the valley of death; and
thus came into existence the beautiful spiritual ‘Lonesome Valley’:
You got to go that lonesome valley,
You got to go there by yourself
whose tune is closely related to that of the secular song.
The ‘Poor Stranger’ of the English secular ballad who appeared also as
“poor strange girl,” a “roving soldier,” and a “rebel soldier,” all of
whom are “far from my home,” exerted both melodic and textual
influence on the ‘Heaven-Born Soldier’ who urges his comrades to
Come along and shout along
And pray by the way.
The melody which Johann Sebastian Bach, the great adapter of
folk-tunes, made a peasant sing in his _Cantata_ ‘Mer hahn en neue
Oberkeet’ spread to England and became there the setting of a number
of popular texts in the first half of the eighteenth century. One of
these songs, dating from 1772, was ‘Farewell, Ye Green Fields and
Sweet Groves’ which gave birth, probably also in England, to the
religious song ‘Green Fields’, found in every old southern fasola
book. Its opening lines are
How tedious and tasteless the hours
When Jesus no longer I see.
Sweet prospects, sweet birds and sweet flowers
Have all lost their sweetness to me.
With ‘Saw Ye my True Love’ as a model, the task of making the
religious text ‘Saw Ye My Savior,’ sung to the same tune, was a
grateful one.
The happy inebriate who is his own hero in ‘Way Up On Clinch Mountain’
is reformed and regretful in ‘John Adkins’ Farewell’ where he gives
warning to other alcoholics in the same melodic strain.
From the above examples it would seem that the secular text contained
often some hint which led the religious adapter in making his new
poetic lines; and that the secular tune usually followed as a matter
of course.
The comparison of tunes shed no actually new light on the age of the
tunes. But it made clear the fact that the folk’s stock of melodies is
assembled from divers times. The tunes of two songs in this
collection, ‘New Orleans’, and ‘Hark my Soul’, have tonal trends
strikingly similar to that of melodies found in the eleventh and early
thirteenth centuries respectively. From the early seventeenth century
we find ‘Mourner’s Lamentation’ which was in those earlier times ‘Wae
is Me for Prince Charley’, a Jacobite song about Charles II of
England. ‘Beggar’ is a remake of ‘A-Begging We Will Go’ which has been
traced back to 1611. ‘Captain Kidd’ or ‘Kidd’, as it is disguised in
the fasola books, dates from the first part of the eighteenth century.
It is significant that most of the tunes mentioned in the above
paragraphs are comparatively modern in their musical aspects. This
fact leads to the suspicion that the really old-sounding tunes, those
in the antique modes—dorian, phrygian, and the like, especially in
their gapped forms—originated in still earlier times. Here is an
inviting field for the student of comparative folk-melodism.
_Conclusion_
I have been impressed, as I have come to know these tunes better, with
their variety and beauty. They are believed, by the country folk who
still sing them, to be “the most beautiful music on earth.” When I
first heard this sweeping judgment I put it down as emanating from an
understandable though extravagant zeal, one which was all the greater
perhaps since the singers, mostly oldsters, felt they were fighting
for the very life of a dying cause. But I now see I was mistaken. The
songs are living vigorously without being fought for. The country folk
clearly realized—however they may have expressed the realisation—that
the “good old songs” were ingrained in their racial souls and that for
this reason it was the most completely soul-satisfying of all music
from whatever source.
If this was and still is the firm belief of those uncounted thousands
who know and sing the country songs, those who are still carrying on
the tradition for the sheer love of it and the joy they get out of it;
then is there not an inspiration for us? Is that picture not an
incentive to look into, to learn to know this _tonal tradition_, the
chief one in our ethnic background? This quest might well lead to an
examination of our other _acquired_, not _inherited_, musical concepts
and judgments, in search for reasons why, in acquiring them, we have
ignored the simpler art of the past. And from this approach we might
open the question as to whether these reasons are valid,—wise or
unwise.
American folk-music, basing squarely on that of the British Isles, is
purer, I assert, and more completely representative of the _peoples_
among whom it has developed, and less representative of _individual_
creative activity than is the folk-music of other Western peoples. As
evidence of this I present this collection, commending it to the
serious consideration of those interested in fundamental phases of
American culture.
This collection challenges, I feel, the attention also of those
interested in the songs of the churches. Urban congregational singing
depends on hymnals. Hymnals are made by successions of revision
committees. These committees have been either hostile to, or
incognisant of, American folk-hymns. The perusal of almost any
protestant hymn-and-tune book will prove this. Thus we have the
strange anomaly: _groups whose prime purpose is to induce more general
singing by the masses, refusing recognition, in their books of songs,
to the melodism of those masses and putting in its place the tonal
products of individuals_.
There are of late some exceptions to this attitude. In the _Christian
Science Hymnal_, where one finds numerous folk-tunes from many other
lands, there are two variants of melodies to be found in the present
collection, that is, of ‘Pilgrim’ and ‘Marion’. The editors found
these tunes, however, not in America but in the British Isles.
The Methodists who were, as we have seen, originally largely
responsible for the appearance of folk-tunes in the American religious
environment, have for the past fifty years progressively eliminated
them from their authorized hymnals. But their latest revised edition
of 1935 indicates that this tendency has been checked. I find in that
volume seven tunes which are identical with melodies in the present
collection, namely, with ‘Green Fields’, ‘New Britain’, ‘Beloved’,
‘Nettleton’, ‘Friends of Freedom’, ‘Plenary’, and ‘Romish Lady’. There
are also five other tunes in the Hymnal called “early American
melodies” which I have not been able to identify as folk-melodies.
In England the evangelical protestant hymnal makers seem now to be
folk-minded. The English Methodists, at least, have welcomed into
their latest _Hymn Book_ no less than 43 traditional folk-tunes of the
British Isles. They have even used two tunes—‘Rhode Island’ and
‘Pisgah’—the latter of which appears in the present collection, and
have called them “American”, even though one of them, ‘Pisgah’, came
hither from England, as Miss Gilchrist has pointed out.
Then there are the folklorists. How will they greet this collection?
My stressing of tunes and saying little about texts will be regarded
by some of the old-line folklorists—especially those who still
conceive all such material as “popular poetry”—with disapproval.
Others, those who are sure that folk-song is dying out and therefore
see the collector’s duty simply as that of retrieving the last bits of
it, may greet the present collection as a new acquisition to the
museums. Such a response would arouse in me no enthusiasm and little
satisfaction; for I demur completely from narrow interpretations of
the status, meaning, import, and destiny of folk-lore, folk-songs,
_these_ folk-songs. I do not participate in the pessimism of the
folk-song fatalists.
The lore of a folk comprehends, as I understand it, the whole of its
basic cultural accomplishments. Understood in this broadest and
deepest sense, a folk-lore is truer, more vital and more significant
than an art-lore. It is a clearer mirror of a people’s past, a more
reliable interpreter of its present trends, and a safer prophet of its
culture to come. It is all this because it is the body and soul of
that culture, where art is merely a vestment. The art which fits best
this body and soul, this basic ethnic character, is the best art. The
art of ancient Greece was great for this reason. All students of
esthetics since Lessing and Winckelmann have recognized this. They
have recognized also that the great periods in the art of any enduring
people are those when its gifted creators are in closest harmony with
the genius of their race; and that its barren periods are those when
the masters have been faithless to their own and have sought afar “the
good which lies so near.”
_Acknowledgements_
I wish to express here my deep gratitude to Mr. Hilton Rufty for his
generous help in verifying the musical aspects of this collection and
in helping me solve many a knotty problem in interpreting the tunes
which I have transcribed from the old singing-school books. Mr. John
Powell has earned my sincere thanks for reading critically the entire
manuscript, calling my attention to a number of inaccuracies, and to
many secular melodies related to those in this volume.
The present collection would have been far less comprehensive without
the use of a number of unique source books placed at my disposal by
friends. I wish therefore to acknowledge gratefully the co-operation
of Mr. Will H. Ruebush for providing me with _The Olive Leaf_ and _The
Social Harp_; Mrs. Annabel Morris Buchanan for _The Union Harmony_
(Hendrickson); Mr. E. S. Lorenz for _The Revivalist_ and _Songs of
Grace_; Mr. John Lair for the _Scots Musical Museum_; The Lawson
McGhee Library (Knoxville, Tennessee) for _The Church Harmony_ and
_The Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony_; Mr. W. E. Bird for _The
Southern and Western Pocket Harmonist_; and Miss Lucille Wilkin for
_The Western Harmony_. The University of North Carolina Press has
kindly allowed me to reproduce several songs from _White Spirituals in
the Southern Uplands_. For this I wish to express my sincere thanks.
I wish also to thank those who have furnished me with songs from oral
tradition. Among such helpful contributors are Professor Donald
Davidson, Mr. Don West, Mr. Samuel E. Asbury, Mr. Francis Arthur
Robinson, and Miss Will Allen Dromgoole. My gratitude is hereby
expressed also to Dr. Carleton Sprague Smith, Chief of the Music
Division of the New York Public Library, and to Dr. Oliver Strunk,
Chief of the Music Division of the Library of Congress for their
helpfulness.
My daughter, Frances Helen Parker, and my sisters, Carol Jackson
Ransom and Genevieve Jackson Beckwith, have given me invaluable help
in preparing this book for the printer and in correcting the proofs.
For this I am deeply and lastingly grateful to them.
George Pullen Jackson
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, Tennessee, April 10, 1937
Fifty-one Religious Ballads
No. 1
ROMISH LADY, HH 257
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
There was a Romish lady, Brought up in popery,
Her mother always taught her, The priest she must obey.
“O pardon me, dear mother, I humbly pray thee now,
But unto these false idols I can no longer bow.”
Assisted by her handmaid, a bible she conceal’d,
And there she gain’d instruction, till God his love reveal’d.
No more she prostrates herself to pictures deck’d with gold;
But soon she was betrayed and her bible from her stole.
“I’ll bow to my dear Jesus, I’ll worship God unseen,
I’ll live by faith forever, the works of men are vain.
I cannot worship angels nor pictures made by men:
Dear Mother, use your pleasure, but pardon if you can.”
With grief and great vexation her mother straight did go
T’ inform the Roman clergy, the cause of all her wo.
The priests were soon assembled, and for the maid did call,
And forced her in the dungeon to fright her soul withal.
The more they strove to fright her, the more she did endure;
Although her age was tender, her faith was strong and sure.
The chains of gold so costly, they from this lady took,
And she, with all her spirits, the pride of life forsook.
Before the pope they brought her, in hopes of her return,
And there she was condem-ned in horrid flames to burn.
Before the place of torment they brought her speedily;
With lifted hands to heaven she then agreed to die.
There being many ladies assembled at the place,
She raised her eyes to heaven and begged supplying grace:
“Weep not, ye tender ladies, shed not a tear for me,
While my poor body’s burning, my soul the Lord shall see.
“Yourselves you need to pity, and Zion’s deep decay;
Dear ladies, turn to Jesus, no longer make delay.”
In comes her raving mother, her daughter to behold,
And in her hand she brought her the pictures deck’d with gold.
“O take from me these idols, remove them from my sight;
Restore to me my bible, wherein I take delight!—
Alas, my aged mother, why on my ruin bent?
’Twas you that did betray me, but I am innocent.
“Tormentors, use your pleasure, and do as you think best;
I hope my blessed Jesus will take my soul to rest.”
Soon as these words were spoken, up steps the man of death,
And kindled up the fire to stop her mortal breath.
Instead of golden bracelets, with chains they bound her fast;
She cried, “My God give power, now must I die at last?
With Jesus and his angels forever I shall dwell;
God pardon priest and people, and so I bid farewell.”
The text—undoubtedly of Inquisition times origin—indicates the age of
the ballad. It is to be found in the _Roxburghe Ballads_, i., 43. It
is mentioned in Beaumont and Fletcher’s “Knight of the Burning Pestle”
(1613). A parody on the opening words:
There was a moanish lady
Lived in a moanish land;
She had a moanish daughter
Could moan at the Lord’s command _etc._
is in Sandburg’s _American Songbag_, p. 11. Another echo of this
ballad text is:
The Romish Lady, she had babes,
in ‘The Wife of Usher’s Well’, Sharp, i., 159. I recorded the tune in
Dayton, Virginia; see _White Spirituals_, 202. _The Methodist Hymnal_
(1935, No. 436) has a variant of the tune which it calls a
“traditional English carol”.
No. 2
BEGGAR or TO BEGGING I WILL GO, SOC 212.
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
I’d rather live a beggar while here on earth I stay,
Than to possess the riches of all America;
And to begging I will go.
And to begging I will go, will go, will go,
And to begging I will go.
With thoughts of keen emotion our hearts are running o’er,
While parting from the friends we love for China’s distant shore,
We’re off for China’s shore.
We’re off for China’s shore, China’s shore,
We’re off for China’s shore.
We need your prayers, your sympathies more now than e’er before,
For few the friends and hard the task on China’s distant shore;
We’re off for China’s shore.
We’re off _etc._
We’ll heed our Master’s call; He is with us ever more;
Then farewell, dear friends, adieu, we’re off for China’s shore;
We’re off for China’s shore.
We’re off _etc._
A close tune variant is ‘Lost City’, or ‘To Glory I Will Go’ in this
collection. Tune and words are a parody of ‘A-Begging We Will Go’
which was widely popular in the latter part of the seventeenth century
and traces of whose existence are found as early as 1611.
See Chappell’s _Old English Popular Music_, ii., 42-43.
The first stanza of the song as it appeared in _Choyce Ayres_ etc.,
1676, runs:
There was a jovial beggar,
He had a wooden leg,
Lame from his cradle and forced for to beg.
And a begging we will go, we’ll go, we’ll go,
And a begging we will go.
Other songs for which the early song became the prototype were ‘A
Bowling We Will Go’, ‘A Fishing We Will Go’, ‘A Hawking We Will Go’
and ‘A Hunting We Will Go.’
No. 3
REVEREND JAMES AXLEY’S SONG, OL 369
Hexatonic, mode 4 A (I II — IV V VI 7)
[Music]
Tho’ sinners would vex me, tho’ troubles perplex me,
Against inclination, O what shall I do?
No longer a rover, my follies are over.
But one thing is needful, and that I’ll pursue.
Vain pleasure is deceitful, and sin is all hateful,
But genuine pleasure in Jesus I find:
This world is a bubble, a life full of trouble;
My thoughts now fly upward, and leave all behind.
I hear the bells tolling; and wheels are now rolling;
Some gallant, gay, fair one goes to her long home:
If dead out of Jesus—the Lord will not save us,
And to him in glory we never can come.
Oh! pray for conversion; shun foolish diversion;
Adopt self-denial, and take up your cross:
These do for a season, and use your own reason,
And you will see clearly you suffer no loss.
Your time is a treasure (there’s none in vain pleasure),
Then look up to Jesus with faith’s steadfast eye:
Oh, haste to believe in the crucified Savior,
For time flies apace, and eternity’s nigh!
My soul starts with wonder, to think how God’s thunder,
Will shake all creation at Gabriel’s call!
When time is no longer, the aged and younger,
Before the great Judge, in their trouble, will fall.
The Judgment decided, friends now are divided;
And all the ungodly are turned into hell:
But glory to Jesus! believing, He’ll save us,
With angels in glory his praises to swell.
_The Olive Leaf_ arranger spoiled the tune’s apparent mixolydian
purity by changing the _d_’s to _d_-sharps. As to title and source the
editor says: “Reverend James Axley was one of the pioneer preachers of
the Holston Conference, and a very holy, laborious, and successful
minister. I learned this tune and song of Reverend Russell Reneau, who
died in Arkansas during our late unhappy Civil War. Crude as the song
is, I choose to preserve it in memory of Mr. Axley and Mr. Reneau.”
The tune is a variant of ‘Christian Warfare’, GOS 603. Further
information as to the Reverend James Axley, whose period of activity
in the methodist conferences of Tennessee, Kentucky and other states
was during the first decades of the nineteenth century, may be found
in Peter Cartwright’s _Autobiography_, p. 62 and elsewhere.
No. 4
HICKS’ FAREWELL, SOH 19
Pentatonic, mode 2 (I — 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
The time is swiftly rolling on
When I must faint and die;
My body to the dust return
And there forgotten lie.
William Walker claims the tune. See ‘Farewell’ in this collection for
different melodies associated with this text. Cecil Sharp recorded
five versions of the song as he heard them in the Appalachian
Mountains in 1916 and 1918. See Sharp, ii., 142-143. The text (given
more fully under ‘Farewell’) was written by the Reverend B. Hicks of
South Carolina. See _White Spirituals_, 202ff.
No. 5
FREE SALVATION, _Wesleyan Psalmist_
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
Man at his first creation in Eden God did place,
The public head and father of all the human race;
But by the subtle serpent beguil’d he was and fell,
And by his disobedience was doom’d to death and hell.
While in this situation a promise there was made,
The offspring of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head,
Against the power of Satan that man might only feel
The malice of the serpent enraging at his heel.
Now at the time appointed Jesus unveiled his face,
Assumed our human nature and suffered in our place;
He suffered on Mount Calvary and ransomed all for me,
The law demands attention, to pay the penalty.
They laid him in a sepulchre, it being near at hand,
The grave could not now hold him, nor death’s cold iron hand;
He burst them all asunder and pulled their kingdoms down,
He’s overcome his enemies and wears a starry crown.
Miss Gilchrist finds this “reminiscent of the old Cornish ‘When God at
first had Adam made’, and of the style of the Manx-Gaelic carvals.”
See JFSS, viii., 83.
No. 6
SAILOR’S HOME, SOH 182
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
When for eternal worlds we steer,
And seas are calm and skies are clear;
And faith in lively exercise,
And distant hills of Canaan rise;
The soul for joy then claps her wings,
And loud her lovely sonnet sings,
I’m going home, I’m going home;
And loud her lovely sonnet sings,
I’m going home.
With cheerful hope his eyes explore
Each landmark on the distant shore;
The trees of life, the pasture green,
The crystal stream, delightful scene.
Again for joy she plumes her wings,
And loud her lovely sonnet sings:
I’m almost home, I’m almost home!
And loud her lovely sonnet sings:
I’m almost home.
The nearer still she draws to land,
More eager all her pow’rs expand;
With steady helm and free bent sail,
Her anchor drops within the vale.
And now for joy she folds her wings
And her celestial sonnet sings:
I’m home at last, I’m home at last!
And her celestial sonnet sings:
I’m home at last!
She meets with those who’re gone before,
On heaven’s high and genial shore
Around the dear Redeemer’s feet,
— — — — — — —
And loud they shout: Our God and King!
And ceaseless hallelujahs sing,
We’re safe at last! We’re safe at last!
And ceaseless hallelujahs sing,
We’re safe at last!
The song is attributed in the _Southern Harmony_ to Wm. M. Caudill and
Wm. Walker. The tune bears some resemblance to ‘Liverpool’ in this
collection. The song is found also in REV 396, entitled ‘Sonnet’.
No. 7
LIVERPOOL or SOLEMN ADDRESS TO YOUNG PEOPLE, OSH 37
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Young people all attention give,
And hear what I shall say;
I wish your souls with Christ to live
In everlasting day.
Remember you are hastening on
To death’s dark gloomy shade;
Your joys on earth will soon be gone,
Your flesh in dust be laid.
Death’s iron gate you must pass through,
Ere long, my dear young friends;
With whom then do you think to go,
With saints or fiery fiends?
Pray meditate before too late,
While in a gospel land;
Behold! King Jesus at the gate
Most lovingly doth stand.
Young men, how can you turn face
From such a glorious friend;
Will you pursue your dang’rous ways?
O don’t you fear the end?
Will you pursue that dang’rous road
Which leads to death and hell?
Will you refuse all peace with God,
With devils for to dwell?
Young women too, what will you do,
If out of Christ you die?
From all God’s people you must go,
To weep, lament and cry.
Where you the least relief can’t find,
To mitigate your pain;
Your good things all be left behind,
Your souls in death remain.
Young people all, I pray then view
The fountain open’d wide;
The spring of life open’d for sin,
Which flow’d from Jesus’ side.
There you may drink in endless joy,
And reign with Christ, your king,
In his glad notes your souls employ,
And hallelujahs sing.
The earliest appearance of the text is in _Mercer’s Cluster_, a
collection of rurally used hymns (not tunes) by Jesse Mercer,
benefactor of Mercer University, who lived in Powellton, Georgia, in
the 1820’s. The editor of the _Sacred Harp_ attributes the tune to M.
C. H. Davis, a southern rural. The song is found also UH 27, HH 83,
HOC 113, WP 36, SOC 76, SOH I and CHH 58. The tune is a member of the
‘Lord Lovel’ family mentioned in the introduction, p. 14, and is
closely related to ‘Mermaid’, Sharp, i., 291, and to ‘The Broom of
Cowdenknows’, SMM No. 3, and its seventeenth-century country-dance
form ‘The Bonny Bonny Broome’, Playford’s _The English Dancing
Master_, p. 74. For a list of other members of the ‘Lord Lovel’ tune
family see ‘Dulcimer’ in this collection.
No. 8
LITTLE FAMILY, WS 195 ff.
Pentatonic, mode 1 (I II — IV V VI —)
[Music]
There was a little fam’ly
That liv’d in Bethany,
Two sisters and a brother
Compos’d that family.
With shouting and with singing
Like angels in the sky,
At morning and at evening
They rais’d their voices high.
See _White Spirituals_ for the full text of seven stanzas about the
raising of Lazarus. For references see JAFL, xxv., 17, and xxix., 182.
Almost the same tune is ‘Johnny German’, Sharp, ii., 256. ‘Joe
Bowers’, Cox, 527, is also similar. Another spiritual ballad using
this tune in variant form is ‘Wedlock (A)’, in this collection.
No. 9
MISS HATAWAY’S EXPERIENCE, HH 421
Heptatonic ionian, Mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
Young women all, I pray draw near,
Listen a while and you shall hear
How sin and Satan both did try
To land my soul in misery.
The full text is reproduced in _White Spirituals_, 186f. The tune is
closely related to ‘McAfee’s Confession’, Sharp, ii., 15 and 16. John
Powell notes in connection with this song: “I have collected this tune
often as ‘Young People Who Delight in Sin’ and it is always
mixolydian.” He then makes the suggestion: “Why not take out the
_g_-sharp from the signature? In that case the modal indication would
be heptatonic mixolydian, mode 3 a + b (I II III IV V VI 7).”
No. 10
DYING CALIFORNIAN, OSH 410
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Lay up nearer, brother, nearer,
For my limbs are growing cold,
And thy presence seemeth nearer,
When thine arms around me fold.
I am dying, brother, dying;
Soon you’ll miss me in your berth,
For my form will soon be lying
’Neath the ocean’s briney deep.
I am going, surely going,
But my hope in God is strong;
I am willing, brother, knowing
That he doth nothing wrong.
Tell my father, when you greet him,
That in death I prayed for him,
Prayed that I might only meet him
In a world that’s free from sin.
Tell my mother,—God assist her,
Now that she is growing old,—
That her child would glad have kissed her
When his lips grew pale and cold.
Listen, brother, catch each whisper,
’Tis my wife I’ll speak of now;
Tell, O tell her how I missed her,
When the fever burned my brow.
Tell her she must kiss my children,
Like the kiss I last impressed;
Hold them as when last I held them,
Folded closely to my breast.
Give them early to their maker,
Putting all her trust in God;
And he never will forsake her,
For he’s said so in his word.
Oh! my children, Heaven bless them,
They were all my life to me;
Would I could once more caress them
Before I sink beneath the sea.
’Twas for them I crossed the ocean,
What my hopes were I’d not tell,
But they gained an orphan’s portion,—
Yet he doth all things well.
Listen, brother, closely listen,
Don’t forget a single word,
That in death my eyes did glisten
With the tears her memory stored.
Tell them I never reached the haven,
Where I sought the precious dust,
But I’ve gained a port called heaven
Where the gold will never rust.
Tell my sisters I remember
Every kind and parting word,
And my heart has been kept tender
By the thoughts its memory stirred.
Urge them to secure an entrance,
For they’ll find a brother there.
Faith in Jesus and repentance
Will secure for them a share.
Hark! I hear my Savior speaking;
’Tis—I know his voice so well,
When I’m gone, O don’t be weeping,
Brother, hear my last farewell.
The song seems to have been inspired by the fate of one of the
“forty-niners.” It made its first appearance in fasola circles in the
1859 edition of the _Sacred Harp_ where it is attributed to Ball and
Drinkard. For references as to its origin see Hudson, _Folksongs of
Mississippi_, 221.
No. 11
JOHN ADKINS’ FAREWELL, SOC 200
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
[Music]
Poor drunkards, poor drunkards, take warning by me,
The fruits of transgression behold now I see;
My soul is tormented, my body confin’d;
My friends and my children left weeping behind.
Much intoxication my ruin has been,
And my dear companion I’ve barbarously slain;
In yonder cold graveyard her body doth lie,
And I am confined and must shortly die.
A solemn death warning to drunkards I leave,
While my poor body lies cold in the dark grave;
Remember John Adkins, his death and reform,
Lest justice o’ertakes you and sorrow comes on.
A whole life of sorrow can never atone,
For that cruel murder that my hands have done;
I am justly condemned, it’s right that I should die,
Therefore, let all drunkards take warning hereby.
Farewell, my dear children, wherever you be;
Though quite young and tender and dear unto me;
I leave you exposed in nature’s wide field,
In which God is able poor orphans to shield.
No mother to teach you, no mother to guide
Your tender affections from sin’s awful tide;
No portion to shun you from hunger or cold,
My poor little orphans are cast on the world.
When sorrows oppress you and sickness comes on,
You’ll cry for your mother, but, oh, she is gone;
Your father, in anger, struck her on the head,
She bled, groan’d, and languish’d, and now she is dead.
My heart swells with sorrow, my eyes overflow,
Soon, oh my dear children, I’ll bid you adieu;
Oh may my kind neighbors your guardians prove,
And heaven, kind heaven, protect you above.
My soul to His pleasure I humbly submit,
And with my last burthen fall down at His feet;
To plead for His mercy that flows from above,
That pardons poor drunkards, and crowns them above.
John G. McCurry, compiler of the _Social Harp_, claims this song and
dates it 1851. The tune is identical with that of ‘When Boys Go
A-Courting’, Sharp, ii., 206. The “drunkard” theme may have been the
textual source of ‘Way Up On Clinch Mountain’, where, to the same
tune, the singer glories in his excesses including that of whiskey
drinking. See Sandburg, 307. Miss Scarbrough has a negro adoption of
the same tune in ‘Noble Skewball’; see _On the Trail of the Negro
Folk-Song_, 63. An English folk-song ‘Sweet England’ has a variant
tune. See _English Folk-Songs for Schools_, 46. For an Irish variant
see Petrie, No. 1172. A Scotch variant is ‘My Ain Fireside’, _Lyric
Gems of Scotland_, 186, which in turn borrowed its tune from ‘Todlen
Hame’.
No. 12
REDEMPTION (C), KHN 185
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
Come all ye young people of every relation,
Come listen a while and to you I will tell,
How I was first called to seek for salvation,
Redemption through Jesus which sav’d me from hell.
I scarcely was sixteen when I was first called
To think of my soul and the state it was in;
I saw myself standing a distance from Jesus;
Between him and me was a mountain of sin.
The devil perceived that I was convicted,
And strove to persuade me that I was too young,
That I would get wearied before my days ended,
And wish that I had not so early begun;
Sometimes he persuaded me that Jesus was partial,
When he was a-setting of poor sinners free,
That I was forgotten and was reprobated,
And there was no mercy at all for poor me.
But glory to Jesus, his love’s not confined,
To princes or men of a nobler degree;
His love it is boundless to all human creatures,
He died for poor sinners when nail’d to the tree.
For while I lay groaning in sad lamentation,
My soul overwhelmed in sorrow and grief,
He drew near in mercy, looked on me in pity,
He pardon’d my sins and he gave me relief.
The tune is practically the same as ‘Grenadier and the Lady’, JFSS,
viii., 194.
No. 13
WEDLOCK (A), SOC 188
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
When Adam was created,
He dwelt in Eden’s shade,
As Moses has related,
Before a bride was made.
Ten thousand times ten thousand
Things wheeled all around,
Before a bride was formed,
Or yet a mate was found.
Another tune and additional stanzas of the text are given in this
collection under the title ‘Wedlock (B)’. The song is attributed, in
the _Social Harp_, to Henry F. Chandler and is dated 1854. The tunes
of ‘Johnny German’, Sharp, ii., 256; ‘I Rode My Little Horse’,
Baring-Gould, _Songs of the West_, No. 101; ‘The Auld House’, _Lyric
Gems of Scotland_, 49; and ‘Joe Bowers’, are similar to the above air.
Another ballad in this collection using this tune in variant form is
‘Little Family’. Stephen Foster’s song ‘Virginia Belle’ leans
melodically on ‘Wedlock (A)’. (See my article in _The Musical
Quarterly_, xxii., No. 2.)
No. 14
PATTON, OL 40
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Young people all, attention give,
While I address you in God’s name,
You who in sin and folly live,
Come hear the counsel of a friend.
I sought for bliss in glitt’ring toys,
And ranged th’ alluring scenes of vice,
But never found substantial joys
Until I heard my Savior’s voice.
He spake at once my sins forgiven
And wash’d my load of guilt away;
He gave me glory, peace and heaven,
And thus I found the heav’nly way.
And now with trembling sense I view
The billows roll beneath your feet;
For death eternal waits for you
Who slight the force of gospel truth.
Youth, like the spring, will soon be gone
By fleeting time or conquering death;
Your morning sun may set at noon
And leave you ever in the dark.
Your sparkling eyes and blooming cheeks
Must wither like the blasted rose;
The coffin, earth and winding-sheet
Will soon your active limbs enclose.
Ye heedless ones that wildly stroll,
The grave will soon become your bed,
Where silence reigns and vapors roll
In solemn darkness round your head.
Your friends will pass the lonesome place
And with a sigh move slow along;
Still gazing on the spires of grass
With which your graves are overgrown.
The compiler of _Olive Leaf_ gives the following notes: “From
McAnally’s _Western Harp_” and “Called after the late Wm. Patton, of
Mo. Heard him sing it, first, at a camp-meeting, North Cove, Burk Co.,
N. C., in 1831 or 1832. Published by the admirable A. S. Hayden,
perhaps in 1829.” The Celtic melodic influence is clearly felt in the
above tune.
No. 15
DYING BOY, OSH 398
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
I’m dying, Mother, dying now,
Please raise my aching head;
And fan my heated, burning brow,
Your boy will soon be dead.
Turn o’er my pillow once again,
And kiss my fever’d cheek;
I’ll soon be free from all the pain,
For now I am so weak.
Now light the lamps, my mother dear,
The sun has pass’d away;
I soon must go, but do not fear,
I’ll live in endless day.
I’m sinking fast, my mother dear;
I can no longer dwell;
Yet I’ll be with you, do not fear;
But now, O now, farewell.
A band of angels beckon me,
I can no longer stay;
Hark! how they sing: “We welcome thee;
Dear brother, haste away.”
The hour has come, my end is near;
My soul is mounting higher.
What glorious strains salute my ear
From heaven’s angelic choir.
Their flowing robes in brightness shine;
A crown is on each head;
Say, mother, will not such be mine
When I am with the dead?
Then do not weep, sweet mother, now,
’Twill break this body frail;
Those burning tears fall o’er my brow,
Farewell, O fare thee well.
The _Sacred Harp_ says this was “composed by H. S. Rees, 1859”. Is it
perhaps a parody of Wm. Haines Lytle’s ‘I’m Dying, Egypt, Dying’?
Lytle was a cousin of Stephen Collins Foster whose own song ‘For the
Dear Old Flag I Die’ shows close kinship in words and tune to ‘Dying
Boy’. (See my article in _The Musical Quarterly_, xxii., No. 2.) There
is a resemblance also between the ‘Dying Boy’ tune and a seventeenth
century psalm tune called variously ‘Bella’, ‘Leeds’, ‘Needham’ and
‘Derby’; see _Hymns Ancient and Modern_, Historical ed., London,
Clowes, 1909, p. 79.
No. 16
SAW YE MY SAVIOR, CH 42
Heptatonic ionian, mode 1 A + B (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
Saw ye my Savior, saw ye my Savior,
Saw ye my Savior and God?
Oh! he died on Calvary to atone for you and me
And to purchase our pardon with blood.
He was extended, he was extended,
Painfully nailed to the cross;
Then he bowed his head and died, thus my Lord was crucified,
To atone for a world that was lost.
Jesus hung bleeding, Jesus hung bleeding,
Three dreadful hours in pain;
Whilst the sun refused to shine, when his majesty divine
Was derided, insulted and slain.
Darkness prevail-ed, darkness prevail-ed,
Darkness prevailed through the land;
Oh, the solid rocks were rent, through creation’s vast extent
When the Jews crucified the God-Man.
When it was finish’d, when it was finish’d,
And the atonement was made;
He was taken by the great, and embalmed in spices sweet,
And was in a new sepulchre laid.
Hail, mighty Savior, hail mighty Savior!
Prince and the Author of peace!
Oh, he burst the bars of death, and triumphing left the earth,
He ascended to mansions of bliss.
Now interceding, now interceding,
Pleading that sinners might live;
Saying, “Father, I have died, (O, behold my hands and side!)
To redeem them, I pray thee, forgive.”
“I will forgive them, I will forgive them,
When they repent and believe;
Let them now return to thee, and be reconciled to me,
And salvation they all shall receive.”
This song occurs also in _Olive Leaf_, p. 203, where it is called “a
Scotch air”. Miss Gilchrist tells us, in the article often cited here,
that ‘Saw Ye My Savior’ is ‘Saw Ye My Father’, or ‘The Grey Cock’,
found in both Scotch and English versions. A text is in Herd’s
collections of 1769 and 1772, and another with the tune, in Chappell’s
_Popular Music_. Chappell’s version begins:
Saw you my father, saw you my mother,
Saw you my true love John?
He told his only dear that he would soon be here,
But he to another is gone.
The melodic phrase above, which coincides with the text “Oh ... me”,
is used to build up the tune for ‘Simple Ploughboy’, Sharp, i., 369.
As to the influence of this impressive text on the crucifixion songs
of the negroes, see _White Spirituals_, 277. Stephen Foster seems to
have been influenced by the ‘Saw Ye My Savior’ tune or its secular
relatives in composing his ‘Old Black Joe’. (See my article in _The
Musical Quarterly_, xxii., No. 2.) For further references as to ‘The
Grey Cock’ see _British Ballads from Maine_, 310ff.
No. 17
ESTER, OSH 437
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
Young ladies all, attention give,
You that in wicked pleasures live;
One of your sex the other day
Was call’d by death’s cold hand away.
This lesson she has left for you,
To teach the careless what to do;
To seek Jehovah while you live
And everlasting honors give.
Her honored mother she addrest,
While tears were streaming down her breast;
She grasped her tender hands and said,
“Remember me when I am dead.”
She called her father to her bed,
And thus in dying anguish said:
“My days on earth are at an end,
My soul is summoned to attend;
Before Jehovah’s awful bar,
To hear my awful sentence there;
And now, dear father, do repent,
And read the holy testament.”
The _Sacred Harp_ ascribes the song to John S. Terry and dates it
1869. Terry was a singing-school teacher of Georgia and later lived in
Alabama. The singing-school teacher took for his warning song the
‘Lord Lovel’ tune type that has been used for many secular ballads.
Among them are ‘Barbara Allen’, Sharp, i., 195, tune O; ‘Gypsy
Laddie’, Sharp, i., 237, tune F; ‘Come all Ye Fair and Tender Ladies’,
Sharp, ii., 135, tune P. For other tunes of the same type see
‘Dulcimer’ in this collection.
No. 18
LONE PILGRIM, SOH 256
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
I came to the place where the lone pilgrim lay,
And pensively stood by the tomb,
When in a low whisper I heard something say,
“How sweetly I sleep here alone.”
“The tempest may howl and the loud thunder roar,
And gathering storms may arise,
Yet calm is my feeling, at rest is my soul
The tears are all wiped from my eyes.
“The cause of my master compelled me from home,
I bade my companions farewell;
I blessed my dear children who now for me mourn,—
In far distant regions they dwell.
“I wandered an exile and stranger from home,
No kindred or relative nigh;
I met the contagion and sank to the tomb,
My soul flew to mansions on high.
“O tell my companion and children most dear,
To weep not for me now I’m gone;
The same hand that led me through scenes most severe,
Has kindly assisted me home.
“And there is a crown that doth glitter and shine,
That I shall for evermore wear;
Then turn to the Savior, his love’s all divine,
All you that would dwell with me there.”
The text is attributed, by the 1911 editor of the _Sacred Harp_, to B.
F. White, original compiler of that book. He wrote it “on the lone
prairie in Texas”, while standing “at the grave of a friend who once
lived in Georgia”. In _Folksongs of Mississippi_ Hudson gives a
variant text from oral tradition and tells of a local legend as to its
source which agrees in the main with that given in the _Sacred Harp_
which book, I suspect, was the source of the Mississippi legend.
The tune, variously claimed in the fasola books, is identical with the
‘Braes o’ Balquhidder’. See Gilchrist, JFSS, viii., 77. Other
derivatives of the same tune are ‘Sinner’s Invitation’, ‘Florence’,
and ‘Orphan Girl’ in this collection. In _The Musical Quarterly_,
xxii., No. 2, I have shown the relationship between this tune and
Stephen Foster’s ‘Linda Has Departed’.
No. 19
ORPHAN GIRL, CSH 506
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
“No home, no home”, plead a little girl,
At the door of a princely hall,
As she trembling stood on the polish’d step,
And lean’d on the marble wall.
“My father, alas, I never knew”,
And a tear dimmed her eyes so bright;
“My mother sleeps in a new-made grave,
’Tis an orphan begs tonight”.
Her clothes were thin and her feet were bare,
But the snow had covered her head;
“O! give me a home”, she feebly said,
“A home and a bit of bread”.
The night was dark and the snow fell fast,
But the rich man closed his door;
And his proud face frowned as he scornfully said:
“No room, no bread for the poor”.
The morning dawned, and the orphan girl
Still lay at the rich man’s door;
But her soul had fled to a home above,
Where there’s room and bread for the poor.
The Cooper edition of the _Sacred Harp_ gives the note: “Music by Eld.
C. G. Keith, Nov. 1, 1906.” See Henry, JAFL, vl., 66f, for further
references as to its occurrence. The tune is a derivative of ‘The
Braes o’ Balquidder’. See ‘Lone Pilgrim’ for references to related
tunes in this collection.
No. 20
PARALYTIC, REV 4
Heptatonic aeolian; mode 4 a + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Review the palsied sinner’s case
Who sought for help in Jesus;
His friends conveyed him to the place
Where he might meet with Jesus.
A multitude were thronging round
To keep them back from Jesus;
But from the roof they let him down,
Before the face of Jesus.
Thus fainting souls by sin diseased,
There’s none can save but Jesus;
With more than plague or palsy seized
Oh! help them on to Jesus.
Oh! Savior, hear their mournful cry,
And tell them thou art Jesus;
Oh! speak the word, or they must die,
And bid farewell to Jesus.
Now let them hear thy voice declare,
Thou sin-forgiving Jesus,
That thou didst die to hear their prayer,
And give them help in Jesus.
The great Physician now is near,
The sympathizing Jesus;
He speaks the drooping heart to cheer,
Oh! hear the voice of Jesus.
All glory to the dying Lamb,
I now believe in Jesus;
I love the blessed Savior’s name,
I love the name of Jesus.
And when to that bright world above
We rise to see our Jesus,
We’ll sing around the throne of love
The blessed name of Jesus.
The author of the text is given as Wm. Hunter. The tune is a variant
of ‘London Pride’, Sharp, _Morris Dances_, Set vii, No. 6. Its proper
mode would seem to be dorian and its correct signature therefore one
flat.
No. 21
VILLULIA or BARTIMEUS, OSH 331
Pentatonic, mode 4 (I II — IV V — 7)
[Music]
Mercy, O thou son of David,
Thus poor blind Bartimeus pray’d;
Others by thy grace are saved,
Now to me afford thine aid.
Money was not what he wanted,
Though by begging used to live;
But he asked and Jesus granted
Alms which none but he could give.
“Lord, remove this grievous blindness;
Let mine eyes behold the day.”
Straight he saw and, won by kindness,
Followed Jesus by the way.
Tune attributed to J. M. Day, a Georgian. Doubt as to the correctness
of this source is cast by the appearance of both tune and text in the
_Christian Lyre_ of 1830, No. 4. Variants are ‘Invocation’, GOS 67,
and ‘Lord Revive Us’, PB 198. The _Sacred Harp_ editor evidently
looked upon this tune as one in _a_-minor, whereas it is probably a
dorian melody with _f_-sharp as its tonic, and should have also a
_d_-sharp in its key signature.
No. 22
MOULDERING VINE, UH 101
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 4 a + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Hail! ye sighing sons of sorrow,
Learn from me your certain doom;
Learn from me your fate tomorrow,
Dead perhaps laid in your tomb.
See all nature fading,
dying, silent all things seem to pine;
Life from vegetation flying,
Brings to mind the mould’ring vine!
See in yonder forest standing
Lofty cedars, how they nod!
Scenes of nature how surprising,
Read in nature, nature’s God.
Whilst the annual frosts are cropping
Leaves and tendrils from the trees,
So, our friends are early dropping,
We are like to one of these.
Hollow winds about me roaring,
Noisy waters round me rise,
Whilst I sit my fate deploring,
Tears fast streaming from mine eyes.
What to me is autumn’s treasure,
Since I know no earthly joy?
Long I’ve lost all youthful pleasure,
Time must youth and health destroy.
The tune was recorded, from oral tradition evidently, by William
Caldwell (of eastern Tennessee) in the 1830’s. His source was
doubtless some variant of ‘Banks of Inverary’. Cf. JFSS, viii., 198.
The unique opening melodic phrase is to be found also in ‘Young
Beeham’ or ‘Ship’s Carpenter’, Cox 528. Another tune variant in the
fasola environment is ‘Sons of Sorrow’, OSH 332.
No. 23
CONVERTED THIEF (A), COH 147
Hexatonic, mode 4 A (I II — IV V VI 7)
[Music]
As on the cross the Savior hung
And wept and bled and died,
He pour’d salvation on a wretch
That languish’d at his side.
His crimes with inward grief and shame,
The penitent confess’d
Then turn’d his dying eyes on Christ
And thus his prayer address’d.
The poem, given in full under ‘Converted Thief (B)’, is attributed to
Stennett. William Moore of Tennessee, compiler of _Columbian Harmony_,
lays claim to the tune, and probably did record it from oral sources.
Found also SOH 9, OSH 44, GOS 140. The tune is a member of the
‘Hallelujah’ family. See the song with that title in this collection.
No. 24
TENNESSEE, HH 140
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Afflictions, though they seem severe,
In mercy oft are sent;
They stopp’d the prodigal’s career
And caus’d him to repent.
Although he no relenting felt,
Till he had spent his store;
His stubborn heart began to melt,
When famine pinched him sore.
“What have I gained by sin?” he said,
“But hunger, shame, and fear?
My father’s house abounds with bread,
While I am starving here.
“I’ll go and tell him all I’ve done
And fall before his face;
Unworthy to be called his son,
I’ll seek a servant’s place.”
His father saw him coming back;
He saw and ran and smiled,
And threw his arms around the neck
Of his repenting child.
“Father, I’ve sinned, but O forgive!”
“Enough,” the father said;
“Rejoice, my house, my son’s alive,
For whom I mourned as dead.
“Now let the fatted calf be slain;
Go spread the news around;
My son was dead, but lives again,
Was lost, but now is found.”
’Tis thus the Lord his love reveals,
To call his children home;
More than a father’s love he feels,
And bids the needy come.
The tune is a member of the ‘Roll Jordan’ family which is described
under the song by that name in this collection. The ‘Tennessee’ tune’s
resemblance to Foster’s ‘Susanna’ is evident. The melody, or some near
relative of it, may well have furnished Foster with his inspiration in
composing the latter. It had been sung widely in America for at least
fifty years before the Pittsburgh composer published his minstrel
song. (See the author’s article ‘Stephen Foster’s Debt to American
Folk-Song’, _The Musical Quarterly_, xxii., No. 2.)
That the ‘Tennessee’ tune was “unwritten music” in the South, and
therefore free for all, is indicated by the many claimants to its
authorship; Chapin, J. Robertson, L. P. Breedlove, William C. Davis,
and William Walker were among them. In various forms and with
different texts the tune is found also, CHI 84 (published in 1805),
SKH 23, GCM 134, SOH 28, GOS 229, HOC 114, WP 96, TZ 94, SOC 78, SOC
81, SOC 145, SOH 105, OSH 501, SKH 23. The second part of the tune is
similar to ‘Jamaica’, Sharp, _Country Dances_, Set IV, No. 12.
No. 25
FAREWELL, HOC 32
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
[Music]
The time is swiftly rolling on,
When I must faint and die,
My body to the dust return,
And there forgotten lie,
And there forgotten lie,
And there forgotten lie,
My body to the dust return,
And there forgotten lie.
Through heats and colds I’ve ofttimes went,
I’ve wandered in despair,
To call poor sinners to repent
And seek their Savior dear.
My brother preachers, boldly speak
And stand on Zion’s wall;
Confirm the drunk, confirm the weak
And after sinners call.
My loving wife, my bosom friend,
The object of my love,
The time’s been sweet I’ve spent with you,
My sweet and harmless dove.
My little children near my heart
My warm affections know.
Fer each the path will I attend.
O from them can I go?!
O God, a father to them be
And keep them from all harm,
That they may love and worship Thee
And dwell upon thy charm.
How often you have looked fer me
And often seen me come;
But now I must depart from thee
And nevermore return.
My loving wife, don’t grieve fer me,
Neither lament nor mourn;
Fer I will with my Jesus be,
And dwell upon his charm.
The tune is attributed in the _Harp of Columbia_ to W. Atchley. It
belongs to what I have called (Introduction, p. 14) the ‘Hallelujah’
type of melody. See ‘Hallelujah’ for other related spiritual tunes. A
secular song using the same melodic formula is ‘Virginia Lover’,
Sharp, ii., 150. The text of ‘Farewell’ is recorded from oral
tradition and reproduced from _White Spirituals_, 202. See ‘Hicks’
Farewell’ in this collection as to the authorship of the words.
No. 26
WICKED POLLY, WS 190
Hexatonic mode 4, b (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
Young people who delight in sin,
I’ll tell you what has lately been:
A woman who was young and fair
Died in sin and deep despair.
For the full text and much data as to the source and occurrence of
this song, see _White Spirituals_, 189-193. A tune variant is
‘Supplication’, in this collection. Another is ‘Lord Bateman’, Sharp
_One Hundred English Folksongs_, No. 6.
No. 27
MOSES
Hexatonic, mode 1 A (I II III IV V VI —)
[Music]
An’ Phareoh’s daughter went down to thee water
An’ foun’ there thee beauteeful child,
Among thee tall bushes thee reeds an’ thee rushes
Thee babee look’d sweetlee an’ smil’d.
Recorded from singing of Miss Will Allen Dromgoole, Nashville,
Tennessee, as she remembered it sung in 1890 by Mr. Tate, stage driver
from Beersheba to Beersheba Springs on Cumberland Mountain in
Tennessee. The unusual spelling is an attempt at reproducing the
emphatic rhythmic pronunciation of Mr. Tate. The one stanza given
above was all Miss Dromgoole remembered. The full text, however, was
recorded by Mr. Fred Haun of Newport, Tennessee, from the singing of
his mother, Mrs. Maggie Haun, and placed at my disposal by Miss
Mildred Haun, his sister. This rather defective text is as follows:
The ladies were wending their way
As Pharo’s daughter stepped down to the water
To bathe in the cool of the day.
Before it was dark she opened the ark
And found the sweet infant was there.
She took him in pity and thought him so pretty;
That made little Moses so glad.
She called him her own, her beautiful son,
And sent for a nurse that was near.
By the side of the river so clear
They carried that beautiful child
To his own tender mother, his sister and brother;
Little Moses looked happy and smiled.
His mother so good done all that she could
To hear [rear?] him and teach him with care.
Then away by the sea that was red
Stood Moses the servant of God.
While in him confided the deed [sea ?] was divided
While upward he lifted his rod.
The Jews safely crossed while Pharo’s host
Was drounded in the water and lost.
Then away by the mountain so high
Stood Moses with trembling an’ awe;
With lightning and thunder, great signs and wonders,
While God was giving the law.
He wrote it down on two tables of stone
Before he returned to the sky.
Then away on the mountain so high
Stood the last one he ever might see.
While Isreal victorious, his hope was most gloriest,
Would soon over Jordan be free.
His neighbors did cease, he departed in peace,
And rest-es in heaven above.
No. 28
MOURNER’S LAMENTATION or CHURCH’S DESOLATION, CHH 265
Pentatonic, mode 1 (I II — IV V VI —)
[Music]
Poor mourning soul in deep distress,
Just waken’d from a slumber,
Who wanders in sin’s wilderness,
Out of the condemned number.
The thunder roars from Sinai’s mount,
Fills him with awful terror;
And he like nought in God’s account,
All drown’d with grief and sorrow.
Oh, woe is me that I was born,
Or after death have being;
Fain would I be some earthly worm,
Which has no future being;
Or had I died when I was young,
Oh, what would I have given!
Then might with babes my little tongue,
Been praising God in heaven.
But now may I lament my case,
Just worn away by trouble;
From day to day I look for peace,
But find my sorrow double.
Cries Satan, “Desp’rate is your state,
Time’s been you might repented,
But now you see it is too late,
So make yourself contented!”
How can I live, how can I rest
Under this sore temptation,
Fearing the day of grace is past,
Lord, hear my lamentation!
For I am weary of my life,
My groans and bitter crying;
My wants are great, my mind’s in strife,
My spirit’s almost dying.
Without relief I soon shall die,
No hope of getting better;
Show pity, Lord, and hear the cry
Of a distress-ed sinner.
For I’m resolv-ed here to trust
At thy footstool for favor,
Pleading for life, though death be just,
Make haste, Lord, to deliver.
“Come, hungry, weary, naked soul,
For such I ne’er rejected;
My righteousness sufficient is,
Though you have long neglected.
Come, weary soul, for right you have,
I am such soul’s protector;
My honor is engaged to save
All under this character.
“I came to seek, I came to save,
I came to make atonement,
I lived, I died, laid in the grave
To save you from the judgment.”
By faith, my glorious Lord I see;
Oh, how it doth amaze me
To see him bleeding on the tree,
From death and hell to raise me.
The above homespun text points to the rural preacher or revival song
leader of the late eighteenth century as its source. It is a
conversion story in dramatic form, the Savior, the Sinner and the
Devil having parts in the drama.
The earliest known occurrence of the tune is in the Vermont book,
Ingalls’ _Christian Harmony_ of 1805, p. 77. In the _Sacred Harp_ of
1844, p. 89, it is found with a different text and is entitled
‘Church’s Desolation’. It is claimed there by J. T. White, and in the
_Christian Harmony_ of 1866, by William Walker. Both were South
Carolinians, from which territory Reed Smith recorded the tune in 1913
as one of the ‘Barbara Allen’ settings; SCB 130. This tune was
probably adopted for ‘Church’s Desolation’ and for the ‘Barbara Allen’
ballad from the Scotch ballad ‘Wae’s me for Prince Charlie’. See
Kennedy’s _Handbook of Scottish Song_, p. 20. The London _Era_ in the
early 1860’s speaks of this as the “celebrated Jacobite song.” The
‘Prince Charlie’ of the song is Charles II of England. Hence the song,
the text at least, is nearly 300 years old. The same tune is used also
for ‘Geordie’, _Last Leaves_, p. 133; ‘Locks and Bolts’, Sharp, ii.,
19; ‘Lazarus’, Sharp, ii., 30; an old Irish tune in Petrie, No. 363;
‘Johnny Fa’’, SMM, No. 62; and ‘Hynd Horn’, Motherwell, Appendix,
_Musick_, No. 13.
The noted composer of hymn tunes, J. B. Dykes, was influenced by the
‘Prince Charlie’ melody in the building up of ‘Lindisfarne’; see
_Hymns Ancient and Modern_, No. 156, second tune.
No. 29
ADDRESS FOR ALL, CHH 101
Hexatonic, mode 1 b (I II — IV V VI 7)
[Music]
I sing a song which doth belong
To all the human race,
Concerning death which steals the breath
And blasts the comely face.
Come listen all unto my call
Which I do make to day,
For you must die as well as I,
And pass from hence away.
No human power can stop the hour
Wherein a mortal dies;
A Caesar may be great today,
Yet death will close his eyes.
Though some do strive and do arrive
To riches and renown,
Enjoying health and swim in wealth,
Yet death will bring them down.
Though beauty grace your comely face
With roses white and red,
A dying fall will spoil it all,
For Absalom is dead.
Though you acquire the best attire,
Appearing fine and fair,
Yet death will come into the room
And strip you naked there.
The princes high and beggars die
And mingle with the dust,
The rich, the brave, the negro slave,
The wicked and the just.
Therefore prepare to meet thy God
Before it be too late,
Or else you’ll weep, lament and cry,
Lost in a ruin’d state.
William Walker claims this song. See ‘Church’s Desolation’, a variant
of the tune, for source references. See also ‘Sweet William and Lady
Margery’ (Wyman and Brockway, p. 94) for a secular tune variant.
No. 30
CONDESCENSION, GOS 656
Hexatonic, mode 1 b (I II — IV V VI 7)
[Music]
How condescending and how kind
Was God’s eternal Son!
Our mis’ry reach’d his heav’nly mind
And pity brought him down.
When justice by our sins provoked,
Drew forth its dreadful sword,
He gave his soul up to the stroke,
Without a murmuring word.
Here we behold his bowels roll,
As kind as when he died;
And see the sorrows of his soul
Bleed through his wounded side.
This was compassion like a God,
That when the Savior knew
The price of pardon was his blood,
His pity ne’er withdrew.
Now though he reigns exalted high,
His love is still as great;
Well he remembers Calvary,
Nor let his saints forget.
Here let our hearts begin to melt,
While we his death record,
And with our joy for pardoned guilt,
Mourn that we pierced the Lord.
The words are attributed to Isaac Watts. I have supplied the second
and third stanzas from _The Olive Leaf_, p. 129. The tune is from the
eighteenth century; found also OSH 286, PB 38, HH 63, UHH 13. The
tune’s frame is found with the text of ‘Good Morning, My Pretty Little
Miss’, Sharp, ii., 90, also in ‘Ibby Damsel’, Sharp, ii., 137. I
surmise that we have, in the last line of the second stanza above, the
source of the negro spiritual refrain:
An’ he never said a mumblin’ word.
No. 31
GOOD PHYSICIAN, SOH 49
Pentatonic, mode 2 (I — 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
How lost was my condition,
Till Jesus made me whole;
There is but one Physician
Can cure a sin-sick soul.
Next door to death he found me,
And snatch’d me from the grave,
To tell to all around me,
His wondrous pow’r to save.
The worst of all diseases
Is light compared with sin;
On every part it seizes,
But rages most within.
’Tis palsy, plague, and fever,
And madness, all combin’d;
And none but a believer
The least relief can find.
From men great skill professing,
I thought a cure to gain;
But this proved more distressing
And added to my pain.
Some said that nothing ail’d me.
Some gave me up for lost;
Thus every refuge fail’d me,
And all my hopes were cross’d.
At length this great Physician
(How matchless is his grace!)
Accepted my petition
And undertook my case.
First gave me sight to view him,
For sin my eyes had seal’d;
Then bid me look unto him,
I look’d, and I was heal’d.
A dying, risen Jesus,
Seen by the eye of faith,
At once from anguish frees us
And saves the soul from death.
Come, then, to this Physician,
His help he’ll freely give;
He makes no hard condition,
’Tis only—look and live.
This tune is found also in GOS, No. 227. A remake is in OSH 176. It is
‘Banks of Sweet Dundee’, Sharp i., 399. Related also to ‘Pinery Boy’,
Shoemaker, 262; and ‘Virginian Lover’, Sharp, ii., 150. The negro song
‘Sin-Sick Soul’, SS, No. 66, is based textually and melodically on the
above song.
No. 32
LOOK OUT or WHEN I WAS YOUNG, OSH 90
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
When I was young of tender years,
My Savior did arrest me;
I then was fill’d with many fears,
But Satan still did tempt me.
He told me that I was too young
To leave my earthly pleasure;
That I might live till I was old,
And serve God at my leisure.
Again the spirit came one day
With his almighty power,
Which caused me to forsake my way
And tremble every hour;
And he caused me to weep and mourn,
Saying, Lord Jesus, save me,
If mercy thou canst me afford,
And to thy glory raise me.
When Jesus heard the rebel cry,
He sent his kind compassion;
Down at his feet my soul did lie,
There pleading for a blessing.
My heart was filled with tenderness.
My mouth was filled with praises,
While Abba, Father, I did cry,
And glory to my Savior.
B. F. White, compiler of the _Sacred Harp_, is given as the composer.
It is dated 1842. The text is supplied from _Good Old Songs_, No. 154.
A secular setting is ‘Three Crows’, Davis, p. 562, tune “P”. Both
‘Look Out’ and ‘Three Crows’ are adaptations of ‘Ye Banks and Braes’,
or ‘Bonnie Doon’, see Kennedy, _Handbook of Scottish Song_, p. 27. In
_Church Harmony_, p. 134, we find the ‘Bonnie Doon’ tune in its
original form under the little ‘Star of Bethlehem’. A variant tune in
this collection is ‘’Tis a Wonder’.
No. 33
SAINT’S REQUEST, OSH 286
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
Young people all attention give
And hear what I shall say;
I wish your souls with Christ to live,
In everlasting day.
I want you to go to that bright world,
To dwell with saints forever there.
The _Sacred Harp_ gives but one stanza of this ballad. The rest of the
text is to be found in _Zion Songster_. The tune is widely used among
the secular ballads. See ‘Barbara Allen’, Sharp, i., 183; ‘Geordie’,
Sharp, i., 240; ‘False Young Man’, Sharp, ii., 52; ‘Lord Thomas and
Fair Eleanor’, Smith, 115; ‘True Lover’s Farewell’, Sharp, ii., 114;
‘Lizzie Wan’, Sharp, i., 89; and ‘Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard’,
Sharp, i., 164 and 166.
No. 34
NEWBERRY or LONESOME GROVE, SOC 131
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
One day while in a lonesome grove,
Sat o’er my head a little dove;
For her lost mate began to coo,
Which made me think of my mate too.
Ah! little dove, you’re not alone,
For I, like you, can only mourn;
I once, like you, did have a mate,
But now, like you, am desolate.
Consumption seized my love severe
And preyed upon her one long year,
Till death came at the break of day,
And my poor Mary he did slay.
Her sparkling eyes and blooming cheeks
Withered like the rose and died;
The arms that once embraced me round
Lie mould’ring under the cold ground.
But death, grim death, did not stop here;
I had one child, to me most dear;
He, like a vulture, came again
And took from me my little Jane.
But, bless the Lord, his word is given,
Declaring babes are heirs of heaven.
Then cease, my heart, to mourn for Jane,
Since my small loss is her great gain.
I have a hope that cheers my breast,
To think my love has gone to rest;
For while her dying tongue could move,
She praised the Lord for pardoning love.
Shout on, ye heavenly pow’rs above,
While I this lonesome desert rove;
My master’s work will soon be done,
And then I’ll join you in your song.
O hasten on that happy day,
When I must leave this clod of clay,
And soar aloft o’er yon blest plain
And there meet Mary and my Jane.
The song is attributed in the _Social Harp_ to Wm. C. Davis. The first
stanza was evidently inspired by the lines in the traditional English
ballad entitled ‘Giles Collins’, Sharp, i., 196, which reads:
Look away, look away, that lonesome dove
That sails from pine to pine;
It’s mourning for its own true love
Just like I mourn for mine.
Four recently recorded (1917 and 1918) variants of the ‘Newberry’
tune, with one stanza of text each are in Sharp, ii., 197f. See also
JAFL, xxv., 276. ‘Lonesome Dove’, Thomas, 162, has the same text but a
different tune. ‘Heavenly Dove’ in this collection is a variant tune,
but it is more closely related to the ‘Barbara Allen’ tune in Sharp,
i., 183ff. ‘Newberry’ belongs to the ‘Lord Lovel’ type of tune
mentioned in the Introduction, p. 14. Other melodies of the same type
are listed under ‘Dulcimer’ in this collection.
No. 35
DEEP SPRING or CONVERTED THIEF (B), KNH 90
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
As on the cross the Savior hung, and wept and bled and died,
He pour’d salvation on a wretch that languish’d at his side;
That languish’d at his side,
That languish’d at his side,
He pour’d salvation on a wretch that languish’d at his side.
His crimes, with inward grief and shame, the penitent confess’d;
Then turn’d his dying eyes to Christ and thus his prayer address’d:
“Jesus, thou son and heir of heaven! Thou spotless lamb of God!
I see thee bathed in sweat and tears and welt’ring in thy blood.
“Yet quickly from those scenes of wo, in triumph thou shalt rise,
Burst through the gloomy shades of death and shine above the skies.
“Amid the glories of that world, dear Savior, think on me,
And in the vict’ries of thy death let me a sharer be.”
His prayer the dying Jesus hears and instantly replies:
“Today thy parting soul shall be with me in paradise.”
The tune is found also UH 89, SOC 249, HOC 93, OSH 44. It is
reminiscent of ‘Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard’, Sharp, i., 166;
‘Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor’, Sharp, i., 118; and ‘O Land of Rest’
in this collection.
No. 36
SALUTATION or GOOD MORNING BROTHER PILGRIM, GOS 298
Hexatonic, mode 2 A (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
Good morning, brother pilgrim, What, bound for Canaan’s coast?
March you to Jerusalem To join the heav’nly host?
Pray, wherefore are you smiling, While tears run down your face?
We soon shall cease from toiling And reach that heav’nly place;
And reach that heav’nly place,
We soon shall cease from toiling And reach that heav’nly place.
To Canaan’s coast we’ll hasten, to join the heavenly throng;
Hark, from the banks of Jordan, how sweet the pilgrims’ song!
Their Jesus they are viewing, by faith we see him, too,
We smile and weep and praise him, and on our way pursue;
(_repeated as above_)
Though sinners do despise us and treat us with disdain,
Our former comrades slight us, esteem us low and mean;
No earthly joy shall charm us while marching on our way,
Our Jesus will defend us in the distressing day.
The frowns of old companions we’re willing to sustain,
And, in divine compassion, to pray for them again;
For Christ, our loving Savior, our Comforter and Friend,
Will bless us with his favor and guide us to the end.
With streams of consolation, we’re filled as with new wine,
We die to transient pleasures, and live to things divine,
We sink in holy raptures, while viewing things above,
While, glory to my Savior, my soul is full of love.
This is evidently a marching tune and from the eighteenth century
vintage. It occurs also OSH 153, SOC 216, HH 387. ‘Walking on the
Levy’ (Newell, _Games_ _and Songs of American Children_, p. 231) has a
similar beginning. Echoes of the text are found in Dett, p. 8:
Good mornin’, brother trav’ler,
Pray tell me where you’re bound,
I’m bound for Canaan’s happy land,
And de enchanted ground.
Stephen Foster’s ‘Farewell My Lily Dear’ and ‘The Soldier’s Home’ show
relationship to the tune. (See my article in _The Musical Quarterly_,
vol. xxii., No. 2.) For the English source of this _dialogue_ type of
song, see the note under ‘Warrenton’ in this collection.
No. 37
HEAVENLY UNION or EXPERIENCE, REV 42
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 1 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Come, saints and sinners, hear me tell,
The wonders of Immanuel
Who saved me from a burning hell,
And brought my soul with him to dwell,
And gave me heav’nly union.
Union, union,
Who sav’d me from a burning hell,
And brought my soul with him to dwell,
And gave me heav’nly union.
When Jesus saw me from on high,
Beheld my soul in ruin lie,
He looked on me with pitying eye,
And said to me as he passed by:
“With God you have no union.”
Then I began to weep and cry;
And looked this way and that to fly;
It grieved me so that I must die;
I strove salvation then to buy,
But still I had no union.
But when I hated all my sin,
My dear Redeemer took me in,
And with his blood he washed me clean;
And oh! what seasons I have seen
Since first I felt this union.
I now with saints can join to sing,
And mount on faith’s triumphant wing
And make the heavenly arches ring
With loud hosannas to our King,
Who brought our souls to union.
The tune seems dorian in character. If so classed, the key signature
should be natural. A variant of tune and text is in CHI 30 and SWP 69.
No. 38
MARION or I’LL RAMBLE AND I’LL ROVE, SOC 228
Pentatonic, mode 2 (I — 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
I have a loving old father at home,
I’ve cost him many a tear;
And to make lament to him,
I’ll travel ten thousand year.
I’ll ramble and I’ll rove and I’ll call upon my God.
They may all say what they will,
Resolv’d as I am so long as I live,
For to be a rover still.
Further stanzas are made merely by the substitution of “mother” etc.
for “father”. The song, tune and words, was probably parodied from
‘Seven Long Years’. See Sharp, ii., 79. From the latter song I quote
the second stanza.
I have a good old father at home,
And I’ve cost him many a pound,
And now to make amends for this,
I’ll travel the whole world round.
_Chorus_
I’ll romp and I’ll rave, and I’ll call for my bode,
They may all say what they will;
Resolved as I am, just as long as I can,
For to drink good liquor still.
Compare also ‘Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor’, Sharp, i., 124, tune ‘N’.
‘Marion’ belongs to the ‘Babe of Bethlehem’ group of tunes. See the
song by that title in this collection. ‘Kingsfold’, No. 270 in the
_Christian Science Hymnal_ is the same. In the English _Methodist Hymn
Book_, ‘Kingsfold’ is given as a traditional melody of England. See
also Petrie, Nos. 193 and 863.
No. 39
UNION, OSH 116
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Come, brothers and sisters who love one another
And have done for years that are gone;
How often we’ve met him in sweet heav’nly union
Which opens the way to God’s throne;
With joy and thanksgiving we’ll praise him who loved us,
While we run the bright shining way;
Though we part here in body we’re bound for one glory,
And bound for each other to pray.
There was Joshua and Joseph, Elias and Moses,
That pray’d, and God heard from his throne;
There was Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and David,
And Solomon, and Stephen, and John,
There was Simeon, and Anna, and I don’t know how many,
That pray’d as they journey’d along;
Some cast among lions, some bound with rough irons,
Yet glory and praises they sung.
Some tell us that praying, and also that praising
Is labor that’s all spent in vain;
But we have such a witness that God hears with swiftness,
From praying we will not refrain.
There was old father Noah, and ten thousand more,
That witness’d that God heard them pray;
There was Samuel and Hannah, Paul, Silas, and Peter,
And Daniel and Jonah, we’ll say.
That God, by his spirit, or an angel doth visit
Their souls and their bodies while praying,
Shall we all go fainting, while they go on praising,
And glorify God in the flame?
God grant us to inherit the same praying spirit,
While we are journeying below,
That when we cease praying, we shall not cease praising,
But round God’s white throne we shall bow.
James, editor of the _Original Sacred Harp_, 1911, says: “The hymn is
from a very old edition, 1820. It is not in any of the hymn books
found since that date.” The quick triple time of the tune indicates
Irish influence and, probably, source. Similar is ‘Royal Band’, OSH
360.
As to the remarkable rhyme or assonance in the text—see for example
the repeated “o” assonance in the first lines—I am reminded of what
Cecil Sharp said of this feature in Anglo-Irish ballads of this sort,
namely, that “They imitate with more or less success in an alien
tongue the assonantal Gaelic rhymes with which their makers, whether
hedge-schoolmasters or peasants, were doubtless familiar.” The same
metrical trend is in ‘Green Grows the Laurel’, Sharp, ii., 211.
No. 40
POOR WAYFARING STRANGER, GOS 714
Pentatonic, mode 2 minorized (I — 3 IV V — VII)
[Music]
I am a poor wayfaring stranger
While trav’ling through this world of woe,
Yet there’s no sickness, toil nor danger
In that bright world to which I go.
I’m going there to see my father,
I’m going there no more to roam;
I’m only going over Jordan,
I’m only going over home.
I know dark clouds will gather round me,
I know my way is rough and steep;
Yet beauteous fields lie just before me
Where God’s redeem’d their vigils keep.
I’m going there to see my mother,
She said she’d meet me when I come;
I’m only going over Jordan,
I’m only going over home.
I’ll soon be freed from every trial,
My body sleep in the church-yard;
I’ll drop the cross of self-denial
And enter on my great reward.
I’m going there to see my class-mates,
Who’ve gone before me one by one;
I’m only going over Jordan,
I’m only going over home.
I want to wear a crown of glory,
When I get home on that good land;
I want to shout salvation’s story,
In concert with the blood-wash’d band;
I’m going there to see my Savior,
To sing his praise forever more;
I’m only going over Jordan,
I’m only going over home.
This is a comparatively recent recording (around the beginning of the
present century) of an extremely widely sung folk-tune. It appears in
_Good Old Songs_ as a bare melody, no harmonic parts. I suggest, as an
explanation of the d-flat in the fifth measure from the end, the
intrusion of dorian influence. The earliest known recording among the
fasola folk was in the first edition of the _Sacred Harp_, 1844. The
negro adoptions and adaptations are reviewed WS 251ff.
The tune is quite evidently borrowed from secular environment. I list
here a number of secular songs whose tunes are variously related:
‘Barbara Allen’, Sharp, i., 194 and 195; ‘In Old Virginny’, Sharp,
ii., 232-234; ‘Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies’, Sharp, ii.,
128-136; ‘Katie Morey’, Sharp, ii., 120; ‘Dear Companion’, Sharp, ii.,
109; ‘George Reilly’, Sharp, ii., 26; ‘Awake, Awake’, Sharp, i.,
358-364, and Petrie, Nos. 1222 and 265.
A note on this song in the _Social Harp_ says that the compiler, John
G. McCurry, Hartwell, Georgia, “when eight years old, learned the air
of this tune from Mrs. Catherine Penn.” That was therefore in the year
1829.
Text passages in the secular ballads which remind of those in the
fasola song are seen in ‘In Old Virginny’, where we read:
I am a man of constant sorrow,
I have seen troubles all my days.
I’ll bid farewell to old Virginia,
The place where I was partly raised.
We see also in ‘Awake, Awake’, how the poor wayfaring stranger appears
as “your true love” who “is going away.”
No. 41
ZION’S SOLDIER, SWP 118
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 4 a + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7).
[Music]
Christ is set on Zion’s hill; He receiveth sinners still:
Who will serve this blessed King? Come, enlist, and help me sing.
This soldier sure will be Happy in eternity,
This soldier sure will be Happy in eternity.
I by faith enlisted am in the service of the Lamb;
Present pay I now receive, future happiness he’ll give.
This soldier _etc._
Zion’s King my Captain is, conquest I shall never miss;
Let the fiends of hell engage, fret and fume and roar in rage.
Let the world their forces join, with the fiends of hell combine;
Greater is my King than they, through him I shall win the day.
Wicked men I scorn to fear, though they persecute me here;
True, they may my body kill, but my King’s on Zion’s hill.
What a Captain I have got! Is not mine a happy lot?
Hear, ye worldlings, hear my song, this the language of my tongue.
When this life’s short space is o’er, I shall live to die no more;
Therefore will I take the sword, fight for Jesus Christ, my Lord.
Come, ye worldlings, come enlist; ’tis the voice of Jesus Christ:
Whosoever will may come; Jesus Christ refuseth none.
Jesus is my Captain’s name, now, as yesterday, the same;
In his name I notice give, all who come he will receive.
Be persuaded, take his pay, all your sins he’ll wash away;
Now in Jesus’ name believe; future happiness he’ll give.
(_last chorus_)
Yes! in heaven you sure will be praising God eternally. (_repeat_)
For a related chorus text see ‘O Ye Young and Gay and Proud’ in this
collection. The tune, claimed by William Walker, is keyed in the
natural minor (aeolian) of _a_. I suggest the signature of one sharp,
bringing the tune into the dorian mode, as more natural.
No. 42
FEMALE CONVICT, SOH (1835) 160
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 4 a + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
O sleep not my babe, for the morn of tomorrow
Shall soothe me to slumber more tranquil than thine;
The dark grave shall shield me from shame and from sorrow,
Tho’ the deed and the doom of the guilty are mine.
Not long shall the arm of affection enfold thee;
Not long shalt thou hang on thy mother’s fond breast;
And who with the eye of delight shall behold thee,
And watch thee and guard thee when I am at rest?
And yet it doth grieve me to wake thee, my dearest,
The pangs of thy desolate mother to see;
Thou wilt weep when the clank of my cold chains thou hearest;
And none but the guilty should weep over me.
And yet I must wake thee, and whilst thou art weeping,
To calm thee I’ll stifle my tears for a while.
Thou smil’st in thy dreams whilst thus placidly sleeping,
And O how it wounds me to gaze on thy smile.
Alas, my sweet babe, with what pride I had press’d thee
To the bosom that now throbs with terror and shame,
If the pure tie of virtue’s affection had bless’d thee,
And hail’d thee the heir of thy father’s high name.
But now with remorse that avails not I mourn thee,
Forsaken and friendless as soon thou wilt be,
In a world, if they cannot betray, that will scorn thee,
Avenging the guilt of thy mother on thee.
And when the dark thought of my fate shall awaken
The deep blush of shame on thy innocent cheek,
Then by all but the God of the orphan forsaken,
A home and a father in vain thou wilt seek.
I know that the base world will seek to deceive thee
With falsehood like that which thy mother beguiled;
Deserted and helpless, with whom can I leave thee?
O God of the fatherless, pity my child!
The tune shows remarkable similarity to ‘As I Was A-Walking’ or
‘Grenadier and the Lady’, see JFSS viii., 194; also to ‘Westron Wynde’
from the early 16th century, see Jackson, _English Melodies from the
13th to the 18th Century_, p. 11. ‘Female Convict’ was widely sung in
the early nineteenth century. The full title reads: “A Female Convict,
After receiving pardon in the sight of God, thus addrest her infant.
Set to music by R. Boyd.”
No. 43
WEDLOCK (B), OSH 115
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
When Adam was created, he dwelt in Eden’s shade,
As Moses has related, before a bride was made.
Ten thousand times ten thousand of creatures swarm’d around,
Before a bride was formed or any mate was found.
He had no consolation, but seemed as one alone,
Till, to his admiration, he found he’d lost a bone.
This woman was not taken from Adam’s head, we know;
And she must not rule o’er him, ’tis evidently so.
This woman she was taken from near to Adam’s heart,
By which we are directed that they should never part.
The book that’s called the bible, be sure you don’t neglect,
For in every sense of duty, it will you both direct.
The woman is commanded to do her husband’s will,
In everything that’s lawful, her duty to fulfill.
Great was his exultation to see her by his side;
Great was his elevation to have a loving bride.
This woman she was taken from under Adam’s arm;
And she must be protected from injury and harm.
This woman was not taken from Adam’s feet, we see;
And she must not be abus-ed, the meaning seems to be.
The husband is commanded to love his loving bride,
And live as does a Christian, and for his house provide.
The woman is commanded her husband to obey,
In everything that’s lawful, until her dying day.
Avoiding all offenses, not sow the seed of strife,
These are the solemn duties of every man and wife.
A variant of the third line of the first stanza, found in SOC 188,
reads:
Ten thousand times ten thousand things wheel-ed all around.
The tune is especially announced in the _Sacred Harp_ as “original”
and by Elder E. Dumas, a Primitive Baptist. And it is dated 1869. An
older tune to the same text is given in this collection as ‘Wedlock
(A)’. See also ‘Wedlock’, Sharp, ii., 272. ‘The Banks of
Newfoundland’, a capstan shanty, is essentially the same tune. See
JFSS, v., 300.
No. 44
LEP’ROUS JEW, SWP 43
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Behold the lep’rous Jew, Oppress’d with pain and grief,
Pouring his tears at Jesus’ feet, For pity and relief,
For pity and relief.
“O speak the word,” he cries, “and heal me of my pain:
Lord, thou art able, if thou wilt, to make a leper clean,
To make a leper clean.”
Compassion moves his heart, he speaks the gracious word;
The leper feels his strength return, and all his sickness cured,
And all his sickness cured.
To thee, dear Lord, I look, sick of a worse disease;
Sin is my painful malady, and none can give me ease,
And none can give me ease.
But thy almighty grace can heal my lep’rous soul;
O bathe me in thy precious blood and that will make me whole,
And that will make me whole.
A tune quite similar to the one above, though cast in two-four time,
is ‘Dependence’, HH 250.
No. 45
SPRING PLACE or CHURCH OF MY YOUTH, GOS 44
Hexatonic, mode 2 b (I — 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
I’m thinking today of the church of my youth,
Where first I rejoic’d at the sound of the truth,
Where oft I assembled with those that I love,
And join’d them in praising our Father above.
Ah! well I remember, when youthful and gay,
In mirthfulness sporting while time sped away,
With my parents went to the house of the Lord,
And wonder’d what made them rejoice in His word.
But when my dear Savior, so precious to me,
My blind eyes did open, my sins all to see,
With fearfulness, trembling, too great to express,
I went to that house fill’d with woe and distress.
When Jesus, my blessed Redeemer and Friend,
Reveal’d that He was the Beginning and End,
I long’d for the season of worship once more,
That I might join His saints, His dear name adore.
And when in that dear place of worship and praise,
My voice with His saints I endeavor’d to raise,
My heart fill’d with love and my hope bright and clear,
I thought surely trouble could no more appear.
When deeply impress’d with a sense of His love,
When this world could no more a resting place prove,
I went with a feeling I could not control,
And told what my Savior had done for my soul.
With loving caresses they welcomed me home,
And bade me no longer in darkness to roam;
The great joy of that hour I never can tell,
When I with such friends was permitted to dwell.
Though now sunder’d far from that blessed abode,
I feel, that I’m still with the children of God.
Dear brethren, I love you in deed and in truth,
Yet my heart oft goes to the church of my youth.
Ah! well I remember their kindness to me,
In my memory now their kind deeds I can see;
Wherever my lot is to publish the truth,
I’ll never forget the church of my youth.
The oldest occurrence of the text seems to be in the _Hesperian Harp_,
1848. This song is a parody (words and music) of ‘In the Days of My
Youth’, _Beggars Opera_, No. 42; Act 3, Scene 1. The tune there was
that sung earlier to ‘A Shepherd Kept Sheep’.
No. 46
REDEMPTION (B), OSH 501
Hexatonic, mode 2 A (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
Come, friends and relations, let’s join hearts and hands;
The voice of the turtle is heard in the land.
Let’s all walk together and follow the sound,
And march to the place where redemption is found.
The place it is hidden, the place it is seal’d,
The place it is hidden till it is reveal’d;
The place is in Jesus, to Jesus we’ll go,
And there find redemption from sorrow and wo.
That place it is hidden by reason of sin;
Alas! you can’t see the sad state you are in!
You’re blind and polluted, in prison and pain;
O how can such rebels redemption obtain!
But if you are wounded and bruised by the fall,
Then up and be doing! For you he doth call;
And if you are tempted to doubt and despair,
Then come home to Jesus, redemption is there.
And you, my dear brethren, that love my dear Lord,
Have witness for pardon, thro’ faith in his blood;
Let patience attend you wherever you go,
Your Savior has purchased redemption for you.
The tune of ‘Redemption (C)’ is a variant of the above, as is also
that of ‘Redemption (A)’. See the last named song for mention of its
tune relationship to the ‘Grenadier and the Lady’.
No. 47
WEEPING MARY (B), SWP 102
Hexatonic, mode 2 A (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
When weeping Mary came to seek
Her loving Lord and Savior,
’Twas early in the morning she
In tears to gain his favor.
With guards and soldiers placed around
The tomb that held the body
Of him whom she thought under ground,
By wicked hands all bloody.
But how her aching heart was torn,
To find the tomb was empty,
In solemn silence did she mourn,
As onward she did venture.
’Twas angels in bright raiment shone,
Anticipate [imagine?] her sorrow,
And said, why doth this creature mourn,
And why this gloomy horror.
Whom seek’st thou, Mary, they did say,
And why this solemn mourning?
Because they’ve took my Lord away,
I thought to see this morning.
He, standing by her, though unknown,
She thought it was the gardener;
In flowing tears she made her moan,
Not knowing ’twas her partner.
I’ll grieve, and my poor Mary said,
’Till I know where they laid him;
And quickly turning round her head,
Began for to upbraid him.
Whom seek’st thou, Mary? said the Son;
She then perceived her Savior,
And quickly to his feet she run,
Not fearing harm or danger.
And now, like Mary, let us go
And kiss the feet of Jesus,
That we may hear his word also,
Which he delights to give us.
From God we have the word of life,
Through Christ the Mediator;
Like him we hope to die and rise,
And dwell with the Creator.
A version of both tune and words is found in Ingalls’ _Christian
Harmony_ of 1805, p. 73. Its seventh and eighth stanzas, reminding of
the above text, are:
When weeping Mary came to seek
Her Lord with a perfume,
The napkin and the sheet she found
Together in the tomb.
The angels said, he is not here;
He’s risen from the dead;
And streams of grace to sinners flow,
As free as did his blood.
The tune shows unmistakable family resemblance to a number of secular
folk-melodies. See for example the score of ‘Daemon Lover’ tunes,
Sharp, i., pp. 244-258; ‘Lady Maisry’, Sharp, i., 97; ‘Locks and
Bolts’, Sharp, ii., 17; ‘Betty Anne’, Sharp, ii., 37; ‘Swing a Lady’,
Sharp, ii., 379.
No. 48
REDEMPTION (A), WH 101
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 4 a + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Come, friends and relations, let’s join heart and hand,
The voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
Let’s all join together and follow the sound,
And march to the place where redemption is found.
The tune was perhaps the inspiration of R. Boyd in making the melody
for ‘Female Convict’, which is in this collection. (Or did the
influence flow in the opposite direction?) The ‘Grenadier and the
Lady’, as sung in England, is practically the same tune. See JFSS,
viii., 194. Full text and a variant melody are given under ‘Redemption
(B)’. An ancestor of all these tunes seems to be ‘Westron Wynde’ of
the early part of the sixteenth century. See Jackson, _English
Melodies from the 13th to the 18th Century_, p. 11.
No. 49
PRODIGAL, SKH 35
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Afflictions, tho’ they seem severe, Are oft in mercy sent;
They stopt the prodigal’s career And caused him to repent,
Altho’ he no relenting felt Till he had spent his store;
His stubborn heart began to melt When famine pinch’d him sore.
What have I gain’d by sin, he said, but hunger, shame and fear;
My father’s house abounds with bread, while I am starving here.
I’ll go and tell him all I’ve done, fall down before his face;
Unworthy to be called his son, I’ll seek a servant’s place.
The father saw him coming back, he looked, he ran, he smiled;
He throws his arms around the neck of his rebellious child.
Father, I’ve sinned, but O forgive; enough, the father said.
Rejoice, my house, my son’s alive for whom I mourn’d as dead.
Now let the fatted calf be slain, go spread the news around;
My son was dead, but lives again, was lost but now is found.
’Tis thus the Lord his love reveals, to call poor sinners home.
More than a father’s love he feels and welcomes all that come.
Davisson, the compiler of the SKH, claimed this tune. It functioned as
the melodic material out of which the “fuguing” tune ‘Alabama’, in the
_Sacred Harp_, was built.
No. 50
HAPPY SOULS (A), OL 145
Hexatonic, mode 4 A (I II — IV V VI 7)
[Music]
O happy souls, how fast you go,
And leave me far behind!
Don’t stay for me, for now I see,
The Lord is good and kind.
Go on, go on, my soul says go;
And I’ll come after you;
Tho’ I’m behind, I feel inclin’d
To sing hosanna too.
God give you strength your race to run
And keep your footsteps right;
Though fast you go and I so slow,
You are not out of sight.
When you get to that world above,
And all God’s glory see,
On that bright shore, your journey o’er,
Then look you out for me.
I’m coming on fast as I can.
Nor toil nor danger fear;
God give me strength!—may I at length
Be one among you there.
Then all together we shall meet—
Together we will sing;
Together we will praise our God
And everlasting King.
The tune is one of the comparatively few correct dorian recordings—not
minorized—in the fasola song books. The compiler of the _Olive Leaf_
gives the following note below the song: “I learned this air of Rev.
Samuel Anthony, of Georgia, more than thirty years ago, Wm. Hauser, M.
D., March, 1878.” See Introduction, p. 14, as to the ‘Babe of
Bethlehem’ tune family to which ‘Happy Souls’ belongs. An Irish
variant is ‘The Peevish Child’, Petrie, No. 591.
No. 51
BABE OF BETHLEHEM, SOH 78
Hexatonic, mode 4 a (I II — IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Ye nations all, on you I call,
Come hear this declaration,
And don’t refuse this glorious news,
Of Jesus and salvation.
To royal Jews came first the news
Of Christ the great Messiah,
As was foretold by prophets old, Isaiah, Jeremiah.
To Abraham the promise came,
And to his seed forever,
A light to shine in Isaac’s line,
By scripture we discover;
Hail, promised morn, the Savior’s born,
The glorious Mediator—
God’s blessed word made flesh and blood,
Assumed the human nature.
His parents poor in earthly store,
To entertain the stranger
They found no bed to lay his head,
But in the ox’s manger;
No royal things, as used by kings,
Were seen by those that found him,
But in the hay the stranger lay,
With swaddling bands around him.
On the same night a glorious light
To shepherds there appeared,
Bright angels came in shining flame,
They saw and greatly feared;
The angels said, “Be not afraid,
Although we much alarm you,
We do appear good news to bear,
As now we will inform you.
“The city’s name is Bethlehem,
In which God hath appointed,
This glorious morn a Savior’s born,
For him God hath anointed;
By this you’ll know, if you will go
To see this little stranger,
His lovely charms in Mary’s arms,
Both lying in a manger.”
When this was said, straightway was made
A glorious sound from heaven,
Each flaming, tongue an anthem sung,
“To men a Savior’s given,
In Jesus’ name, the glorious theme,
We elevate our voices,
At Jesus’ birth be peace on earth,
Meanwhile all heaven rejoices.”
Then with delight they took their flight,
And wing’d their way to glory,
The shepherds gazed and were amazed,
To hear the pleasing story;
To Bethlehem they quickly came,
The glorious news to carry,
And in the stall they found them all,
Joseph, the Babe, and Mary.
The shepherds then return’d again,
To their own habitation,
With joy of heart they did depart,
Now they have found salvation.
Glory, they cry, to God on high,
Who sent his son to save us,
This glorious morn the Savior’s born,
His name it is Christ Jesus.
The tune, evidently dorian, is of a type that was widely used and
varied by folk singers. I mentioned this type in the Introduction,
page 14, and called it the ‘Babe of Bethlehem’ family of tunes because
the above seems to have been one of its best members. Other members,
in either the dorian or the aeolian mode, are ‘Happy Souls (A)’,
‘Marion’, ‘Atonement’, and ‘Enquirer’ in this collection; related
spiritual tunes not included here are ‘Help me to Sing’, OSH 376;
‘Staunton’, SKH 26; ‘Melody’, PB 313; ‘Brownson’, OL 259; ‘Howland’,
REV 73; and ‘Sweet Prospect’, OSH 65.
Related worldly songs are ‘The Peevish Child’, Petrie, No. 591; a song
without title, Petrie, No. 193; ‘When First I Left Old Ireland’,
Petrie, No. 863; ‘Lowlands of Holland’, Sharp, i., 200; ‘Virginian
Lover’, Sharp, ii., 149; and ‘The Little Red Lark of the Mountain’,
Petrie, No. 383. John Powell has set ‘Babe of Bethlehem’ in a
beautiful dorian-mixolydian form for mixed chorus. It is published by
J. Fischer and Brother, New York.
Ninety-eight Folk-Hymns
No. 52
WASHINGTON, OSH 147
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Dismiss us with thy blessing, Lord,
Help us to feed upon thy word.
All that has been amiss forgive,
And let thy truth within us live.
All that has been amiss forgive,
And let thy truth within us live.
Tho’ we are guilty, thou art good,
Wash all our works in Jesus’ blood;
Give every fetter’d soul release
And bid us all depart in peace.
Give every fetter’d soul release
And bid us all depart in peace.
The text is credited to Joseph Hart, tune to Munday, in the _Original
Sacred Harp_. Melodic relationship is to be seen between this and ‘Ye
Mariners of England’. See Dolph, _Sound Off_, p. 228.
No. 53
STEPHENS, PB 338
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
From whence doth this union arise,
That hatred is conquer’d by love?
It fastens our souls in such ties
That nature and time can’t remove.
It cannot in Eden be found
Nor yet in a paradise lost;
It grows on Immanuel’s ground,
And Jesus’ dear blood it did cost.
My friends are so precious to me,
Our hearts all united in love;
Where Jesus is gone we shall be,
In yonder blest mansions above.
O! why then so loath for to part,
Since we shall ere long meet again,
Engraved on Immanuel’s heart,
At distance we cannot remain.
And when we shall see that bright day,
And join with the angels above,
Leaving these vile bodies of clay,
United with Jesus in love.
With Jesus we ever shall reign,
And all his bright glories shall see,
Singing hallelujah, Amen,
Amen, even so let it be.
This is probably a homespun text. Its tune is called a “popular old
melody.” I find it almost identical with a ‘Kilrush Air’ in Petrie,
No. 167, and with a close variant of the latter, Petrie, No. 283.
Other related tunes are ‘Tweed Side’, SMM, p. 9; ‘Inkle and Yarico’,
_The English Repository_, p. 226; ‘O I’m So Happy’, ‘Faithful
Soldier’, and ‘Sawyer’s Exit’ in this collection.
No. 54
SEPARATION, UHH 27
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Our cheerful voices let us raise
And sing a parting song;
Although I’m with you now, My friends,
I can’t be with you long.
For I must go and leave you all;
It fills my heart with pain.
Although we part perhaps in tears,
I hope we’ll meet again.
Found also SOH 30. The tune is like that of the English morris dance
‘I’ll Go and Enlist for a Sailor’, Sharp, _Morris Dances_, Set No.
VIII., 6; ‘Gilderoy’, SMM, No. 5; and ‘Come all ye Faithful
Christians’, JFSS, ii., 115-120.
No. 55
VESPER, _Baptist Hymnal_, No. 65
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
The day is past and gone, the evening shades appear;
O may we all remember well, the night of death is near.
We lay our garments by, upon our beds to rest;
So death will soon disrobe us all of what we here possess.
Lord, keep us safe this night, secure from all our fears;
May angels guard us while we sleep, till morning light appears.
Miss Gilchrist compares this tune with ‘Sprig of Thyme’. See JFSS,
viii., 70. Lowell Mason calls it an “Old American Tune” in using it in
his _Harp of the South_, p. 123.
No. 56
MISSIONARY’S FAREWELL, OL 333
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Yes, my native land, I love thee;
All thy scenes I love them well;
Friends, connections, happy country,
Can I bid you all farewell!
Can I leave you, can I leave you,
Far in heathen lands to dwell?
Can I leave you, can I leave you,
Far in heathen lands to dwell?
Home, thy joys are passing lovely,
Joys no stranger heart can tell;
Happy home! indeed I love thee;
Can I, can I say, “Farewell!”
Can I leave you, _etc._
Scenes of sacred peace and pleasure,
Holy days and Sabbath bell—
Richest, brightest, sweetest treasure—
Can I say a last farewell?
Can I leave you, _etc._
The words are ascribed to “Rev. Samuel F. Smith, Baptist, Boston,
Mass.” The tune was “learned [by William Hauser, compiler, of the
_Olive Leaf_] in Burke Co., Ga., 1841.”
No. 57
KEDRON, SOH 3
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Thou man of grief, Remember me,
Thou never canst thyself forget
Thy last expiring agony,
Thy fainting pangs and bloody sweat.
The tune is attributed in the southern books to “Dare”. Found also GCM
165, OSH 48, SOC 175, HOC 45, WP 16. The tune is of a type which was
widely sung to texts of the extremely solemn sort. The introduction of
slight variation in the expression of this melodic idea led to tunes
with other titles and various composers (?). I have called this tune
family the ‘Kedron’ group. Its members are ‘Distress’, OSH 50;
‘Solemnity’, MOH 40; ‘Salem’, UH 22; ‘French Broad’ in this
collection; ‘Child of Grace’, KNH 74; and ‘Messiah’, VH 30. Secular
songs showing the same general melodic trend are ‘McAfee’s
Confession’, Sharp, ii., 16, and Cox, p. 525; ‘A Brisk Young Sailor’,
Sharp, _One Hundred English Folksongs_, No. 94; ‘Lord Bateman’, ibid.,
No. 6; and ‘Samuel Young’, Sharp, ii., 271.
No. 58
ALL IS WELL, OSH 122
Hexatonic (6th missing, cannot be classified but obviously ionian) (I
II III IV V — VII)
[Music]
What’s this that steals, that steals upon my frame?
Is it death, is it death?
That soon will quench, will quench this mortal flame?
Is it death, is it death?
If this be death I soon shall be
From every pain and sorrow free.
I shall the King of glory see,
All is well, all is well.
Weep not, my friends, weep not for me,
All is well, all is well!
My sins forgiv’n, forgiv’n, and I am free,
All is well, all is well!
There’s not a cloud that doth arise,
To hide my Jesus from my eyes.
I soon shall mount the upper skies,
All is well, all is well!
Tune, tune your harps, your harps ye saints on high,
All is well, all is well!
I too will strike my harp with equal joy,
All is well, all is well!
Bright angels are from glory come,
They’re round my bed, they’re in my room,
They wait to waft my spirit home,
All is well, all is well.
As to sources we quote the 1911 editor of the _Original Sacred Harp_.
After attributing tune and words to J. T. White, nephew of B. F.
White, compiler of the 1844 _Sacred Harp_, the editor states: “The
tune had been published before it was printed in the [1844] _Sacred
Harp_.” A negro version of the song was recently recorded in Texas and
appears in the _Publications of the Texas Folk-Lore Society_, vii.,
109.
No. 59
FAITHFUL SOLDIER, SOH (1835) 122
Hexatonic, mode 1 A (I II III IV V VI —)
[Music]
O when shall I see Jesus and dwell with him above,
And from the flowing fountain drink everlasting love?
When shall I be deliver’d from this vain world of sin?
And with my blessed Jesus drink endless pleasures in?
But now I am a soldier, my Captain’s gone before;
He’s given me my orders and bids me ne’er give o’er;
His promises are faithful—a righteous crown he’ll give,
And all his valiant soldiers eternally shall live.
Through grace I am determined to conquer tho’ I die,
And then away to Jesus on wings of love I’ll fly.
Farewell to sin and sorrow, I bid them both adieu,
And O, my friends, prove faithful, and on your way pursue.
Whene’er you meet with troubles and trials on your way,
Then cast your cares on Jesus and don’t forget to pray.
Gird on the gospel armor of faith and hope and love,
And when the combat’s ended He’ll carry you above.
O do not be discouraged for Jesus is your friend,
And if you lack for knowledge, he’ll not refuse to lend.
Neither will he upbraid you, though often you request,
He’ll give you grace to conquer and take you home to rest.
And when the last loud trumpet shall rend the vaulted skies,
And bid th’ entombed millions from their cold beds arise;
Our ransomed dust, reviv-ed, bright beauties shall put on,
And soar to the blest mansions where our Redeemer’s gone.
Our eyes shall then with rapture, the Savior’s face behold;
Our feet, no more diverted, shall walk the streets of gold.
Our ears shall hear with transport the hosts celestial sing;
Our tongues shall chant the glories of our immortal King.
William Walker, compiler of the SOH, claims the tune. A recent variant
of it, orally transmitted, is ‘O I’m So Happy’, in this collection.
Another variant here is ‘Stephens’. All these tunes seem to derive
from an old one recorded in Kilrush, Ireland, and found in the Petrie
collection in two variants, Nos. 167 and 283. Compare also the similar
‘Hallelujah’ tune family with its members listed under the tune by
that title in this collection.
The text is by John Leland and was uniquely popular—as sung in its
purity or associated with various refrains and revival choruses—during
the early part of the nineteenth century. The negroes have borrowed
freely from this poem in making the texts for their spirituals,
especially from the fourth and fifth stanzas. Cf. WS 217ff. and 286.
No. 60
GREEN FIELDS, SOH 71
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
[Music]
How tedious and tasteless the hours,
When Jesus no longer I see;
Sweet prospects, sweet birds and sweet flow’rs
Have all lost their sweetness to me.
The midsummer sun shines but dim,
The fields strive in vain to look gay;
But when I am happy in him,
December’s as pleasant as May.
His name yields the richest perfume,
And sweeter than music his voice;
His presence disperses my gloom,
And makes all within me rejoice.
I should, were he always thus nigh,
Have nothing to wish or to fear;
No mortal so happy as I,
My summer would last all the year.
Content with beholding his face,
My all to his pleasure resigned,
No changes of seasons or place,
Would make any change in my mind.
While blessed with a sense of his love,
A palace a toy would appear;
And prisons would palaces prove,
If Jesus would dwell with me there.
The tune is to be found in S. Baring-Gould’s _Songs of the West_, No.
100, as recorded before 1890 from the singing of an old man in
Lamerton, England. We are informed by the editor of the collection
that the song, ‘Both Sexes Give Ear to My Fancy’ which used this tune,
had been very popular with aged people residing in the North of
England, but that it was then “long out of print and handed down
traditionally”. The earliest form of the tune seems to have been ‘Es
nehme zehn-tausend Ducaten’ in Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantata _Mer
hahn en neue Oberkeet_ (Cf. Bach-Gesellschaft, Vol. 29, p. 195). The
earliest printed form of the Bach tune in England, according to
Baring-Gould, was in _The Tragedy of Tragedies_, or _Tom Thumb_, 1734,
as the setting of the song ‘In Hurry Posthaste for a License’. The
earliest occurrence of the tune with the ‘Both Sexes’ text was in _The
Lady’s Evening Book of Pleasure_, about 1740. The air is also found in
_Vocal Music, or the Songster’s Companion_, second edition, 1782, to
the song entitled ‘Farewell, Ye Green Fields and Sweet Groves’. This
was probably the song whose tune was taken over bodily and whose words
were parodied to make the above song ‘Green Fields’. The author of the
parody text was sometimes given in the fasola books as John Newton.
The incidence of the song in southern song books of the first half of
the nineteenth century (MOH 52, GCM 144, UH 112, KNH 80, OSH 127, HH
345, SOC 30, CM 24, HOC 16, TZ 237, SKH 18, PB 312, GOS 303, etc.)
indicates its one-time wide popularity also on this continent.
No. 61
SAINTS’ RAPTURE, REV 17
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
High in yonder realms of light
Dwell the raptured saints above,
Far beyond our feeble sight
Happy in Immanuel’s love.
Pilgrims in this vale of tears,
Once they knew like us below,
Gloomy doubts, disturbing fears,
Torturing pain and heavy woe.
Days of weeping now are o’er,
Past those scenes of toil and pain;
They will feel distress no more,
Never, never weep again.
’Mid the chorus of the skies;
’Mid angelic choirs above;
They now join the songs that rise,
Songs of praise to Jesus’ love.
There are two more stanzas of the text in the _Revivalist_. The tune
and the text are obviously a parody on ‘Reuben, Reuben, I’ve Been
Thinking’.
No. 62
ANIMATION, SOH (1835) 85
Hexatonic, mode 2 A (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
Drooping souls, no longer grieve,
Heaven is propitious;
If in Christ you do believe,
You will find him precious.
Jesus now is passing by,
Calls the mourner to him,
Brings salvation from on high;
Now look up and see him.
For the complete text see ‘Lebanon’ in this collection. This song was
taken into the _Southern Harmony_ from the _Dover Selection_. The tune
is related to ‘Maid Freed From the Gallows’, Thomas, p. 164, and to
the old Irish ‘Tell Me Dear Eveleen’, in _A Select Collection of
Original Irish Airs_, No. 6, composed by Beethoven.
No. 63
INVITATION, OL 247
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Hark, I hear the harps eternal
Ringing on the farther shore,
As I near those swollen waters
With their deep and solemn roar.
Hallelujah, hallelujah,
Hallelujah, praise the Lamb;
Hallelujah, hallelujah,
Glory to the GREAT I AM!
And my soul, tho’ stain’d with sorrow,
Fading as the light of day,
Passes swiftly o’er those waters,
To the city far away.
Hallelujah _etc._
Souls have cross’d before me, saintly,
To that land of perfect rest;
And I hear them singing faintly,
In the mansions of the blest.
Hallelujah _etc._
The compiler of the _Olive Leaf_ found this song, as he tells us, in
F. R. Warren’s _Dream Music_. The tune shows unmistakable family
relationships, especially in the chorus, to ‘Nettleton’ in this
collection.
No. 64
HARK MY SOUL, CHH 224
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
[Music]
Hark, my soul, it is the Lord;
’Tis thy Savior, hear his word!
Jesus speaks, he speaks to thee:
“Say, poor sinner, say, poor sinner,
Say, poor sinner, lov’st thou me?
“I deliver’d thee when bound,
And, when wounded, healed thy wound;
Sought thee wand’ring, set thee right;
Turned thy darkness, turned thy darkness,
Turned thy darkness into light.
“Can a mother’s tender care
Cease toward the child she bare?
Yes, she may forgetful be,
Yet will I re-, yet will I re-,
Yet will I remember thee.”
The song was “Arranged by James Christopher, of Spartansburg, S. C.”,
according to the _Christian Harmony_. Richardson has a variant of this
tune used with a text which is a recent mountain eulogy on the whiskey
of the hills under the title ‘Moonshine’, see _American Mountain
Songs_, page 94. A hint of the antiquity of this tune form is given by
the ‘Ass’s Sequence’ or ‘Orientis partibus’ from the beginning of the
thirteenth century, a tune which was apparently cast in the
folk-manner of that age.
[Music]
Orientis partibus
aduentauit asinus
pulcher et fortissimus
Sarcinis aptissimus.
Hez, hez, sire asnes, hez.
Its modern representative is:
[Music]
See _Hymns Ancient and Modern_, No. 413.
No. 65
FROZEN HEART, OSH 93
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Lord, shed a beam of heav’nly day
To melt this stubborn stone away;
And thaw, with rays of love divine,
This heart, this frozen heart of mine;
This heart, this frozen heart of mine;
This heart, this frozen heart of mine.
The rocks can rend; the earth can quake;
The seas can roar; the mountains shake;
Of feeling, all things show some sign,
But this unfeeling heart of mine.
To hear the sorrows thou hast felt,
Dear Lord, an adamant would melt!
But I can read each moving line,
And nothing move this heart of mine.
The text is attributed, in the _Sacred Harp_ of 1844, to Joseph Hart
and it is dated 1759. The tune is ascribed to E. J. King. The melodic
trend of the refrain brings to mind ‘The Campbells are Coming’.
No. 66
LEBANON, KNH 88
Hexatonic, mode 5 A (I — 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Mourning souls, no longer grieve,
Heaven is propitious;
If on Christ you do believe,
You shall find him precious.
Jesus now is passing by,
Calls the mourner to him;
He hath died for you and I,
Now look up and view him.
He has pardons, full and free,
Drooping souls to gladden;
Still he cries: “Come unto me,
Weary, heavy-laden.”
Tho’ your sins, like mountains high,
Rise and reach to heaven,
Soon as you on him rely
All will be forgiven.
Precious is the Savior’s name,
All his saints adore him;
He to save the dying came—
Prostrate bow before him;
Wand’ring sinners, now return;
Contrite souls, believe him!
Jesus calls you—cease to mourn;
Worship him—receive him!
From his hands, his feet,
his side, runs the healing lotion;
See the consolating tide,
boundless as the ocean!
See the healing waters move
for the sick and dying!
Now resolve to gain his love,
or to perish trying.
Grace’s store is always free,
drooping souls to gladden;
Jesus calls: “Come unto me—
weary, heavy laden.”
Though your sins like mountains high,
rise and reach to heaven,
Soon as you on him rely,
all shall be forgiven.
Now methinks I hear one say:
“I will go and prove him;
If he takes my sins away,
surely I shall love him.
Yes, I see the Father smile,
now I lose my burden;
All is grace, for I am vile,
yet he seals my pardon.”
This text is found HH 413, and also COH 122.
No. 67
SOLDIER’S RETURN, SOH 36
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
Bright scenes of glory strike my sense,
And all my passions capture;
Eternal beauties round me shine,
Infusing warmest rapture.
I live in pleasures deep and full,
In swelling waves of glory.
I feel my Savior in my soul
And groan to tell the story.
Further stanzas are given under ‘Mecklinburg’. The tune was borrowed
from ‘When the Wild War’s Deadly Blast’, SMM, No. 131. See also for
melodic similarities ‘The Mill Mill O’, SMM, No. 157; and ‘Blue-Eyed
Stranger’, Sharp, _The Morris Book_, Part I, p. 91. See Greig-Keith,
_Last Leaves_, p. 181, for the tune’s wide use in the British Isles
during the eighteenth century.
No. 68
CHRISTIAN SOLDIER, GOS 207
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
Here at Thy table, Lord, We meet To feed on food divine;
Thy body is the bread we eat, Thy precious blood the wine.
He that prepares the rich repast, Himself comes down and dies;
And then invites us thus to feast, Upon the sacrifice.
The bitter torments he endured upon the shameful cross,
For us his welcome guests procured these heart-reviving joys.
His body torn with rudest hands becomes the finest bread,
And with the blessings he commands, our noblest hopes are fed.
His blood that from each opening vein in purple torrents ran
Hath filled this cup with generous wine, that cheers both God and
man.
Sure there was never love so free, dear Savior, so divine;
Well thou may’st claim that heart of mine, which owes so much to
thine.
The text is one of those which rationalize religious rites; in this
case, that of the communion. The tune is credited to Freeman Price.
Its second part reminds of ‘The Merry, Merry Milkmaids’, Sharp,
_Country Dances_, Set No. 5.
No. 69
TRIBULATION, MOH 46
Hexatonic, mode 2 A (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
Death, ’tis a melancholy day
To those that have no God,
When the poor soul is forc’d away
To seek her last abode.
In vain to heaven she lifts her eyes;
But guilt, a heavy chain,
Still drags her downward from the skies
To darkness, fire and pain.
Awake and mourn, ye heirs of hell,
Let stubborn sinners fear;
You must be driv’n from earth and dwell
Alone forever there.
See how the pit gapes wide for you,
And flashes in your face;
And thou, my soul, look downward too,
And sing recov’ring grace.
The text has been attributed to Watts. Recent hymnals have been purged
of this doleful ditty and of all other songs which make hellfire too
realistic. The tune was attributed to Chapin in some books and to
Davisson in others. Davisson claims it in his _Kentucky Harmony_
(1815). It is practically identical with ‘Little Musgrave and Lady
Barnard’, Sharp, i., 182, a tune which Sharp heard in Greenwood,
Albemarle County, Virginia, Davisson’s own territory and near where he
is buried. An early variant which is practically identical with both
the Sharp and the Davisson tunes is in Motherwell, Supplement, No. 30,
associated with ‘The Bonnie Mermaid’ text. Found also, KYH 43, SOH
119, UH 37, KNH 38, OSH 29, HH 55.
No. 70
VOLUNTEERS, CHH 110
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
[Music]
Hark, listen to the trumpeters! They sound for volunteers!
On Zion’s bright and flow’ry mount Behold the officers;
Their horses white, their garments bright, With crown and bow they
stand,
Enlisting soldiers for their King, To march for Canaan’s land.
It sets my heart all in a flame; a soldier I will be;
I will enlist, gird on my arms and fight for liberty.
They want no cowards in their band (They will their colours fly),
But call for valiant hearted men, who’re not afraid to die.
The armies now are on parade, how martial they appear!
All armed and dressed in uniform, they look like men of war;
They follow their great General, the great Eternal Lamb,
His garments stained with his own blood, King Jesus, is his name.
The trumpet sounds, the armies shout, and drive the hosts of hell;
How dreadful is our God in arms! The great Immanuel!
Sinners, enlist with Jesus Christ, th’ eternal Son of God,
And march with us to Canaan’s land, beyond the swelling flood.
There is a green and flow’ry field, where fruits immortal grow;
There, clothed in white, the angels bright, our great Redeemer know.
We’ll shout and sing forever more in that eternal world;
But Satan and his armies too, shall down to hell be hurled.
Hold up your heads, ye soldiers bold, redemption’s drawing nigh,
We soon shall hear the trumpet sound; ’Twill shake both earth and
sky;
In fiery chariots then we’ll fly, and leave the world on fire,
And meet around the starry throne to tune th’ immortal lyre.
The tune is attributed to Wm. Bradshaw. Found also HH 159 and SWP 90.
Dett, p. 180, and SOH 301, have the same words but different tunes.
No. 71
BACKSLIDER, REV 208
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
How can I vent my grief? My comforter is fled!
By day I sigh without relief And groan upon my bed.
How little did I think when first I did begin
To join a little with the world it was so great a sin.
I thought I might conform, nor singular appear,
Converse and dress as others did, but now I feel the snare.
My confidence is gone, I find no words to say,
Barren and lifeless is my soul when I attempt to pray.
The tune is similar to those used with several text variants of ‘The
Wife of Usher’s Well’. Sharp, i., 150ff. The oldest American song book
record of the ‘Backslider’ tune is in Ingalls’ _Christian Harmony_ of
1805, p. 55, where it is entitled ‘The General Doom’ and begins:
Behold! with awful pomp,
The Judge prepares to come;
Th’ archangel sounds the awful trump
And wakes the general doom.
No. 72
GOOD OLD WAY (B), OL 8
Hexatonic, mode 2 A (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
Lift up your heads, Emmanuel’s friends,
And taste the pleasure Jesus sends;
Let nothing cause you to delay,
But hasten on the good old way.
Our conflicts here, tho’ great they be,
Shall not prevent our victory,
If we but watch, and strive, and pray!
Like soldiers in the good old way.
O good old way, how sweet thou art!
May none of us from thee depart;
But may our actions always say
We’re marching in the good old way!
“A tune and song [words] of the Granade period”, William Hauser,
compiler of the _Olive Leaf_ suggests. John Adam Granade was an
evangelist of the “wild” sort who lived 1775 to 1806. A negro tune
which combines elements of the above and ‘I Went Down to the Valley’,
in this collection, is in _Slave Songs_, No. 104.
No. 73
REST IN HEAVEN, OL 358
Hexatonic, mode 2 A minorized (I II 3 IV V — 7 [VII])
[Music]
My rest is in heaven, my rest is not here,
Then why should I murmur at trials severe.
Be tranquil, my spirit, the worst that can come
But shortens thy journey and hastens thee home.
Let trouble and danger my progress oppose;
They’ll only make heaven more bright at the close;
Come joy, then, or sorrow—whate’er may befall—
One moment in glory will make up for all.
A scrip on my back, and a staff in my hand,
I march on in haste thro’ an enemy’s land;
The road may be rough, but it cannot be long;
I’ll smooth it with hope, and I’ll cheer it with song.
The tune is related to ‘Be Gone Unbelief’, in this collection, and to
the worldly tunes listed under that song. Negro adoptions of the tune
are Marsh, pp. 144 and 173, and SS 33.
No. 74
TO DIE NO MORE, GOS 363
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
My heav’nly home is bright and fair,
No pain nor death can enter there;
Its glitt’ring tow’rs the sun outshine,
I hope that mansion shall be mine.
_Chorus_
I’m going home to Christ above,
I’m going to the Christian’s rest,
To die no more to, die no more,
I’m going home to die no more.
My Father’s house is built on high,
Far, far above the starry sky;
When from this earthly prison free,
I hope that mansion mine shall be.
_Chorus_
I envy not the rich and great,
Their pomp of wealth and pride of state;
My Father is a richer King,
That heav’nly mansion still I sing.
_Chorus_
The tune is identical with one used with the worldly ballad ‘Three
Ravens’, see Davis 562.
No. 75
COLUMBUS, OSH 67
Pentatonic, mode 2 (I — 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
Oh, once I had a glorious view
Of my redeeming Lord;
He said, I’ll be a God to you,
And I believ’d his word.
But now I have a deeper stroke
Than all my groanings are;
My God has me of late forsook,
He’s gone I know not where.
Oh, what immortal joys I felt
On that celestial day,
When my hard heart began to melt,
By love dissolved away!
But my complaint is bitter now,
For all my joys are gone;
I’ve strayed! I’m left! I know not how;
The light’s from me withdrawn.
Once I could joy the saints to meet,
To me they were most dear;
I then could stoop to wash their feet,
And shed a joyful tear;
But now I meet them as the rest,
And with them joyless stay;
My conversation’s spiritless,
Or else I’ve nought to say.
The words appeared in _Mercer’s Cluster_, a Georgia hymn and
spiritual-song collection of the 1820’s. The earliest appearance of
the tune seems to have been in the _Southern Harmony_ (1835). Found
also in HH 128, UH 57, KNH 42, HOC 37, SOC 109, GOS 380, PB 343. The
tune is a variant of ‘Antioch’, in this collection.
For negro tune derivatives see _White Spirituals_, 259. Among the
tunes in secular environment, ‘Virginian Lover’, Sharp, ii., 149, tune
B, shows closest relationship to the above. See also ‘Flat River
Girl’, Rickaby, p. 6; and ‘Driving Saw Logs on the Plover’, Rickaby,
p. 89.
No. 76
YONGST, BS 203
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
[Music]
Father, I sing thy wondrous grace
And bless my Savior’s name,
Who bought salvation for the poor,
And bore the sinner’s shame.
His deep distress has raised us high;
His duty and his zeal
Fulfilled the law which mortals broke,
And finished all thy will.
Zion is thine, most holy God;
Thy Son shall bless her gates;
And glory, purchased by his blood,
For thine own Israel waits.
The tune is attributed to W. B. Gillham. It is member of the ‘Lord
Lovel’ group mentioned in the Introduction, page 14. Noteworthy in
this connection is a variant of the above tune as sung by a negro in
North Carolina; see Scarbrough, p. 55. Further tunes belonging to the
‘Lord Lovel’ group are listed under ‘Dulcimer’ in this collection.
No. 77
DOWN IN THE GARDEN, REV 108
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
Dark was the hour, Gethsemane,
When through thy walks was heard
The lowly Man of Galilee,
Still pleading with the Lord.
Down in the garden, hear that mournful sound;
There behold the Saviour weeping,
Praying on the cold damp ground.
Jesus, my Saviour, let me weep with thee;
Mercy, O thou Son of David,
Mercy’s coming down to me.
Alone in sorrow see him bow,
As all our griefs he bears;
Not words may tell his anguish now,
But sweat and blood and tears.
Down in the garden _etc._
Four more stanzas of the text are given in the _Revivalist_. The last
part of the tune and the whole text are obvious parodies of the Foster
song ‘Massa’s in the Cold, Cold Ground’. For possible folk sources of
Foster’s song, see my article “Stephen Foster’s Debt to American
Folk-Song”, _The Musical Quarterly_, xxii (1936), No. 2, p. 159.
No. 78
ALBION, MOH 49
Pentachordal, cannot be classified (I II III IV V — —)
[Music]
Come, ye that love the Lord,
And let your love be known;
Join in a song of sweet accord
And thus surround the throne,
And thus surround the throne.
The sorrows of the mind
Be banished from this place;
Religion never was designed
To make our pleasures less,
To make our pleasures less.
Let those refuse to sing,
Who never knew our God;
But fav’rites of the heav’nly King
May speak their joys abroad,
May speak their joys abroad.
The words are by Watts. The tune is ascribed to R(obert) Boyd. It is
found also, KYH 18, GCM 171, SOH 23, UH 21, GOS 126, KNH 51, OSH 52,
HH 201, HOC 12. It sounds like one of the old psalm tunes.
No. 79
DUNLAP’S CREEK, SOH 276
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
My God, My Portion, and my Love,
My everlasting all,
I’ve none but thee in heav’n above,
Or on this earthly ball.
What empty things are all the skies,
And this inferior clod!
There’s nothing here deserves my joys,
There’s nothing like my God.
In vain the bright, the burning sun
Scatters his feeble light;
’Tis thy sweet beams create my noon;
If thou withdraw, ’tis night.
The words are Watts’. The tune is given as by F(reeman) Lewis. Found
also, GCM 63, SOC 238, WP 44, TZ 77, GOS 650, SKH 83, CM 120, _Baptist
Hymn and Tune Book_ (1857), p. 106, where it is called a ‘Western
Melody’. It is practically the same as ‘Wife of Usher’s Well’, Sharp,
i., 160, Q. See Introduction, page 14, for mention of the ‘Lord Lovel’
type of tune to which ‘Dunlaps’ Creek’ belongs.
No. 80
SINNER’S INVITATION, OL 211
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
Sinner go, will you go
To the highlands of heaven,
Where the storms never blow
And the long summer’s given,
Where the bright blooming flow’rs
Are their odors emitting
And the leaves of the bow’rs
In the breezes are flitting.
Where the rich golden fruit
Is in bright clusters pending,
And the deep laden boughs
Of life’s fair tree are bending;
And where life’s crystal stream
Is unceasingly flowing,
And the verdure is green,
And eternally growing.
The tune and words which are parodied here are those of the ‘Braes o’
Balquhidder’. The text is attributed, by the compiler of the _Olive
Leaf_, to “Rev. Wm. McDonald, I guess”. The Scotch song begins:
Will you go, lassie, go to the braes o’Balquhidder,
Where the blackberries grow in the bonnie blooming heather.
See Gilchrist, JFSS, viii., 77. Another variant of the ‘Braes o’
Balquhidder’ tune in this collection is ‘Lone Pilgrim’. Gilchrist
traces the Scotch tune back still farther to ‘Brochan Buirn’, an old
Gaelic air. See JFSS, viii., 76. It influenced Stephen Foster in his
making of the tune ‘Linda Has Departed’. (See my article in _The
Musical Quarterly_, vol. xxii, No. 2.)
No. 81
LAND OF REST, OL 117
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
There is a land of pure delight
Where saints immortal reign,
Infinite day excludes the night
And pleasures banish pain.
O the land of rest, O the land of rest,
Where Christ and His people meet;
The land of the blest, all in beauty drest,
Where the saints all their lov’d ones greet.
“Inspiration of this tune,” says the compiler of the _Olive Leaf_,
“caught from a female voice at a distance, at Barbee Hotel, High
Point, N. C., June 9th, 1868.” The mountain woman must have been
singing ‘Lord Lovel’; for the tunes of that ballad, as found for
example in Davis, p. 574, O; and Sharp, i., 148, are practically the
same as ‘Land of Rest’. See Introduction, page 14.
No. 82
FLORENCE, OSH 121
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
Not many years their rounds shall roll,
Each moment brings it nigh,
Ere all its glories stand revealed,
To our admiring eye.
Ye wheels of nature, speed your course,
Ye mortal pow’rs decay;
Fast as ye bring the night of death,
Ye bring eternal day.
“It is an old melody”, J. S. James, editor of the 1911 _Original
Sacred Harp_, says. “Prof. T. S. Carter of Georgia took the outlines
and arranged it in 1844.”
The tune is found also, SOC 77, GOS 178. A variant is GOS 165,
entitled ‘Lonesome Dove’. Another variant is ‘The Weary Soul’, OSH 72.
I find this tune to be a member of the group which I have called the
‘Roll Jordan’ family of melodies. See the song with that title in this
collection.
No. 83
ALBERT, SOC 153
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
My brethren all, on you I call,
Arise and look around you,
How many foes bound to oppose,
Who’re waiting to confound you;
How many foes bound to oppose,
Who’re waiting to confound you.
Credited in the _Social Harp_ to E. R. White and dated 1855. The tune
is a clear adaptation of ‘The Girl I Left Behind Me’.
No. 84
ROYAL PROCLAMATION, SOH 146
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Hear the royal proclamation,
The glad tidings of salvation,
Publishing to every creature,
To the ruin’d sons of nature.
Jesus reigns, he reigns victorious,
Over heaven and earth most glorious,
Jesus reigns.
See the royal banner flying,
Hear the heralds loudly crying:
“Rebel sinners, royal favour
Now is offer’d by the Saviour.”
Jesus reigns, _etc._
Hear, ye sons of wrath and ruin,
Who have wrought your own undoing,
Here is life and free salvation,
Offered to the whole creation.
Jesus reigns, _etc._
Although Ananias Davisson claims, in the _Supplement to The Kentucky
Harmony_, to have made the tune, no subsequent user of the song seems
to have looked on him as its author. It has all the earmarks of an
eighteenth century fife-and-drum-corps tune which was appropriately
set to the religio-martial text. Found also, UH 91, KNH 91, HH 468,
SKH 107, GOS 643.
No. 85
CARRY ME HOME or PENICK, OSH 387
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
[Music]
While trav’ling through this world below,
Where sore afflictions come,
My soul abounds with joy to know
That I will rest at home.
Carry me home, carry me home,
When my life is o’er;
Then carry me to my long sought home where pain is felt no more.
Yes, when my eyes are closed in death,
My body cease to roam,
I’ll bid farewell to all below
And meet my friends at home.
Carry me home _etc._
And then I want these lines to be
Inscribed upon my tomb:
“Here lies the dust of S. R. P.,
His spirit sings at home.”
Carry me home _etc._
The initials in the third stanza belonged to “Professor S. R. Penick,
a devoted Christian man, and one who was very fond of music,”
according to James, 1911 editor of the OSH. But he ascribes tune and
words to M. Sikes, a singing-school teacher in Georgia before the
Civil War. The tune is a variant of ‘Dying Boy’ in this collection.
No. 86
JORDAN, SKH 86
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand
And cast a wishful eye,
To Canaan’s fair and happy land
Where my possessions lie.
O the transporting rapt’rous scene
That rises to my sight,
Sweet fields arrayed in living green
And rivers of delight.
There generous fruits that never fail
On trees immortal grow;
There rocks and hills and brooks and vales
With milk and honey flow.
(_Four stanzas omitted._)
Soon will the Lord my soul prepare
For joys beyond the skies,
Where never-ceasing pleasures roll,
And praises never die.
The tune belongs to the ‘Roll Jordan’ group; see Introduction, page
14. See also the song by that title in this collection.
No. 87
ENQUIRER, OSH 74
Hexatonic, mode 4 a (I II — IV V 6 7)
[Music]
I’m not asham’d to own my Lord,
Or to defend his cause,
Maintain the honor of his word,
The glory of his cross.
Jesus, my God, I know his name;
His name is all my trust;
Nor will he put my soul to shame,
Nor let my hope be lost.
Firm as his throne his promise stands,
And he can well secure
What I’ve committed to his hands,
Till the decisive hour.
Then will he own my worthless name,
Before his Father’s face,
And in the new Jerusalem
Appoint my soul a place.
The words are attributed to Isaac Watts; the tune to B. F. White of
Georgia, and dated 1844. The tune is a member of the ‘Babe of
Bethlehem’ group. See Introduction, p. 14, and, ‘Babe of Bethlehem’ in
this collection. A secular related tune is ‘Lowlands of Holland’,
Sharp, i., 200. Since the tune has clear dorian implications, its
proper key signature is one flat.
No. 88
WONDROUS LOVE, OSH 159
Hexatonic, mode 4 a (I II — IV V 6 7)
[Music]
What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul;
What wondrous love is this, O my soul;
What wondrous love is this That caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul.
When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down;
When I was sinking down, sinking down;
When I was sinking down beneath God’s righteous frown,
Christ laid aside his crown for my soul, for my soul;
Christ laid aside his crown for my soul.
To God and to the Lamb I will sing, I will sing;
To God and to the Lamb I will sing;
To God and to the Lamb who is the great I AM,
While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing;
While millions join the theme I will sing.
And when from death I’m free I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;
And when from death I’m free I’ll sing on.
And when from death I’m free I’ll sing and joyful be,
And through eternity I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on,
And through eternity I’ll sing on.
The song is found also, SOH (1854) 252, GOS 436, PB 384, OL 371, and
in various tune books of the Baptists up to the present time. The
_Southern Harmony_ attributes the tune to “Christopher”; _Good Old
Songs_, to “J. Christopher”; and the _Hesperian Harp_ attributes the
words to the “Rev. Alex Means, A. M., M. D., D. D., LL. D.”, a
Methodist minister of Oxford, Ga. It looks as though tune and words
were born together, so beautifully they fit. The stanzaic form is that
of the ‘Captain Kidd’ ballad which has been widely sung and parodied
since the beginning of the eighteenth century. A spiritual song tune
related to ‘Wondrous Love’ is ‘Villulia’ in this collection. I have
heard the country folk sing this tune with the dorian raised sixth.
No. 89
SALVATION (A), BS 127
Hexatonic, mode 1 B (I II — IV V VI VII)
[Music]
O thou God of my salvation,
My Redeemer from all sin,
Moved by thy divine compassion,
Who hast died my heart to win.
I will praise thee, I will praise thee;
Where shall I thy praise begin?
Angels now are hov’ring round us,
Unperceived amid the throng;
Wond’ring at the love that crown’d us,
Glad to join the holy song;
Hallelujah, hallelujah,
Love and praise to Christ belong.
The tune is evidently a remake of ‘Locks and Bolts’. Compare, for
example, Sharp, ii., 19. The difference between the two tunes is
probably due in part to their structure, which provided real
difficulties for their recorders, and in part to the efforts of the
_Bible Songs_ arranger to make the apparently dorian tune fit into
current scale formulas. Compare also ‘Bed of Primroses’, Thomas, p.
176.
No. 90
MOUNT WATSON, OL 272
Heptatonic dorian, mode 2 A + B (I II 3 IV V VI 7)
[Music]
Death shall not destroy my comfort,
Christ shall guide me thro’ the gloom;
Down he’ll send some heav’nly convoy,
To escort my spirit home.
_Chorus_
O hallelujah! how I love my Savior,
O hallelujah! that I do;
O hallelujah! how I love my Savior!
Mourners, you may love him too.
Jordan’s stream shall not o’erflow me,
While my Savior’s by my side;
Canaan, Canaan lies before me!
Soon I’ll cross the swelling tide.
O hallelujah _etc._
See the happy spirits waiting,
On the banks beyond the stream!
Sweet responses still repeating,
“Jesus! Jesus!” is their theme.
O hallelujah _etc._
William Hauser, compiler of the _Olive Leaf_, informs us that “this
tune [is] called after Rev. John H. Watson, whom, in my youth [in the
1820’s], I used to hear sing [it]”. It is a variant of the beautiful
traditional secular ballad ‘The Poor Little Fisherman Girl’ or ‘Green
Willow’.
No. 91
CROSS OF CHRIST, GOS 504
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Did Christ the great example lead
For all his humble train,
In washing the disciples’ feet
And wiping them again?
And did my Lord and Master say:
“If I have wash’d your feet,
Ye also ought to watch and pray
And wash each other’s feet.”
O blessed Jesus, at thy board
I have thy children met;
The bread I’ve broke, the wine I’ve poured,
We’ve washed each other’s feet.
In imitation of my Lord
Whose blood for me did sweat,
I yield unto his sacred word
And wash the pilgrims’ feet.
Yea, blessed Jesus, I, like thee,
Would Christians often meet;
The least of all the flock would be,
And wash his children’s feet.
For this let men reproach, defame,
And call me what they will;
I still would follow Christ the Lamb,
And be his servant still.
The loving labor I repeat,
Obedient to his word,
And wash his dear disciples’ feet
And wait upon the Lord.
Shall I, a worm, refuse to stoop?
My fellow worm disdain?
I give my vain distinctions up,
Since Christ did wait on man.
The words were quite evidently made to go with the celebration of the
footwashing rite still observed by the Primitive Baptists, from whose
hymn book the song is taken. The tune is ascribed to L. P. Breedlove
of Georgia. I find it to be a close variant of ‘James Harris’ (or
‘Daemon Lover’ or ‘House Carpenter’) turned around; that is, with the
second part of the above tune coming first in the secular ballad tune.
For versions of the ‘James Harris’ tune see Thomas 172, Davis 592-594,
Cox 524, and Sharp, i., 244-258. The oldest variant tune known to me
is that in Motherwell associated with ‘Blue Flowers and Yellow’
(Appendix, _Musick_, No. 17.) After comparing the above tune with its
worldly relatives, it becomes evident that the GOS signature of
_b_-flat should be changed to that of _f_-natural, raising the sixth
and restoring what was evidently a dorian tune.
No. 92
ROSE TREE, KNH 165
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
[Music]
There is a land of pleasure
Where streams of joy forever roll;
’Tis there I have my treasure,
And there I long to rest my soul.
Long darkness dwelt around me
With scarcely once a cheering ray,
But since my Savior found me,
A lamp has shown along the way.
My way is full of danger,
But ’tis the path that leads to God,
And like a faithful soldier
I’ll march along the heav’nly road.
Now I must gird my sword on,
My breast plate, helmet and my shield,
And fight the host of Satan,
Until I reach the heav’nly field.
I’m on the way to Zion,
Still guided by my Saviour’s hand,
O come along dear sinners
And see Emanuel’s happy land.
To all that stay behind me,
I bid a long, a sad farewell.
Come now, or you’ll repent it
When you do reach the gates of hell.
Echoes of ‘Turkey in the Straw’ (see Sandburg, p. 94) are heard in
this tune. Compare also ‘My Grandma Lived on Yonder Little Green’, WS
166. The immediate ancestor of the tune, and the source of its title,
is the secular song ‘A Rose-Tree in Full Bearing’, _The English
Musical Repository_, Edinburgh, 1811, p. 127. It appeared in William
Shield’s ballad opera ‘The Poor Soldier’, 1783. The ‘Rose Tree’ air
was known in Ireland also as ‘Moreen O’Cullenan’ and was associated,
among other texts, with Moore’s ‘I’d Mourn the Hopes that Leave Us’.
See Joyce, p. 40.
No. 93
CLAMANDA, OSH 42
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Say now, ye lovely social band,
Who walk the way to Canaan’s land;
Ye who have fled from Sodom’s plain,
Say do you wish to turn again?
O have you ventured to the field,
Well arm’d with helmet, sword and shield?
And shall the world with dread alarms,
Compel you now to ground your arms?
Beware of pleasure’s siren song,
Alas, it cannot soothe thee long.
It cannot quiet Jordan’s wave,
Nor cheer the dark and silent grave.
O what contentment did you find,
While love of pleasure ruled your mind?
No sweet reflection lulled your rest,
Nor conscious virtue calmed your breast.
O, come, young soldiers, count the cost,
And say, what pleasures have you lost?
Or what misfortune does it bring,
To have Jehovah for your king?
Shall sin entice you back again,
And bind you with its iron chain?
Has vice to you such lovely charms,
That you must die within its arms?
Is folly’s way the way of peace,
Where fear, and pain, and sorrow cease?
Does pleasure roll its living stream,
And is religion all a dream?
Say, what contentment did you find
When love of pleasure ruled your mind?
No sweet reflection gave you rest,
Nor conscious virtue calm’d your breast.
Tune found also in CHI 12, KNH 109, UH 63, SOC 168, HH 28, SKH 47, GOS
26. The text, taken from the _Dover Selection_, as well as the tune,
attributed to ‘Chapin’, seem to be closely related to a Christmas
carol in JFSS, ii., 115. Its first stanza begins: “Come all ye
faithful Christians, That dwell within this land. That pass your time
in rioting, Remember you are but man.” The English folk-song, ‘Just as
the Tide Was a-Flowing’, has an almost identical tune. See Gould and
Sharp, _English Folk-Songs for Schools_, p. 52.
No. 94
MECKLINBURG, SKH 30
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Bright scenes of glory strike my sense,
And all my passions capture;
Eternal beauties round me shine,
Infusing warmest rapture.
I dive in pleasure deep and full,
In swelling waves of glory;
And feel my Savior in my soul,
And groan to tell my story;
And feel my Savior in my soul,
And groan to tell my story.
I feast on honey, milk and wine,
I drink perpetual sweetness;
Mount Zion’s odours through me shine,
While Christ unfolds his glory.
No mortal tongue can lisp my joys,
Nor can an angel tell them;
Ten thousand times surpassing all
Terrestrial worlds [words?] or emblems.
My captivated spirit flies,
Through shining worlds of beauty;
Dissolv’d in blushes, loud I cry,
In praises loud and mighty;
And here I’ll sing and swell the strains
Of harmony delighted,
And with the millions learn the notes
Of saints in Christ united.
The compiler of the SKH attributes the tune to Lowry. See _White
Spirituals_, p. 167, for a secular relative of the tune. See also ‘St.
Patrick was a Gentleman’, Petrie, No. 346; and I’m Seventeen Come
Sunday’, JFSS, ii., 269f.
No. 95
SALVATION (B), SOH 84
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Come, humble sinner in whose breast
A thousand thoughts revolve;
Come with your guilt and fear opprest
And make this last resolve.
I’ll go to Jesus though my sin
Hath like a mountain rose.
I know his courts, I’ll enter in,
Whatever may oppose.
Prostrate I’ll lie before his throne,
And there my guilt confess;
I’ll tell him I’m a wretch undone,
Without his sovereign grace.
I’ll to the gracious King approach,
Whose sceptre pardon gives;
Perhaps he may command my touch,
And then the suppliant lives.
Of the text which the compiler of the _Southern Harmony_ found in
“Rippon”, three further stanzas are found in Caldwell’s _Union
Harmony_, p. 35. The tune, ascribed to Robert Boyd, is found also KYH
22, GCM 136, UH 34, KNH 32, HH 71, HOC 24, TZ 101, and GOS 144. A
variant tune is ‘Come All Ye Worthy Christian Men’, Sharp, _One
Hundred English Folksongs_, No. 91. Note similarity in the opening
words of both songs. See also Sharp’s note as to other old related
songs. The first melodic sentence is quite similar to that of the tune
to ‘The Three Ravens’ as Motherwell gives it in _Minstrelsy Ancient
and Modern_, Edition 1873, Appendix, _Musick_, No. 12:
[Music]
No. 96
FRENCH BROAD, SOH 265
Hexatonic, mode 2 A (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
High o’er the hills the mountains rise,
Their summits tow’r toward the skies;
But far above them I must dwell,
Or sink beneath the flames of hell.
Although I walk the mountains high,
Ere long my body low must lie,
And in some lonesome place must rot,
And by the living be forgot.
There it must lie till that great day,
When Gabriel’s awful trump shall say,
“Arise, the judgment day is come,
When all must hear their final doom.”
Four more stanzas in the _Southern Harmony_. Found also GOS 218, CHH
208. William Walker, compiler of the _Southern Harmony_, appends the
note: “This song was composed by the author in the fall of 1831, while
traveling over the mountains, on French Broad River, in North Carolina
and Tennessee”. Walker must have been referring simply to the words.
He was melodizing, probably unconsciously, in beaten paths. For his
tune is almost identical with the older ‘Kedron’ (this collection)
which was attributed to “Dare”. Walker declares, in his later song
book, _Christian Harmony_, 1866, p. 208, that he “learned the air of
this tune from my mother when only five years old.” That would have
been 1814. Both the Dare and the Walker tunes are closely related to
the melody of ‘McAfee’s Confession’, Sharp, ii., 16, lower tune, a
western North Carolina recording of 1918; and to the Old World song,
‘The Wraggle Taggle Gipsies O’, _One Hundred English Folk-Songs_, p.
13.
No. 97
DAVISSON’S RETIREMENT, KNH 117
Pentatonic, mode 4 (I II — IV V — 7)
[Music]
Jesus, and shall it ever be
A mortal man asham’d of thee,
Asham’d of thee whom angels praise,
Whose glories shine through endless days.
Ashamed of Jesus! sooner far
Let evening blush to own a star;
He sheds the beams of light divine
O’er this benighted soul of mine.
Ashamed of Jesus! just as soon
Let midnight be ashamed of noon:
’Tis midnight with my soul till he,
Bright morning star, bid darkness flee.
The poem is by Joseph Grigg (b. 1720). Ananias Davisson of the Valley
of Virginia named and claimed the tune in his _Kentucky Harmony_
(1815). Annabel Morris Buchanan has found a tune with the title
‘Retirement’ in a manuscript tune book which she judges to be from the
eighteenth century. No text accompanies the tune, and no source is
given. It follows:
[Music]
A comparison of the two tunes indicates rather plainly that Davisson
wrote the tune down from oral tradition, and that his noting was
indicative of the manner in which it was actually sung.
No. 98
PILGRIM, OSH 201
Hexatonic, mode 2 b (I — 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Come, all ye mourning pilgrims dear,
Who’re bound for Canaan’s land,
Take courage and fight valiantly,
Stand fast with sword in hand.
Our Captain’s gone before us,
Our Father’s only Son;
Then pilgrims dear, pray do not fear,
But let us follow on.
We have a howling wilderness
To Canaan’s happy shore,
A land of dearth and pits and snares,
Where chilling winds do roar.
But Jesus will be with us
And guard us by the way,
Though enemies examine us,
He’ll teach us what to say.
Come all you pilgrim travelers,
Fresh courage take with me;
Meantime I’ll tell you how I came
This happy land to see:
Through faith, the glorious telescope,
I view’d the worlds above,
And God the Father reconciled,
Which fills my heart with love.
The tune is found also CHI 54, MOH 147, KNH 57, HH 392, SOC 117, and
WP 46. Among the many secular songs using this tune are ‘Daniel
Monroe’, dating from around 1785, Rickaby, pp. 184 and 229; ‘Lady and
the Dragoon’, Sharp, i., 337, recorded in North Carolina in 1918;
‘Sheffield Apprentice’, Sharp, ii., 66; ‘Loving Reilly’, Sharp, ii.,
81 and 82; ‘Rebel Soldier’, or ‘Poor Stranger’ Sharp, ii., 215; ‘Sons
of Liberty’, Sharp, ii., 225; ‘John Barleycorn’, noted by Sharp in
England in 1909; ‘Gallant Poachers’ or ‘Van Diemen’s Land’, also in
England, see JFSS, vii., 42, for references; ‘I Wish I Was in Dublin
Town’, or ‘The Irish Girl’, JFSS, viii., 263; and ‘Barley and the
Rye’, JFSS, viii., 273; ‘High Germany’ and ‘Erin’s Lovely Home’, _One
Hundred English Folk-Songs_, pp. 124 and 127; ‘King’s Lynn’,
_Christian Science Hymnal_; and ‘Rise Up Young William Reilly’,
Petrie, No. 510. Stephen Foster’s tune ‘Way Down in Ca-i-ro’ shows
influence from this tune formula. See _The Musical Quarterly_, vol.
xxii., No. 2.
No. 99
MISSISSIPPI, SKH 34
Heptatonic aeolian, mode A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
When Gabriel’s awful trump shall sound,
And rend the rocks, convulse the ground
And give to time her utmost bound,
Ye dead arise to judgment.
See lightnings flash and thunders roll;
See earth wrapt up like parchment scroll,
Comets blaze, sinners raise,
Dread amaze, horrors seize
The guilty sons of Adam’s race,
Unsav’d from sin by Jesus.
The Christian, fill’d with rapturous joy,
Midst flaming worlds he mounts on high,
To meet his Savior in the sky
And see the face of Jesus.
The soul and body reunite,
And fill with glory infinite.
Blessed day, Christians say,
Will you pray that we may
All join that happy company
To praise the name of Jesus.
The compiler of the _Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony_ attributed
the song to “Bradshaw”. I find distinct ancestral traces of its tune
in ‘Princess Royal’ given in a number of traditional forms as a morris
dance tune in Sharp, _The Morris Dance Book_. Assuming these to be the
oldest forms of the tune, the next younger form seems to have been
what was called in Walsh’s _Compleat Dancing Master_ (_ca._ 1730),
“The Princess Royal, the new way”. In 1796 Shield adapted the air to
the words of ‘The Saucy Arethusa’ in the ballad opera _The Lock and
Key_. It may be found entitled ‘The Arethusa’ in _The English Musical
Repository_, p. 32. At about the same time—around the end of the
eighteenth century—the tune was used also for ‘Bold Nelson’s Praise’ a
version of which was recently recorded by Sharp, _One Hundred English
Folk-Songs_, No. 88. The as yet unidentified “Bradshaw” seems to have
taken one of these late-eighteenth-century tunes—probably
‘Arethusa’—as his model when he made the ‘Mississippi’ song as it
appeared in the _Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony_ in 1820.
No. 100
PLEADING SAVIOR, OSH 234
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
Now see the Savior stands pleading
At the sinner’s bolted heart.
Now in heav’n he’s interceding,
Undertaking sinners’ part.
Sinners, can you hate this Savior?
Will you thrust him from your arms?
Once he died for your behavior,
Now he calls you to his arms.
Sinners, hear your God and Savior,
Hear his gracious voice today;
Turn from all your vain behavior,
Oh repent, return, and pray.
Sinners, can you hate this Savior?
Will you thrust him from your arms?
Once he died for your behavior,
Now he calls you to his arms.
The first line of the text above should probably read
Now the Savior stands a-pleading.
_The Methodist Hymn Book_ of England, London, 1933, has the above tune
under the title ‘Saltash’, and its source is given as the _Plymouth
Collection_, 1855.
No. 101
NETTLETON or SINNER’S CALL, PB 4
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Come, thou fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing thy grace!
Streams of mercy never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above:
Praise the mount! O fix me on it,
Mount of God’s unchanging love.
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by thy help I’m come;
And I hope, by thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me, when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to save my soul from danger,
Interposed his precious blood!
The words are the widely sung ones of Robinson. Metcalf (Frank J.,
_Stories of Hymn Tunes_, p. 141) thinks the tune belongs to John Wyeth
(1770-1858). It is the tune that has been used for the Parody ‘Tell
Aunt Rhody.’ And its close relative ‘Sweet Affliction’ or
‘Greenville’, in this collection, has been used for the ‘Go Tell Aunt
Rhody’ parody.
No. 102
CHARIOT OF MERCY, HH 290
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
The chariot of mercy is speeding its way,
Far, far through the shadowy gloom,
Where the lands that in death’s dark obscurity lay,
Are bursting the bars of their tomb. _etc._
This familiar tune continues with the words:
I see where ’tis shedding its luminous ray,
Dispersing the shadows of night;
And wondering nations are hailing the day,
And rejoice in its glorious light.
The _Hesperian Harp_ gives the tune as an “Irish Air”. We recognize it
as the melody to which ‘Believe Me, If all Those Endearing Young
Charms’ is sung universally. Woolridge tells us it is the setting for
the popular ballad ‘My Lodging, It is on the Cold Ground’ as printed
“on all broadsides, with music, of the last century”, meaning the
eighteenth century. The ballad, in connection with a different tune,
had been popular from around the middle of the seventeenth century in
England. With the above tune its singing vogue seems not even yet to
have abated. See Chappell’s _Old English Popular Music_, ii., 137ff.
An old Irish version of the tune is ‘Oh Shrive me Father’, Petrie, No.
632. Stephen Foster undoubtedly had this popular tune formula in mind
when he composed ‘Old Folks at Home’. See _Musical Quarterly_, vol.
xxii., No. 2, pp. 158-160.
No. 103
STOCKWOOD or SISTER THOU WAST MILD, OSH 118
Hexatonic, mode 2 A (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
Sister, thou wast mild and lovely,
Gentle as the summer breeze,
Pleasant as the air of evening
When it flows among the trees.
Peaceful be thy silent slumber,
Peaceful in the grave so low;
Thou no more wilt join our number,
Thou no more our songs shalt know.
Dearest sister, thou hast left us,
Here thy loss we deeply feel;
But ’tis God that hast bereft us,
He can all our sorrows heal.
Yet again we hope to meet thee,
When the day of life is fled,
Then in heaven with joy to greet thee,
Where no farewell tear is shed.
The words are attributed in the _Sacred Harp_ to Samuel Francis Smith,
author of ‘My Country, ’Tis of Thee’.
No. 104
ROSE, REV 332
Heptatonic aeolian or dorian minorized, cannot be classified (I II 3
IV V [VI] 6 [VII] 7)
[Music]
O tell me no more Of this world’s vain store,
The time for such trifles With me now is o’er.
A country I’ve found Where true joys abound,
To dwell I’m determined On that happy ground.
The souls that believe, in paradise live,
And me in that number will Jesus receive;
My soul, don’t delay, he calls thee away;
Rise, follow the Savior, and bless the glad day.
Four more stanzas of the text are given in the _Revivalist_. The tune
was recorded “as sung by Rev. A. C. Rose” from whom it got its title.
The oldest recording of the melody known to me is on page 38 of
Ingalls’ _Christian Harmony_, 1805. The Reverend Rose’s song appears
in this collection also as ‘O Tell Me No More’, in its standardized
tune-book form, whereas the recorder of the above variant has caught
much of the folk-singing manner. Both of the tunes in question are
related to the ‘Lord Randal’ melodies which are found in Sharp, i.,
43, G.
No. 105
SUPPLICATION, OSH 45
Hexatonic, mode 2 A (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
O thou who hear’st when sinners cry,
Tho’ all my crimes before thee lie,
Behold them not with angry look,
But blot their mem’ry from thy book.
Create my nature pure within,
And form my soul averse to sin;
Let thy good spirit ne’er depart,
Nor hide thy presence from my heart.
I cannot live without thy light,
Cast out and banished from thy sight;
Thy holy joys, my God, restore,
And guard me that I fall no more.
Words attributed to Watts; tune to Chapin. Found also, _Choral-Music_,
p. 48, KYH 20, MOH 26, GCM 110, SOH 5, GOS 589, UH 14. See WS 190 for
the tune’s use with the ‘Wicked Polly’ ballad which is also to be
found in this collection. It is a variant also of ‘Lord Bateman’,
Sharp, _One Hundred English Folk-songs_, No. 6; and of ‘Hind Horn’,
_British Ballads from Maine_, pp. 73 and 78. _The Singer’s Companion_
(New York, 1854) has a strikingly similar tune under the title ‘Hame,
Hame, Hame’, a Jacobite song whose words tell of a Scotch exile and
his longing for home. The editor of that collection found it in the
_Garland of Scotia_. The old Scotch tune is doubtless the source of
‘Supplication’.
No. 106
PRAISE GOD, OSH 528
Hexatonic, mode 2 A (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
Oh, for a heart to praise my God, A heart from sin set free;
A heart that’s sprinkled with his blood, So freely shed for me,
Oh, for a heart submissive, meek;
Oh, for a heart submissive, meek, My great Redeemer’s throne,
Where only Christ is heard to speak, Where Jesus reigns alone.
Oh, for an humble, contrite heart, believing, true and clean,
Which neither life nor death can part from him that dwells within.
A heart in every thought renewed, and full of love divine;
Perfect, and right, and pure, and good, a copy, Lord, of thine.
Seaborn M. Denson composed this tune as a setting to Charles Wesley’s
text and inserted it, in a fuguing-tune setting, in the _Original
Sacred Harp_ of 1911. The tune is testimony to the fact that its
composer was steeped in the traditional Anglo-American folk-melodism
and in that particular direction which it took in the hands of the
eighteenth century fuguing-song makers. Compare for melodic
similarities ‘Geordie’, JFSS, iii., 191. _White Spirituals_ tells more
about Mr. Denson who died in 1936.
No. 107
LEANDER, SOH 128
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
My soul forsakes her vain delight,
And bids the world farewell,
Base as the dirt beneath thy feet
And mischievous as hell.
No longer will I ask your love,
Nor seek your friendship more;
The happiness that I approve
Is not within your pow’r.
There’s nothing round this spacious earth
That suits my soul’s desire;
To boundless joy and solid mirth
My nobler thoughts aspire.
O for the pinions of a dove
To mount the heav’nly road;
There shall I share my Savior’s love,
There shall I dwell with God.
The tune is ascribed to “Austin”, and the words to Watts. Found also,
UH 66, OSH 71, HOC 61, WP 52, TZ 100, MOH 129. The second part of the
tune reminds of the second part of ‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home’.
Variants of the melody are ‘Jubilee’, CHI 62 and REV 355; and ‘This Is
the Jubilee’, OL 113.
No. 108
THERE IS A REST REMAINS, REV 135
Hexatonic, minorized, cannot be classified (I II 3 IV [IV′] V — 7
[VII])
[Music]
Lord, I believe a rest remains
To all thy people known;
A rest where pure enjoyment reigns,
And thou art loved alone.
There is a rest remains,
There is a rest remains,
There is a rest remains
For all the people of God.
A rest where all our soul’s desire
Is fixed on things above;
Where fear, and sin, and grief expire,
Cast out by perfect love.
O that I now the rest might know,
Believe and enter in;
Now, Savior, now the power bestow,
And let me cease from sin.
Remove this hardness from my heart,
This unbelief remove;
To me the rest of faith impart—
The Sabbath of thy love.
A remarkably close remake of this peculiar song by the negroes is
given in Dett, p. 108, under the title ‘Go Down, Moses’, where we see
the melodic setting of the above words “To all thy people known” and
“For all the people of God” fitted note for note to “Let thy people
go”. The tunes of ‘Rejected Lover’, Sharp, ii., 96ff., show
similarities.
No. 109
BOURBON, COH 67
Pentatonic, mode 2 (I — 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
’Twas on that dark and doleful night,
When pow’rs of earth and hell arose
Against the Son of God’s delight,
And friends betray’d him to his foes.
Before the mournful scene began,
He took the bread and blest and brake;
What love through all his actions ran,
What wondrous words of love he spake.
“This is my body, broke for sin,
Receive and eat the living food;”
Then took the cup and bless’d the wine—
“’Tis the new cov’nant in my blood.”
“Do this,” he cried, “till time shall end,
In mem’ry of your dying Friend;
Meet at my table and record
The love of your departed Lord.”
Jesus, thy feast we celebrate,
We show thy death, we sing thy name.
Till thou return, and we shall eat
The marriage supper of the Lamb.
Words attributed sometimes to Watts. Tune attributed to Freeman Lewis.
Found also, HH 8, GCM 159, SKY 61, MOH 60 and 143, UH 17, GOS 575.
This is the same tune which is used for ‘McFee’s Confession’, Cox, p.
525; ‘Samuel Young’, Sharp, ii., 271; ‘Come, Father Build Me’ (as sung
in England), JFSS, viii., 212; and it is similar to ‘Lord Bateman’,
_One Hundred English Folksongs_, No. 6. For further tune relationship
see ‘Kedron’ in this collection.
No. 110
GLORIOUS PROSPECT, OL 363
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
[Music]
My soul’s full of glory, which inspires my tongue;
Could I meet with angels, I’d sing them a song;
I’d sing of my Jesus and tell of his charms;
And beg them to bear me to his loving arms.
Methinks they’re descending to hear while I sing;
Well pleased to hear mortals sing praise to their King.
O angels! O angels! my soul’s in a flame!
I sink in sweet raptures at Jesus’ dear name.
O Jesus! O Jesus! thou balm of my soul!
’Twas thou, my dear Savior, that made my heart whole;
Oh bring me to view thee, thou precious, sweet King,
In oceans of glory thy praises to sing!
The author of the _Olive Leaf_ tells us: “This is the first tune I
ever harmonized; about 1833. I had learned the air—which I suspect
John Adam Granade originated, before I was born—when a boy, to these
words.” That the tune went earlier with some secular ballad, seems
evident from the resemblances found, for example, in ‘Pretty Nancy of
Yarmouth’, Sharp, i., 379; ‘Lamkin’, Sharp, i., 201ff.; ‘The Silk
Merchant’s Daughter’, Sharp, i., 383f.; and ‘Green Grows the Laurel’,
Sharp ii., 211.
No. 111
O YE YOUNG AND GAY AND PROUD or ETERNITY
Pentachordal, cannot be classified (I II III IV V — —)
[Music]
O ye young and gay and proud,
You must die and wear the shroud,
Time will rob you of your bloom,
Death will drag you to the tomb.
_Chorus_
Then you’ll cry and want to be
Happy in eternity.
Eternity, eternity,
Happy in eternity.
The white throne will soon appear,
All the dead will then draw near.
Then you’ll go to heav’n or hell.
There you must forever dwell.
_Chorus_
Recorded by the author from the singing of Mrs. Elizabeth
Showalter-Miller, Dayton, Virginia, Jan. 20, 1930. Further stanzas of
the text and variant melodies may be found in Thomas, p. 118, and
Richardson, p. 73.
No. 112
FRIENDS OF FREEDOM, CH 285
Heptatonic, mode 1 b (I II — IV V VI 7)
[Music]
Friends of freedom, swell the song!
Young and old, the strain prolong!
Make the temp’rance army strong,
And on to victory.
Lift your banners, let them wave;
Onward march, a world to save;
Who would fill a drunkard’s grave
And bear his infamy?
Shrink not when the foe appears;
Spurn the coward’s guilty fears;
Hear the shrieks, behold the tears
Of ruined families!
Raise the cry in every spot:
“Touch not, taste not, handle not!”
Who would be a drunken sot,
The worst of miseries.
Give the aching bosom rest;
Carry joy to every breast;
Make the wretched drunkard blest,
By living soberly.
Raise the glorious watchword high:
“Touch not, taste not till you die”
Let the echo reach the sky,
And earth keep jubilee.
God of mercy, hear us plead,
For thy help we intercede;
See how many bosoms bleed!
And heal them speedily.
Hasten, Lord, the happy day,
When, beneath thy gentle ray,
Temp’rance all the world shall sway,
And reign triumphantly.
Evidently the time should be six-eight. It is found, measured thus, in
the 1859 edition of the _Sacred Harp_, p. 152, under the title
‘Bruce’s Address, Spiritualized’, and begins,
Soldiers of the cross, arise!
Lo, your Captain from the skies,
Holding forth the glitt’ring prize,
Calls to victory.
Fear not though the battle lower,
Firmly stand the trying hour,
Stand the tempter’s utmost power,
Spurn his slavery.
The earlier tune is given, in _Lyric Gems of Scotland_, p. 242, as
that of ‘Hey tutti tattie’. It is there associated with the text
‘Scots wha ha’e wi’ Wallace bled’, the same as ‘Bruce’s Address’, of
which both the texts cited here are parodies.
No. 113
PILGRIM’S SONG, REV 369
Heptatonic mixolydian, mode 1 A + b (I II III IV V VI 7)
[Music]
Oh, brethren I have found a land that doth abound
With fruit as sweet as honey;
The more I eat, I find, the more I am inclined
To shout and sing hosanna.
And as I pass along I’ll sing the Christian’s song,
I’m going to live forever.
My soul doth long to go where I may fully know
The glories of my Savior;
Perhaps you think me wild, or simple as a child;
I am a child of glory;
I am born from above, my soul is filled with love;
I love to tell the story.
My soul now sits and sings, and practices her wings,
And contemplates the hour
When the messenger shall say: “Come quit this house of clay,
And with bright angels tower.”
The tune is a variant of ‘The Winter it is Past’, Petrie, No. 439.
No. 114
HOLY MANNA, HOC 122
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
Brethren, we have met to worship
And adore the Lord our God,
Will you pray with all your power
While we try to preach the word?
All is vain unless the spirit
Of the holy One comes down;
Brethren, pray, and holy manna
Will be showered all around.
Brethren, see poor sinners round you,
Trembling on the brink of wo;
Death is coming, hell is moving,
Can you bear to let them go?
See our fathers, see our mothers
And our children sinking down;
Brethren, pray, and holy manna
Will be showered all around.
Is there here a trembling jailor
Seeking grace and fill’d with fears?
Is there here a weeping Mary,
Pouring forth a flood of tears?
Brethren, join your cries to help them;
Sisters, let your prayers abound;
Pray, O pray that holy manna
May be scatter’d all around.
Two more stanzas are in SOH 103. This rousing song, still immensely
popular, was claimed (probably first recorded) by William Moore,
compiler of the _Columbian Harmony_, in 1825. Subsequent compilers
have allowed his claim to stand. Found also, KNH 88, OSH 59, HH 244,
SOC 191, HOC 107, WP 89, TZ 301, GOS 340, PB 291. The numerous
imitations which flattered this tune are exemplified by GOS 243 and
633, and REV 148. For negro adoptions see WS 268.
No. 115
WAR DEPARTMENT, SOH 94
Chinese pentatonic, cannot be classified (I II — IV V 6 —)
[Music]
No more shall the sound of the war-whoop be heard,
The ambush and slaughter no longer be fear’d,
The tomahawk buried shall rest in the ground,
And peace and goodwill to the nations abound.
All spirit of war to the gospel shall bow,
The bow lie unstrung at the foot of the plow;
To prune the young orchard the spear shall be bent,
And love greet the world with a smile of content.
The words were found by the _Southern Harmony_ compiler in _Mercer’s
Cluster_. The tune is found also HH 277, OSH 160, SOC 167. It is
possibly related to Petrie, Nos. 1030 and 1285.
No. 116
DROOPING SOULS, OL 184
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Drooping souls, no longer grieve,
Heaven is propitious;
If on Jesus you believe,
You will find him precious.
Jesus now is passing by,
Calling mourners to him;
Drooping souls, you need not die;
Now look up and view him.
For complete text see ‘Lebanon’. The song is inscribed “Wm. Hauser, M.
D., May 29th, and July 18th, 1874.”
No. 117
BE GONE UNBELIEF, OL 187
Pentatonic, mode 2 (I — 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
Be gone unbelief, my Savior is near,
And for my relief will surely appear;
By prayer let me wrestle and He will perform;
With Christ in the vessel I smile at the storm.
Tho’ dark be my way, since He is my guide,
’Tis mine to obey, ’Tis His to provide;
Tho’ cisterns be broken, and creatures all fail,
The word He has spoken will surely prevail.
His life in time past forbids me to think
He’ll leave me at last, in trouble to sink;
Each sweet Ebenezer, I have in review,
Confirms His good pleasure to bring me quite thro’.
Since all that I meet shall work for my good;
The bitter, the sweet; the medicine, food;
Tho’ painful at present ’twill cease before long,
And then, O how pleasant the conqueror’s song!
William Hauser, compiler of the _Olive Leaf_ tells that this “air
[was] learned of Reverend Samuel Anthony, of Georgia, in 1841.” The
tune of a Virginia version of the ‘Brown Girl’ (Sharp, i., 303) is
very close to this in note-trend and character. Also ‘Pretty Saro’,
Sharp, ii., 10-12; ‘Cuckoo’, Sharp, ii., 180; ‘Green Bushes’, Sharp,
ii., 155; ‘Farewell, Dear Rosanna’, Sharp, ii., 243 and 244, are the
same type. Negro adoptions of the tune are Marsh, pp. 144 and 173, and
SS, p. 33. A variant in this collection is ‘Rest in Heaven’. For its
relationship to the ‘I Will Arise’ tune family, see the song with that
title in this collection. The errors in Hauser’s notation of the tune
(second, fourth, sixth measures etc.) have been left uncorrected.
No. 118
PILGRIM’S TRIUMPH, OL 61
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
To see a pilgrim as he dies,
With glory in his view;
To heav’n he lifts his longing eyes
And bids the world adieu.
While friends are weeping all around,
And loth to let him go,
He shouts with his expiring breath,
And leaves them all below.
O Christians, are you ready now,
To cross the rolling flood?
On Canaan’s happy shore to stand,
And see your smiling God?
The dazzling charms of that bright world
Attract my soul above;
My tongue shall shout redeeming grace,
When perfected in love.
Come on, my brethren in the Lord,
Whose hearts are join’d in one;
Hold up your heads with courage bold,
Your race is almost run:
Above the clouds behold Him stand,
And smiling bid you come;
And angels whisper you away,
To your eternal home.
“This enrapturing song [the text] was written by Rev. Jno. Adam
Granade, about 1802”, the compiler of the _Olive Leaf_ says. And he
adds, “Structure of this air learned of a negro, Mark Hull, 1843.” The
tune belongs to the ‘Hallelujah’ group, which see for many related
tunes.
No. 119
TO BE WITH CHRIST, REV 14
Hexatonic, mode 2 b (I — 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
This world is beautiful and bright,
O scarce one cloud has dimmed my sky,
And yet no gloomy shades of night
Are gath’ring ’round me though I die;
Yet there’s a lovelier land of light,
Illum’d by Bethle’m’s beaming star;
E’en now it bursts upon my sight,
To be with Christ is better far.
True, life is sweet and friends are dear,
And youth and health are pleasant things;
Yet, leave I all, without a tear,
No sad regret my bosom wrings.
The ties of earth are broken all,
My chainless soul, above yon star,
Shall wing its way beyond recall,
To be with Christ is better far.
And is this death? My soul is calm,
No sting is here, the strife is done;
Glory to God and to the Lamb!
Sweet triumph! I have won, I’ve won!
A crown immortal, robes of white,
For me, for me in waiting are;
Arrayed in glory, clothed in light,
To be with Christ is better far.
One more stanza of the text is in the _Revivalist_. The tune is
notated “as sung by Rev. B. I. Ives.”
No. 120
DEVOTION, OSH 48
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
Sweet is the day of sacred rest;
No mortal cares shall seize my breast;
O may my heart in tune be found,
Like David’s harp of solemn sound.
Then shall I share a glorious part,
When grace hath well refined my heart,
And fresh supplies of joy are shed,
Like holy oil, to cheer my head.
Then shall I see, and hear, and know
All I desired and wished below;
And ev’ry power find sweet employ,
In that eternal world of joy.
Watts wrote the words. The tune is ascribed in the _Sacred Harp_ to
Americk Hall. Found also, MOH 34, GCM 91, SOH 13, UH 48, WP 17, SKH 9,
GOS 548; and in _Social Hymn and Tune Book_ (Philadelphia, 1865) under
the title ‘Penitent’.
In JFSS, viii., 72, Miss Gilchrist calls attention to the likeness of
the above tune to Sharp’s Appalachian versions of ‘Little Musgrave and
Lady Barnard’. She also notes Miss Broadwood’s discovery of its
likeness to two Gaelic tunes, ‘Tearlach Og’ in the _Gesto Collection_,
and ‘Muile nam Morbheann’ in the _Celtic Lyre_. I append also ‘Lost
Babe’, Sharp, ii., 161, as a further relative.
No. 121
TENDER CARE, GOS 291
Hexatonic, mode 1 b (I II — IV V VI 7)
[Music]
When all thy mercies, O my God,
My rising soul surveys,
Transported with the view, I’m lost
In wonder, love and praise.
Unnumber’d comforts on my soul
Thy tender care bestow’d,
Before my infant soul conceiv’d
From whom those comforts flow’d.
When in the slippery paths of youth,
With heedless steps I ran,
Thine arm, unseen, conveyed me safe,
And led me up to man.
Ten thousand thousand precious gifts
My daily thanks employ;
Nor is the least a cheerful heart,
That tastes those gifts with joy.
Through every period of my life,
Thy goodness I’ll pursue;
And after death in distant worlds,
The pleasing theme renew.
In all eternity to Thee
A grateful song I’ll raise;
But! O eternity’s too short
To utter all thy praise.
Ascribed to P. M. Atchley who was a singing-school man in eastern
Tennessee in the early part of the nineteenth century. The tune
belongs to the ‘Hallelujah’ family. See the song by that name in this
collection for many related melodies.
No. 122
REFLECTION, MOH 444
Hexatonic, mode 1 b (I II — IV V VI 7)
[Music]
No sleep nor slumber to his eyes,
Good David would afford,
Till he had found below the skies
A dwelling for the Lord,
A dwelling for the Lord.
The Lord in Zion placed his name,
His ark was settled there;
And there th’assembled nation came,
To worship twice a year,
To worship twice a year.
We trace no more those toilsome ways,
Nor wander far abroad;
Where e’er thy people meet for praise,
There is a house for God,
There is a house for God.
The tune is usually attributed to Davisson, and this probably as a
result of Davisson’s own claim in the _Kentucky Harmony_. Found also,
KYH 42, UH 31, KNH 22, HOC 13, WP 36.
No. 123
PISGAH, OSH 58
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Jesus, thou art the sinner’s friend, As such I look on thee,
Now in the bowels of thy love, O Lord remember me.
O Lord remember me, O Lord remember me;
Now in the bowels of thy love, O Lord remember me.
Remember thy pure words of grace, remember Calvary,
Remember all thy dying groans, and then remember me.
O Lord remember me, O Lord remember me;
Remember all thy dying groans, and then remember me.
Thou wondrous advocate with God, I yield myself to thee,
While thou art sitting on thy throne, O Lord remember me.
O Lord remember me, O Lord remember me;
While thou art sitting on thy throne, O Lord remember me.
And when I close my eyes in death, and creature helps all flee,
Then O my great Redeemer, God, I pray remember me.
I pray remember me, I pray remember me;
Then O my great Redeemer, God, I pray remember me.
The poem is attributed in the _Sacred Harp_ to Richard Burnham. The
tune there, and generally in the southern books, is credited to J. C.
Lowry. Found also, MOH 59, GCM 104, SOH 80, UH 23, KNH 56, HH 112, SOC
205, WP 83, TZ 92, SKH 25, GOS 311. A negro spiritual inspired by this
song is ‘Lord, Remember Me’, SS 12, No. 15. Miss Gilchrist sees in
‘Pisgah’ a variant of ‘Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard’ as found in
the Appendix of Motherwell, _Minstrelsy_, and later published in
Chappell’s _Popular Music_. (See JFSS, viii., 61-95.) Despite the
apparently English source of ‘Pisgah’, the _Methodist Hymn Book_ of
England reproduces the tune under the title ‘Covenanters’ and calls it
“an American Melody.”
No. 124
GAINES, HH 122
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
O for a thousand tongues to sing,
My great Redeemer’s praise!
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of his grace,
The triumphs of his grace.
My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honors of thy name,
The honors of thy name.
Jesus! the name that charms our fears,
That bids our sorrows cease;
’Tis music in the sinner’s ears,
’Tis life and health and peace,
’Tis life and health and peace.
Charles Wesley wrote the words. William Hauser, _Hesperian Harp_
compiler, claims the tune. For melodic similarities in other spiritual
songs see ‘One More River to Cross’, in this collection; ‘Cherry Tree
Carol’, Sharp, i., 92 and 93; and ‘Geordie’, Sharp, i., 240.
No. 125
HUMBLE PENITENT, SKH 14
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
[Music]
Stay, thou insulted spirit, stay! Though I have done thee such
despite,
Cast not a sinner quite away, Nor take thine everlasting flight.
Though I have most unfaithful been, of all whoe’er thy grace
received;
Ten thousand times thy goodness seen, ten thousand times thy
goodness griev’d.
But O, the chief of sinners spare, in honor of my great priest;
Nor in thy righteous anger swear I shall not see thy people rest.
If yet thou canst my sins forgive, e’en now, O Lord, relieve my
woes;
Into thy rest of love receive, and bless me with the calm repose.
E’en now my weary soul release, and raise me by thy gracious hand;
Guide me into thy perfect peace, and bring me to the promis’d land.
Davisson, the compiler of the _Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony_,
claims this tune. It is similar to ‘The Bird Song’, Sharp, ii., 215.
For other tune relationships see ‘I Will Arise’ in this collection.
No. 126
CHARMING NAME, CHH 90
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
Jesus, I love thy charming name,
’Tis music to my ear;
Fain would I sound it out so loud
That earth and heav’n should hear,
That earth and heav’n should hear.
Yes, thou art precious to my soul,
My transport and my trust;
Jewels, to thee, are gaudy toys,
And gold is sordid dust.
I’ll speak the honors of thy name
With my last lab’ring breath;
Then speechless clasp thee in mine arms,
The antidote of death.
The notated form of this tune (the work is claimed by, and is
doubtless that of, William Walker) illustrates excellently the manner
of singing in rural America in earlier times. See also WS, p. 211 f.
No. 127
BALM IN GILEAD, REV 15
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
How lost was my condition Till Jesus made me whole
There is but one Physician Can cure a sin-sick soul.
There’s a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole;
There’s pow’r enough in Jesus to cure a sin-sick soul.
I have reproduced the notation of the _Revivalist_ tune with all its
mistakes. A fuller text is given under ‘Good Physician’ in this
collection. A negro version entitled ‘There is a Balm in Gilead’ is
given in Dett, p. 88. Another is in Work, p. 43.
No. 128
PLENARY, SOH 262
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
Hark, from the tombs a doleful sound,
Mine ears, attend the cry;
“Ye living men, come view the ground,
Where you must shortly lie,
Where you must shortly lie,
Where you must shortly lie;
Ye living men come view the ground
Where you must shortly lie.
“Princes, this clay must be your bed,
In spite of all your towers;
The tall, the wise, the reverend head
Must lie as low as ours.”
Grant us the power of quickening grace,
To fit our souls to fly;
Then, when we drop this dying flesh,
We’ll rise above the sky.
The tune is the same as the popular ‘Old Grimes is Dead’ and ‘Auld
Lang Syne’. It occurs also OSH 162 and CHH 94. The _Methodist Hymnal_
(1935) attributes it to William Shield. In the _Southern Harmony_ its
author is given as A. Clark.
No. 129
SAWYER’S EXIT, OSH 338
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
How bright is the day when the Christian
Receives the sweet message to come,
To rise to the mansions of glory
_Chorus_
And be there forever at home;
And be there forever at home,
To rise to the mansions of glory,
And be there forever at home.
The angels stand ready and waiting,
The moment the spirit is gone,
To carry it upward to heaven,
And welcome it safely at home.
_Chorus_
The saints that have gone up before us,
All raise a new shout as we come,
And sing hallelujah the louder,
To welcome the travelers home.
_Chorus_
For source of tune and words see WS, p. 167. The tune is borrowed from
‘Old Rosin the Bow’, see Sandburg, p. 167. See also ‘My Sister She
Works in a Laundry’, Sandburg, 381; ‘When Sherman Marched Down to the
Sea’, Dolph, 347; ‘Washington Badge’, HH 536; ‘Lord Randal’, Sharp,
i., 39; and ‘I wonder When I’m to Be Married’, from Dumphriesshire,
England, 1855, see JFSS, viii., 142.
No. 130
O TELL ME NO MORE, OL 301
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
O tell me no more of this world’s vain store;
The time for such trifles with me now is o’er.
A country I’ve found, where true joys abound,
To dwell I’m determin’d on that happy ground.
The souls that believe, in Paradise live;
And me in that number will Jesus receive:
My soul, don’t delay, he calls thee away;
Rise, follow thy Savior, and bless the glad day.
No mortal doth know what he can bestow,
What light, strength, and comfort; go after him, go!
Lo! onward I move, to a city above;
None guesses how wondrous my journey will prove.
The text is attributed to “John Gambold, of England.” I find the tune
to be a relative of a ‘Lord Randal’ variant which Sharp (i., 43, G)
found in eastern Tennessee. The resemblance of the two tunes runs
throughout; but in the last four-measure phrase (going with the
worldly sentence “I’m sick to the heart and I fain would lie down”)
they are practically identical. ‘Rose’ in this collection is a variant
of this tune, notated in the folk manner of singing.
No. 131
HEAVENLY DOVE, SOC 23
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
Come, Holy Spirit, heav’nly dove,
With all thy quick’ning powers;
Come shed abroad a Savior’s love,
And that will kindle ours.
This is quite clearly the ‘Barbara Allen’ tune as it is seen, for
example, in Sharp, i., 183ff. It is also related to ‘Lonesome Grove’
in this collection. The “dove” theme in the text of the above song and
in the ‘Lonesome Grove’ song was possibly the magnet which attracted
the texts to variant tunes.
No. 132
CEYLON, PB 372
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
How long, O Lord our Savior, wilt thou remain away?
Our hearts are growing weary of thy so long delay.
O when will come the moment when, brighter far than morn,
The sun-shine of thy glory will on thy people dawn.
How long, O gracious Saviour, wilt Thou Thy household leave?
So long hast Thou now tarried, few Thy return believe;
Immersed in sloth and folly, Thy servants, Lord, we see;
And few of us stand ready, with joy to welcome Thee.
How long, O heav’nly Bridegroom, how long wilt Thou delay?
And yet how few are grieving, that Thou dost absent stay;
Thy very bride her portion and calling hath forgot,
And seeks for ease and glory, where Thou, her Lord, art not.
The tune is a close relative of ‘Love Divine’ CHI 63, ‘Heavenly
Welcome’ HH 482, ‘Baltimore’ SKH 53, ‘Garden Hymn’ REV 164, and a less
close one to ‘Heavenward’, _Christian Science Hymnal_ (1932), No. 136,
which is an ancient Irish tune from the Petrie collection. Compare
Petrie, No. 993.
No. 133
NEW PROSPECT or O LAND OF REST, OSH 390
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
O land of rest, for thee I sigh,
When will the moment come
When I shall lay my armor by
And dwell in peace at home,
And dwell in peace at home;
When shall I lay my armor by
And dwell in peace at home.
No tranquil joy on earth I know,
No peaceful, sheltering dome;
This world’s a wilderness of woe,
This world is not my home.
Our tears shall all be wiped away
When we have ceased to roam,
And we shall hear our Father say,
“Come, dwell with me at home.”
J. S. James, editor of the 1911 _Original Sacred Harp_, attributes
tune and words to W. S. Turner of Georgia. It is found also, GOS 390.
Close relatives of this tune are ‘Deep Spring’ in this collection,
‘Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor’, Sharp, i., 118; and ‘Little Musgrave
and Lady Barnard’, Sharp, i., 166.
No. 134
I LOVE THEE, OL 318
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
I love thee, I love thee, I love thee, my Lord.
I love thy dear people, thy ways and thy word.
I love thee, I love thee, and that thou dost know;
But how much I love thee, I never can show.
I’m happy, I’m happy, O wondrous account!
My joys are immortal, I stand on the mount!
I gaze on my treasure, and long to be there,
With Jesus and angels, my kindred so dear.
O Jesus, my Savior, with thee I am blest!
My life and salvation, my joy and my rest!
Thy Name be my theme, and thy love be my song!
Thy grace shall inspire both my heart and my tongue.
O who’s like my Savior? He’s Salem’s bright King;
He smiles, and he loves me, and helps me to sing:
I’ll praise him and bless him, with notes loud and shrill,
While rivers of pleasure my spirit do fill:
O Jesus, my Savior! I know thou art mine;
For thee all the pleasures of sin I resign:
Of objects most pleasing I love thee the best;
Without thee I’m wretched, but with thee I’m blessed.
Tho’ weak and despised, by faith I now stand,
Preserv’d and defended by Heaven’s kind hand:
By Jesus supported, I’ll praise his dear name,
Regardless of danger, of praise, or of blame.
I find him in singing, I find him in prayer;
In sweet meditation he always is near:
My constant companion, Oh may we ne’er part!
All glory to Jesus, who dwells in my heart!
The text is attributed to John Adam Granade, the “Billy Sunday” of the
revival movement which reached a high point in its trend at about the
beginning of the nineteenth century. Granade was the author of many
widely sung texts.
The tune is clearly of the ‘Lord Lovel’ family. Compare, for example,
the melody which Sharp found in North Carolina; see Sharp, i., 38, A.
Its earliest appearance in American religious song books seems to have
been in Ingalls’ _Christian Harmony_, 1805, p. 44.
No. 135
NEW BRITAIN or HARMONY GROVE, SOH 8
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
The poem is by Newton. The tune’s source is unknown to the southern
compilers. It goes also under the names ‘Symphony’, ‘Solon’, and
‘Redemption’. Found also, WP 27, GCM 105, OSH 45, HH 104, SOC 190, TZ
90, VH 19, _Church Harmony_ 91. A close relative of the tune is
‘Primrose’ in this collection. Further stanzas of the text are given
under ‘Melody’.
I recorded this tune also as it was sung by F. Fagan Thompson of
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, February, 1936. I
reproduce here his version, one in which the tune is slowed and many
graces are introduced, as an excellent illustration of the widespread
southern folk-manner in the singing of hymns of this sort.
_very slow_
[Music]
Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now I’m found,
Was blind but now I see.
No. 136
SPIRITUAL SAILOR, SOH 41
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
The people called Christians have many things to tell
About the land of Canaan where saints and angels dwell;
But here a dismal ocean enclosing them around,
With its tides still divides them from Canaan’s happy ground.
Many have been impatient to work their passage through,
And with united wisdom have tried what they could do;
But vessels built by human skill have never sailed far,
Till we found them aground on some dreadful, sandy bar.
The everlasting gospel hath launch’d the deep at last;
Behold the sails expanded around the tow’ring mast!
Along the deck in order, the joyful sailors stand,
Crying, “Ho!—here we go to Immanuel’s happy land!”
We’re now on the wide ocean, we bid the world farewell!
And though where we shall anchor no human tongue can tell;
About our future destiny there need be no debate,
While we ride on the tide, with our Captain and his Mate.
To those who are spectators what anguish must ensue,
To hear their old companions bid them a last adieu!
The pleasures of your paradise no more our hearts invite;
We will sail—you may rail, we shall soon be out of sight.
The passengers united in order, peace, and love;
The wind is in our favour, how swiftly do we move!
Though tempests may assail us, and raging billows roar,
We will sweep through the deep, till we reach fair Canaan’s shore.
The _Southern Harmony_ gives the maker of this song as I. Neighbours,
who may indeed have been the author of the text. This text is clearly
a parody, and the tune a close variant, of ‘When the Stormy Winds do
Blow’ or ‘You Gentlemen of England’, a song of seafaring which appears
to have been widely sung in England over a long period. References to
a ‘Stormy Winds’ ballad reach back to 1660. The tune with different
texts appeared as ‘Saylers for my Money’, ‘The Bridegroom’s
Salutation’, ‘You Calvinists of England’ and ‘England’s Valour and
Holland’s Terrour’. See Vincent Jackson, _English Melodies from the
13th to the 18th Century_, p. 114.
Other melodic relatives which have come to my notice are ‘The Trees do
Grow High’, Sharp, _One Hundred English Folk-Songs_, No. 25; and ‘John
Anderson My Jo John’, _The Singer’s Companion_, p. 72, and SMM, No.
146.
No. 137
IDUMEA, OSH 47
Pentatonic, mode 2 (I — 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
And am I born to die,
To lay this body down?
And must this trembling spirit fly
Into a world unknown?
Waked by the trumpet’s sound,
I from the grave shall rise,
To see the Judge with glory crowned,
And view the flaming skies.
How shall I leave the tomb?
With triumph or regret?
A fearful or a joyful doom?
A curse or blessing meet?
I must from God be driv’n,
Or with my Saviour dwell;
Must come at His command to heav’n,
Or else depart—to hell.
The words are by Charles Wesley. The tune is claimed by Ananias
Davisson in his _Kentucky Harmony_ (1815) whence it was borrowed by
practically all the subsequent book compilers in the South. The tune
was used for the secular ballad ‘Lord Lovel’; see _White Spirituals_,
177. Also found KYH 33, GCM 36, SOH 31, UH 19, KNH 36, HH 224, SOC 55,
HOC 44, TZ 122, MOH 38, _Church Harmony_, p. 35, GOS 184, PB 246. An
imitation of this tune is GOS 325. ‘Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor’,
Davis, p. 570, shows the same trend, as does also ‘Young Hunting’,
Sharp, i., 112.
No. 138
BOZRAH, GOS 59
Hexatonic, mode 2 b (I — 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Who is this that comes from far
With his garments dipt in blood?
Strong, triumphant traveler,
Is he man or is he God?
“I that reign in righteousness,
Son of God and man I am,
Mighty to redeem your race,
Jesus is your Savior’s name.
“Wide, ye heavenly gates, unfold,
Closed no more by death and sin;
Lo, the conquering Lord behold;
Let the King of glory in.”
Hark, th’angelic host inquire,
“Who is He, th’almighty King?”
Hark again, the answering choir
Thus in strains of triumph sing:
“He whose powerful arm, alone,
On His foes destruction hurled;
He who hath the victory won;
He who saved you by His blood;
He who God’s pure law fulfilled;
Jesus, the incarnate Word;
He whose truth with blood was sealed;
He is heaven’s all-glorious Lord.”
The melodic sentence at the beginning and at the end is a favorite. It
may be found, for example, also in ‘Greenwood Siding’, Cox, p. 522. A
variant of the tune is ‘When I First Left Old Ireland’, Petrie, No.
863. See ‘I Will Arise’ in this collection for further tune
relationships.
No. 139
NEW ORLEANS, PB 255
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Why do we mourn departing friends
Or shake at death’s alarms?
’Tis but the voice that Jesus sends
To call them to his arms.
Are we not tending upward too,
As fast as time can move?
Nor would we wish the hours more slow,
To keep us from our love.
For variant forms of the tune see ‘Marion’ and ‘I Will Arise’ in this
collection. Among its related secular tunes are ‘Greenwood Siding’
(‘Cruel Mother’), Cox, p. 522; an unnamed tune in Petrie, No. 193; ‘Oh
Love it is a Killing Thing’, Petrie, No. 469; and ‘When First I left
Old Ireland’, Petrie, No. 863. A remarkable tune resemblance and one
which opens to the imagination surprising vistas as to the possible
age of the ‘New Orleans’ tune, is to be seen in the Whitsuntide church
melody ‘Iam Christus astra ascenderat’ from the eleventh century:
[Music]
Iam Christus astra ascenderat regressus unde venerat.
The same melodic trend is seen also in the German tune set to ‘Christ
der du bist der helle Tag’ from the year 1568. See _Hymns Ancient and
Modern_, Nos. 178 and 604.
No. 140
HOLY SON OF GOD, REV 365
Hexatonic, mode 2 A (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
I love the holy Son of God,
Who once this vale of sorrows trod,
And bore my sins, a heavy load,
Up Calv’ry’s gloomy mountain.
High on the cross he shameful hung,
The sport of many an envious tongue,
While pains severe his nature wrung,
And streamed life’s crimson fountain.
Oh, why did not his fury burn,
And floods of vengeance on them turn?
Amazing! See his bowels yearn
In soft compassion on them.
No fury kindles in his eyes;
They beam with love, and when he dies,
Father, forgive, the sufferer cries,
They know not—Oh, forgive them.
No. 141
WORTHY THE LAMB, SWP 92
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV 6 7)
[Music]
Glory to God on high;
Let earth and skies reply,
Praise ye his name, praise ye his name;
His love and grace adore,
Who all our sorrows bore,
Sing aloud evermore,
Worthy the Lamb, worthy the Lamb.
Jesus, our Lord and God,
Bore sin’s tremendous load,
Praise ye his name, praise ye his name;
Tell what his arm has done,
What spoils from death he won;
Sing his great name alone;
Worthy the Lamb.
While they around the throne
Cheerfully join as one,
Praising his name, praising his name,
Those who have felt his blood
Sealing their peace with God,
Sound his dear fame abroad,
Worthy the Lamb.
Three more stanzas of the text are in the _Southern and Western Pocket
Harmonist_. The tune is attributed to Bradshaw.
No. 142
CAPTAIN KIDD, COH 73
Hexatonic, mode 4 b (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
Through all the world below
God is seen all around,
Search hills and valleys through,
There he’s found.
The growing of the corn,
The lily and the thorn,
The pleasant and forlorn,
All declare, God is there;
In meadows drest in green,
There he’s seen.
See springing waters rise,
Fountains flow, rivers run;
The mist that veils the sky
Hides the sun;
Then down the rain doth pour,
The ocean it doth roar,
And beat upon the shore;
And all praise in their ways
The God who ne’er declines
His designs.
The sun with all his rays
Speaks of God as he flies;
The comet in her blaze,
God she cries.
The shining of the stars,
The moon when she appears,
His awful name declares;
See them fly through the sky,
And join the solemn sound
All round.
Not India’s hills of gold,
Where the wonders are told,
Nor zephyrs strong and bold
Can unfold
The mountain Calvary,
Where Christ our Lord did die.
Hark, hear the Savior cry,
Mountains quake, heavens shake,
Christ, call’d to heaven’s host,
Left their coast.
The tune is ascribed to Nicholson. The oldest American recording known
to me is in the four-shape-note manuscript song collection made by
Catherine Alderice in or near Emmittsburg, Md., 1800-1830, p. 37. Miss
Gilchrist calls attention to the secular ‘Captain Kidd’ ballad, of
which the above is a parody, as it appeared, twenty-five verses long,
in _Our Familiar Songs and Who Made Them_, published in America, 1889.
She describes it as “a sort of dying speech and testament probably
dating from about 1701 in which year Kidd and nine of his associates
were hanged in Execution Dock.... There were many other eighteenth
century songs, built on this peculiar stanzaic plan, celebrating other
notorious characters, ‘Admiral Benbow,’ ‘Jack (or Sam) Hall.’” Other
American spiritual songs in this collection having the same stanzaic
form are ‘Wondrous Love’ and ‘Remember Sinful Youth’.
No. 143
JERUSALEM, SOH (1835) 60
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 VII).
[Music]
Jerusalem, my happy home,
O how I long for thee!
When will my sorrows have an end,
Thy joys when shall I see!
But O, the happy, happy place,
The place where Jesus reigns;
The place where Christians all shall meet,
Never to part again.
Further stanzas of the text are given under ‘Long-Sought Home’ in this
collection. The song is attributed to Benjamin White. This is Benjamin
Franklin White, brother-in-law of, and co-worker with, William Walker
(compiler of the _Southern Harmony_) and author subsequently of the
_Sacred Harp_. See _White Spirituals_, 84.
No. 144
ROBY, OL 273
Heptatonic dorian, mode 2 A + B with altered 3rd (I II 3 [III] IV V VI
7)
[Music]
Tempest tossed, troubled spirit,
Dost thou groan beneath thy load,
Fearing thou shalt not inherit
In the kingdom of thy God?
View thy Savior on the mountain
In temptation’s painful hour;
Tho’ of grace himself the fountain,
And the Lord of boundless pow’r.
Do thy blooming prospects languish?
Sayest thou still, “I’m not his child?”
View thy Savior’s dreadful anguish,
Famished in the gloomy wild.
Not a step in all thy journey,
Thro’ this gloomy vale of tears,
But thy Lord hath trod before thee;
He thy way to glory clears.
The _Olive Leaf_ compiler informs us that this song which was a
favorite with the late Rev. Wesley P. Arnold, of Georgia, was “learned
of some dear Baptist friends in Iridell Co., N. C., in 1839, and
called ‘Roby’, their name.”
No. 145
REMEMBER SINFUL YOUTH or SOLEMN THOUGHT, SOH 29
Pentatonic, mode 2 (I — 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
Remember, sinful youth, you must die, you must die,
Remember, sinful youth, you must die;
Remember, sinful youth, who hate the way of truth
And in your pleasures boast, you must die, you must die;
And in your pleasures boast, you must die.
Uncertain are your days here below, here below,
Uncertain are your days here below,
Uncertain are your days, for God hath many ways
To bring you to your graves here below, here below,
To bring you to your graves here below.
The God that built the sky, great I AM, great I AM,
The God that built the sky, great I AM,
The God that built the sky, hath said, (and cannot lie),
Impenitents shall die, and be damn’d, and be damn’d,
Impenitents shall die, and be damn’d.
And, O my friends, don’t you, I entreat, I entreat,
And, O my friends, don’t you, I entreat,
And, O my friends, don’t you your carnal mirth pursue,
Your guilty souls undo, I entreat, I entreat,
Your guilty souls undo, I entreat.
Unto the Saviour flee, ’scape for life! ’scape for life!
Unto the Saviour flee, ’scape for life!
Unto the Saviour flee, lest death eternal be
Your final destiny, ’scape for life! ’scape for life!
Your final destiny, ’scape for life!
The mood of the poem indicates a considerable age for it. That the
song as a whole was decidedly among the stock of orally transmitted
ones is indicated by the many claimants to its authorship. Such
claimants in the southern books are F. Price, William Caldwell, James
Carrell and Ananias Davisson. Found also, UH 56, KNH 108, HH 225, SKH
66, CHH 361. The stanzaic form is that of ‘Captain Kidd’ in this
collection. In his _Christian Harmony_, William Walker adds the note
that “I learned it [the tune] from my dear mother (who now sings in
heaven) when I was only three years old,—the first tune I ever
learned.” That was in 1812. That the song was even older, however, is
shown by its appearance in Ingalls’ _Christian Harmony_ of 1805, p.
39.
No. 146
WEEPING SAVIOR, OSH 33
Hexatonic, mode 2 A (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
Did Christ o’er sinners weep?
And shall our cheeks be dry?
Let floods of penitential grief
Burst forth from every eye.
The Son of God in tears,
Angels with wonder see;
Be thou astonished, O my soul;
He shed those tears for thee.
He wept that we might weep;
Each sin demands a tear;
In heav’n alone no sin is found,
And there’s no weeping there.
The text is attributed to Benjamin Beddome, and the tune to Joseph
Barnby, and to E. J. King. The first, sixth, and seventh measures had
only quarter notes in the _Sacred Harp_. The slurred eighth notes are
inserted from a variant of the tune found in the _Olive Leaf_. They
represent probably an effort on the part of the editor of that song
book to present the tune as really sung.
No. 147
DETROIT, SOH 40
Hexatonic, mode 2, b (I — 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Do I not love thee, O my Lord?
Behold my heart and see;
And turn each cursed idol out,
That dares to rival thee.
Hast thou a lamb in all thy flock
I would disdain to feed?
Hast thou a foe before whose face
I fear thy cause to plead?
Would not my ardent spirit vie
With angels ’round thy throne,
To execute thy sacred will,
And make thy glory known?
Thou know’st I love thee, dearest Lord,
But Oh! I long to soar
Far from the sphere of mortal joys,
That I may love thee more.
Philip Doddridge is credited with the words. The tune is attributed to
‘Bradshaw’ in the _Southern Harmony_. Found also, UH 33, KNH 23, OSH
39, HH 158, SOC 175, HOC 22, WP 24, SKH 85, GOS 282. The melody is
similar to a number of those given by Sharp (i., 150ff.) with ‘The
Wife of Usher’s Well’.
No. 148
I SHALL BE SATISFIED, REV 62
Hexatonic, mode 4 b minorized (I II 3 IV V — 7 [VII])
[Music]
If I in thy likeness, O Lord, may awake,
And shine a pure image of thee;
Then I shall be satisfied when I can break
These fetters of flesh and be free.
I know this stain’d tablet must first be wash’d white,
To let thy bright features be drawn,
I know I must suffer the darkness of night,
To welcome the coming of dawn.
Then I shall be satisfied when I can cast
The shadows of nature all by,
When this cold dreary world from my vision is past,
And let this soul open her eye.
I gladly shall feel the blest morn drawing near,
When time’s dreary fancy shall fade,
If then in thy likeness I may but appear,
I rise with thy beauty arrayed.
One more stanza of text in the _Revivalist_. The song is used “as sung
by Rev. G. C. Wells.” It is reminiscent of the ‘Henry Martin’ tune;
see Gould and Sharp, _English Folk-Songs for Schools_, p. 22.
No. 149
EDGEFIELD, OSH 82
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
How tedious and tasteless the hours
When Jesus no longer I see!
Sweet prospects, sweet birds, and sweet flowers
Have all lost their sweetness to me,
Have all lost their sweetness to me.
The tune is attributed, in the _Sacred Harp_, to J. T. White, a
Georgian, and is dated 1844. It is a variant of ‘When the Cock Crows
it is Day’, Petrie, No. 478. The fuller text, attributed to John
Newton, is given under the song ‘Green Fields’ in this collection.
One Hundred and one Revival Spiritual Songs
No. 150
JESUS IS MY FRIEND (A), OSH 345
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Come life, come death, come then what will,
Jesus is my friend.
His foot-steps I will follow still,
Jesus is my friend.
Jesus is my friend,
O hallelujah!
Jesus is my friend.
In the _Sacred Harp_ of 1859 this song, tune and words, is attributed
to the Georgian, J. P. Rees. I have heard my negro servant, Annie
Ware, singing it, or fragments of it including the final phrase,
“Jesus is my friend,” in Nashville, Tennessee, 1932. It is found also
GOS 652.
No. 151
LOST CITY or TO GLORY I WILL GO, OSH 320
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
O when shall I see Jesus
And reign with him above,
And from the flowing fountain
Drink everlasting love,
And to glory I will go,
And to glory I will go, will go, will go,
And to glory I will go.
The words are by John Leland. The old tune seems to have been wedded
to the above text by E. L. King, about 1844, according to the
_Original Sacred Harp_. John G. McCurry applied the same tune to a
text beginning:
I’d rather live a beggar
While here on earth I stay
and ending with the refrain
And to begging I will go.
See ‘Beggar’ in this collection where there are references to the
seventeenth century prototype of the above song. Further stanzas of
the above spiritual text are given under ‘Faithful Soldier’.
No. 152
GOLDEN HARP or TO PLAY ON THE GOLDEN HARP, OSH 274
Pentatonic, mode 2 (I — 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
Farewell, vain world, I’m going home,
To play on the golden harp;
My Savior smiles and bids me come,
To play on the golden harp.
_Chorus_
I want to be where Jesus is,
To play on the golden harp.
To play on the golden harp,
To play on the golden harp;
I want to be where Jesus is,
To play on the golden harp.
Sweet angels beckon me away
To sing God’s praise in endless day.
I’m glad that I am born to die,
From grief and woe my soul shall fly.
Bright angels shall convey me home,
Away to New Jerusalem.
I’ll praise my Master while I’ve breath,
I hope to praise him after death.
I hope to praise him when I die,
And shout salvation as I fly.
I soon shall pass this vale of death,
And in his arms I’ll lose my breath.
And then my happy soul shall tell
My Jesus hath done all things well.
Recorded in 1869 for the edition of the _Sacred Harp_ which appeared
in that year. The tune stems from some variants of ‘Come all ye
Faithful Christians’, cf. JFSS, ii., 115ff.
No. 153
I CAN’T STAY AWAY, CSH 95
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Farewell, vain world, I’m going home,
I can’t stay away,
My Savior smiles and bids me come,
I can’t stay away.
I can not stay much longer here,
I can’t stay away,
For the gospel ship is passing by,
I can’t stay away.
Further stanzas of the text are given under ‘Golden Harp’. Compare,
for melodic similarities ‘Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard’, Sharp,
i., 161, 162, 164, 168, and 170.
No. 154
MY HOME IS OVER JORDAN, REV 390
Pentachordal, cannot be classified (I II 3 IV V — —)
[Music]
My home is over Jordan,
My home is over Jordan,
My home is over Jordan,
Where pleasures never die.
Where the wicked cease from troubling, _etc._
And the weary are at rest.
Farewell to sin and sorrow, _etc._
I bid you all adieu.
And you, my friends, prove faithful, _etc._
And on your way pursue.
This spiritual tune has been widely used as a chorus to other songs.
An example is ‘Wings of the Morning’ in this collection.
No. 155
O I’M SO HAPPY
Pentatonic, mode 1 (I II — IV V VI —)
[Music]
O I am so happy in Jesus,
His blood has redeem’d me from sin;
I shout and I sing in my gladness,
To know he is dwelling within.
O I am so happy in Jesus,
His blood has redeem’d me from sin,
So happy that he is my Savior,
So happy he’s dwelling within.
Recorded by the author, September 21, 1932, in Nashville, Tennessee,
from the singing of Samuel E. Asbury who learned it from hearing it
sung at camp meetings in western North Carolina in the 1880’s. The
tune is quite evidently an orally transmitted version of that of
‘Faithful Soldier’, in this collection, which first appeared in the
_Southern Harmony_ (1835) and was claimed by William Walker, the
compiler of that collection. See also ‘Hallelujah’ in this collection,
a type tune to which the above melody is organically related, for
further data as to kindred tunes.
No. 156
CUBA or GO PREACHERS or POOR MOURNER’S FOUND A HOME, OSH 401
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Go, preachers, and tell it to the world;
Go, preachers, and tell it to the world;
Go, preachers, and tell it to the world:
Poor mourner’s found a home at last.
Through free grace and a dying Lamb;
Through free grace and a dying Lamb;
Through free grace and a dying Lamb,
Poor mourner’s found a home at last.
This typical spiritual was taken into the 1859 edition of the _Sacred
Harp_. Other stanzas were added by simply substituting in the place of
“preachers,” the words “fathers,” “mothers,” etc. A negro version of
tune and words is in _Slave Songs_, No. 24.
No. 157
SINNERS TURN, OL 266
Heptatonic, essentially aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 [III] IV V 6
[VI] 7)
[Music]
Sinners, turn, why will ye die?
God, your maker asks you why.
God who did your being give,
Made you with himself to live.
_Chorus_
Oh! turn, sinners, turn!
May the Lord help you turn,
Oh! turn, sinners, turn,
Why will you die?
He the fatal cause demands,
Asks the work of his own hands,
Why, ye thankless creatures, why
Will you cross his love and die?
_Chorus_
Sinners, turn, why will ye die?
God, your Savior, asks you why!
God, who did your souls retrieve,
Died himself that ye might live.
_Chorus_
This tune is closely related to ‘Animation’ and, like it, to the
worldly tune ‘Ropesman’ in Thomas, p. 164. The melody of the above
chorus seems to have been derived from ‘Willy Taylor’, Petrie, No.
745. Compare for similarities ‘Run Nigger Run’, SS 89.
No. 158
DEATH AIN’T YOU GOT NO SHAME
Pentachordal, cannot be classified (I II III IV V — —)
[Music]
Death, ain’t you got no shame, shame?
Death, ain’t you got no shame, shame?
Death, ain’t you got no shame, shame?
Death, ain’t you got no shame?
Recorded by the compiler of this collection from the singing of
Francis Arthur Robinson, Nashville, Tennessee, as he had heard it in
the backwoods of Wayne County, Tennessee, in 1926. Mr. Robinson called
it a “barefoot white” song. The tied notes are sung in a skid or
scoop. Subsequent stanzas:
Left his pappy to moan, moan, _etc._
Left his widder alone, lone, _etc._
Left his mammy to weep, weep, _etc._
and many more. In _The Carolina Low-Country_, page 249, a version of
the song is given as sung by a negro congregation in Beaufort, South
Carolina.
This song is one of the most primitive in the present collection. It
is valuable, however, in that it exemplifies well a lyric level which
suited both whites and blacks of a certain cultural status.
No. 159
COME TO JESUS, REV 142
Hexatonic, 6th missing, cannot be classified but obviously ionian (I
II III IV V — VII)
[Music]
Come to Jesus, come to Jesus,
Come to Jesus just now,
Just now come to Jesus,
Come to Jesus just now.
Subsequent verses are built up on: He will save you; O, believe him;
He is able; He is willing; He’ll receive you; Call upon him; He will
hear you; Look unto him; He’ll forgive you; He will cleanse you; He
will clothe you; Jesus loves you; Don’t reject him; and, Only trust
him. A negro version of tune and text is in _Slave Songs_, No. 85.
Was ‘Come to Jesus’ a tune importation from Germany? Erk and Böhme
(_Deutscher Liederhort_, vol. iii., p. 735) bring several variants of
what is called an “altes Fastenlied.” I reproduce one of them:
[Music]
Es sangen drei Engel einen süßen Gesang,
sie sangen, daß es Gott in dem Himmel erklang.
The first part of the German tune is almost identical with the
corresponding part of the one, heard widely among American students,
with such texts as ‘O My Darling Clementine’ and ‘Found a Horseshoe
Just Now’—evident parodies on the ‘Come to Jesus’ tune and words. The
second part of the German melody is strikingly like that of the above
mentioned negro version in _Slave Songs_.
No. 160
GLAD NEWS or WE’LL LAND ON SHORE, SOC 18
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Come, Thou fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
And we’ll land on shore,
Yes, we’ll land on shore,
And we’ll land on shore
And be safe for evermore.
A variant of the above text and tune is ‘when we pass over Jordan’,
Mason’s _Harp of the South_, p. 295.
No. 161
CHRISTIAN PROSPECT or THERE’S A BETTER DAY, SOH 323
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
We have our trials here below,
O glory hallelujah!
We have our trials here below,
O glory hallelujah!
There’s a better day a-coming,
Hallelujah!
There’s a better day a-coming,
Hallelujah!
A few more beating winds and rains,
O glory hallelujah!
A few more beating winds and rains,
O glory hallelujah!
And the winter will be over,
Hallelujah!
And the winter will be over,
Hallelujah!
A few more rising and setting suns
And we’ll all cross over Jordan.
I feel no ways like getting tired,
I am making for the harbor.
I hope to get there by and by,
My home is over Jordan.
There are four more stanzas. The song is found also in KNH 52. Both
Walker, compiler of the _Southern Harmony_, and Davisson, compiler of
the _Kentucky Harmony_, laid claim to its authorship.
They were doubtlessly both recorders of this same piece of unwritten
music. That was in the 1830’s. See the first phrase of ‘Glorishears’
(Sharp, _Morris Dances_ Set 5, No. 6) for melodic similarities. The
above song, both tune and words, inspired the composition of
‘Christian’s Hope’ in this collection. A negro remake of tune and
words is in Dett, p. 36.
No. 162
CHRISTIAN’S HOPE or WHERE ALL IS PEACE AND LOVE, OSH 506
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
We have our troubles here below,
We’re trav’ling through this world of woe,
To that bright world where loved ones go,
Where all is peace and love.
Where all is peace and love,
To that bright world where loved ones go,
Where all is peace and love.
We’re fettered and chained up in clay,
While in this body here we stay;
By faith we know a world above,
Where all is peace and love.
I feel no way like getting tired,
I’m trusting in his holy word,
To guide my weary feet above,
Where all is peace and love.
The _Sacred Harp_, edition of 1911, has the following note: “H. A.
Parris, who composed the words and music to the ‘Christian’s Hope’,
resides at this time, 1911, at Helicon, Alabama. He is a great lover
of the old _Sacred Harp_ tunes.” Mr. Parris composed the song by
assembling, happily withal, wandering distichs and melodic phrases
from songs of much older times. His chief source, both tonally and
textually, was ‘Christian Prospect’ in this collection. I have been
told that this spiritual grips the _Sacred Harp_ singers’ emotions so
deeply that they can hardly get to the third verse before many burst
into tears.
No. 163
DULCIMER or BELOVED, PB 309
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
O thou in whose presence my soul takes delight,
On whom in afflictions I call,
My comfort by day and my song in the night,
My hope, my salvation, my all.
The poem is by Joseph Swain of England (1762-1796). The tune is
attributed to Freeman Lewis whom Tillett calls merely “an American
musician.” His dates are 1780-1859. Found also GCM 65, _Baptist
Hymnal_ (1902), No. 389. _Methodist Hymnal_ (1905), No. 530; GOS 102,
SOH 15. Miss Gilchrist (_op. cit._) compares this tune with ‘Fair
Rosie Ann’ in Greig’s _Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads_, p. 771.
The chorus of ‘The Sinking of the Titanic’ a phonograph-recorded song
of wide popularity in America during the 1920’s, is practically the
same melodic trend as that of ‘Dulcimer’. Its text is:
It was bad when that great ship went down,
It was bad when that great ship went down,
There was husbands and wives,
Little child’en lost their lives,
It was bad when that great ship went down.
A song curiously similar to the ‘Titanic’ song is in _The Carolina
Low-Country_, page 296, as sung by the negroes on the Santee River in
South Carolina. The tune is changed but little. The words are:
It was sad w’en duh grabe sinkin’ down,
It was sad w’en duh grabe sinkin’ down,
Ain’ dat uh awful time,
People keep awake all night,
It was sad w’en duh grabe sinkin’ down.
The tune of ‘Dulcimer’ is of the ‘Lord Lovel’ type mentioned in the
Introduction, p. 14. Other songs in this collection belonging to this
type are ‘Yongst’, ‘Dunlap’s Creek’, ‘Liverpool’, ‘Ester’, ‘Lonesome
Grove’, and ‘Land of Rest’. Other spiritual folk-tunes of the same
type are ‘Eden’, GOS 558; ‘Thy Way O God’, PB 29; ‘Charlestown’, GOS
255; ‘Lord of Glory’, PB 374; ‘New Hope’, PB 373; ‘Golden Hill’, HH
211; ‘Webster’, OSH 31; ‘Hollis’, GOS 73; ‘Edneyville’, HH 193;
‘Blissful Hope’, REV 140; and ‘Tedious Hours’, SOC 69. Further secular
tunes of the type are ‘Lord Lovel’, Sharp, i., 148; ‘The Two
Brothers’, Davis, 563; ‘The Mermaid’, Sharp, i., 293; ‘Every Night
When the Sun Goes In’, Sharp, ii., 269; ‘Three Little Babes’, Davis,
576; ‘Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies’, Sharp, ii., 135; ‘Barbara
Allen’, Sharp, i., 195; ‘Gypsy Laddie’, Sharp, i., 237; ‘Horn Fair’,
JFSS, ii., 204; and ‘The Cuckoo’, Sharp, ii., 177.
No. 164
WEEPING MARY (A), SOC 98
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Are there anybody here like Mary a-weeping?
Call to my Jesus and he’ll draw nigh.
Are there anybody here like Peter a-sinking?
Call to my Jesus and he’ll draw nigh.
Glory, glory, glory, glory,
Glory be to my God on high.
Attributed in the _Sacred Harp_ to “John G. McCurry & Power” and dated
1852. For a variant of this tune used among the negroes see _White
Spirituals_, 256. Miss Gilchrist states that the text of this song is
No. 51 in the first _English Primitive Methodist Hymn Book_, about
1823.
No. 165
GREAT DAY or WHERE WILL YOU STAND, OSH 386
Pentachordal, cannot be classified (I II 3 IV V — —)
[Music]
I’ve a long time heard that there will be a judgment
That there will be a judgment in that day.
O there will be a judgment in that day,
O sinner, where will you stand in that day?
I’ve a long time heard that the moon will be bleeding,
That the moon will be bleeding in that day.
I’ve a long time heard that the stars will be falling, _etc._
I’ve a long time heard that the earth will be burning, _etc._
This song bears the date 1859 and the composer’s name, John P. Rees.
But beside the title we read: “As sung by Judge Falkerner of Ala.” We
may therefore conclude that Rees recorded on that date this older tune
from the singing of the Alabama magistrate. Melodic similarities are
seen in ‘Trooper and the Maid’, Sharp, i., 305. A recent negro version
from Beaufort, S. C., is in _The Carolina Low-Country_, p. 250.
No. 166
SHOUT ON, PRAY ON or ANTIOCH, OSH 277
Hexatonic, mode 2 b (I — 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
I know that my Redeemer lives, Glory hallelujah.
What comfort this sweet sentence gives, Glory hallelujah,
Shout on, pray on, we’re gaining ground, Glory hallelujah,
The dead’s alive and the lost is found, Glory hallelujah.
There are three more stanzas of this hymn, the core of which is
attributed to Daniel Medley “about 1784.” The tune first appeared in
the _Social Harp_, 1855, where it is attributed to F. C. Wood, a
Georgian. A tune and text variant is ‘We’ll Go On’, REV 252. A negro
version of this spiritual may be seen in Dett, 195. See also _White
Spirituals_, 259. ‘Antioch’ looks like a make-over from ‘Columbus’ in
this collection. The tune is cleverly fitted also to a worldly ballad
‘Edward’, found in eastern Tennessee; see Sharp, i., 47. It is found
also fitted to the worldly ballad ‘Cruel Mother’ in North Carolina;
see Sharp, i., 58. ‘Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard’, Sharp, i., 162,
shows definite influence of ‘Antioch’. See also for melodic
similarities ‘Trooper and the Maid’, Sharp, i., 305; and ‘Bridle and
Saddle’, Sharp, i., 305; and ‘Bridle and Saddle’, Sharp, ii., 329.
No. 167
WE’LL SHOUT AND GIVE HIM GLORY or REVIVAL SONG, OL 254
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Oh, how I love my Savior!
Oh, how I love my Savior!
Oh, how I love my Savior,
because he first lov’d me.
_Chorus_
We’ll shout and give him glory,
We’ll shout and give him glory,
We’ll shout and give him glory,
For glory is his own.
I feel the work reviving, _etc._
Reviving in my soul.
_Chorus_
I’m on my way to Zion, _etc._
The New Jerusalem.
_Chorus_
O Christians, will you meet me? _etc._
On Canaan’s happy shore?
_Chorus_
By the grace of God, I’ll meet you, _etc._
On Canaan’s happy shore.
_Chorus_
O brothers, will you meet me? _etc._
O sisters, will you meet me? _etc._
O mourners, will you meet me? _etc._
O sinners, will you meet me? _etc._
The _Olive Leaf_ editor calls it a “refrain song.”
No. 168
SWEET MORNING, OSH 421
Hexatonic, mode 2 A (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
The happy day will soon appear,
And we’ll all shout together in that morning;
When Gabriel’s trumpet you shall hear,
And we’ll all shout together in that morning.
Sweet morning, sweet morning,
And we’ll all shout together in that morning.
Behold the righteous marching home,
And we’ll all _etc._
And all the angels bid them come,
And we’ll all _etc._
Found also in GOS 254. How the post-Civil War negroes sang this song
to pieces and then patched it together with fragments of
‘Exhilaration’, another song in this collection, is made clear by
reference to _Slave Songs_, p. 74, No. 97. The tune of ‘Trooper and
the Maid’, Sharp, i., 305, is the same as that of ‘Sweet Morning’.
No. 169
GOOD OLD WAY (A), OSH 213
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
Lift up your heads, Immanuel’s friends,
O halle, hallelujah;
And taste the pleasure Jesus sends,
O halle, hallelujah.
Let nothing cause you to delay,
O halle, hallelujah;
But hasten on the good old way,
O halle, hallelujah.
The words of the above song appeared in the _Dover Selection_ in the
early years of the nineteenth century and in the _Zion Songster_, a
spiritual-song collection which appeared in 1832. The first appearance
of the tune seems to have been in the _Southern Harmony_ of 1835. A
related tune in this collection is ‘All the Way ’Long’. Further
stanzas of the text are given under ‘Good Old Way (B)’.
No. 170
ALL THE WAY ’LONG, REV 172
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Oh, good old way, how sweet thou art,
All the way ’long it is Jesus.
May none of us from thee depart,
All the way ’long it is Jesus.
Jesus, Jesus,
Why, all the way ’long it is Jesus.
But may our actions always say,
We’re marching in the good old way.
This note above the rest shall swell,
That Jesus doeth all things well.
Related songs in this collection are ‘Good Old Way (A)’, ‘Good Old Way
(B)’, and ‘’Tis a Wonder’.
No. 171
’TIS A WONDER, SOC 44
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
O ’tis a glorious mystery,
’Tis a wonder, a wonder, a wonder;
That I should ever saved be
’Tis a wonder, a wonder, a wonder.
No heart can think or fully tell,
’Tis a wonder, a wonder;
My God has sav’d my soul from hell,
’Tis a wonder, a wonder, a wonder.
Two further stanzas of the text taken from _Good Old Songs_, No. 511,
are:
Great mystery that God should place,
’Tis a wonder _etc._
His love on any of Adam’s race,
’Tis a wonder _etc._
That I should also share a part,
’Tis a wonder _etc._
And find a mansion in his heart,
’Tis a wonder _etc._
Great mystery, I can’t tell why
That Christ for sinful worms should die;
Should leave the boundless realms of bliss,
And die for sinners on the cross.
The song is accredited in the _Social Harp_ to Henry F. Chandler and
dated 1854. A North Carolina variant, recorded in 1916, is in Sharp,
ii., 294. A variant in the present collection is ‘Look Out’, which see
for references to related secular tunes. The earliest American
recording of this melody known to me is that in Jeremiah Ingalls’
_Christian Harmony_ of 1805, p. 15. It begins:
When converts first begin to sing, wonder, wonder, wonder,
Their happy souls are on the wing, wonder, wonder, wonder.
Their theme is all redeeming love, glory hallelujah,
Fain would they be with Christ above, sing glory hallelujah.
No. 172
BOWERS or HAPPY SOULS (B), SOC 82
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
My soul’s full of glory,
Inspiring my tongue,
Could I meet with angels,
I’d sing them a song;
I’d sing of my Jesus
And tell of his charms,
And beg them to bear me
To his loving arms.
To his loving arms,
To his loving arms;
And beg them to bear me
To his loving arms.
John G. McCurry places his name as composer at the top of the page
where this song is found in the _Social Harp_ and dates it 1852. A
note at the bottom says: “This tune was arranged as sung by William
Bowers, Eagle Grove, Georgia.” Eagle Grove is a few miles south of
Hartwell. The tune is a clear borrowing from ‘Wearing of the Green’.
See also ‘Our Goodman’, Sharp, i., 269, for melodic similarities.
Further stanzas of the text are given under ‘Glorious Prospect’. In
_The Musical Quarterly_, vol. xxii., No. 2, I have called attention to
melodic similarities between the above tune (with its variants ‘Oh For
my Soul’s Happy’, ‘We’ll Wait Till Jesus Comes’, and ‘O When Shall I
see Jesus’ in this collection) and Stephen Foster’s ‘Annie My own
Love’ and ‘Hard Times Come Again No More’.
No. 173
HEAVEN’S MY HOME, OSH 119
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Come, all my dear brethren and help me to sing,
I’m going to Jesus, he’s heaven’s great King;
He died to atone for the sins of the world,
His banner is flying his sails are unfurled.
Heaven’s my home, heaven’s my home;
I’m going to Jesus for heaven’s my home.
While here in the valley of conflict I stay,
Oh, give me submission and strength as my day;
In all my afflictions to thee I would come,
Rejoicing in hope of my glorious home.
I long, dearest Lord, in thy beauties to shine,
No more as an exile in sorrow to pine;
And in thy dear image arise from the tomb,
With glorified millions to praise thee at home.
The song is ascribed in the _Original Sacred Harp_ to Dr. R. H. Davis
and J. S. Terry. This is a re-make of an older tune in four-four time
called ‘Old Troy’ in this collection, and ‘Old Troy’ in turn is almost
identical with, and probably made out of ‘Wearing of the Green’.
No. 174
OLD TROY or IN JESUS’ BLOOD, SOC 75
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
The news of his mercy is spreading abroad,
And sinners come crying and weeping to God.
Their mourning and praying is heard very loud,
And many find favor in Jesus’es blood.
In Jesus’es blood,
In Jesus’es blood,
And many find favor in Jesus’es blood.
For tune relationships see ‘Heaven’s My Home’ and ‘Happy Souls (B)’ in
this collection. John G. McCurry claims the tune in the _Social Harp_.
It is taken bodily from ‘Wearing of the Green’. A very similar negro
spiritual tune is in Dett, p. 42.
No. 175
THERE WILL BE MOURNING or JUDGMENT SCENES, OL 337
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
[Music]
Judgment day is rolling on,
Judgment day is rolling on,
Judgment day is rolling on
As fast as time can move.
Oh, there will be mourning,
Mourning, mourning, mourning,
Oh, there will be mourning
At the judgment seat of Christ.
Wives and husbands there shall part, _etc._
Shall part to meet no more.
_Chorus_
Brothers and sisters there shall part, _etc._
Pastors and people there shall part, _etc._
Parents and children there shall part, _etc._
This old air and its words portray, as the _Olive Leaf_ author
declares, “the gloomy side” of the Last Day. But, he adds consolingly,
“Now sing the joyous side, with every verse,” thus:
The judgment day is rolling on, _etc._
And we shall all be there.
Oh, there will be shouting
Shouting, shouting, shouting,
Oh, there will be shouting
At the judgment seat of Christ.
Wives and husbands then shall meet, _etc._
Shall meet to part no more.
_Chorus_
and so on also for the “parents and children,” and the rest. ‘Parting
Hymn’, in this collection, uses a similar chorus but has a different
verse and tune. A negro version is in _Slave Songs_, p. 52.
No. 176
WEEPING PILGRIM or YOU MAY TELL THEM FATHER or I’M A POOR MOURNING
PILGRIM, OSH 417
Pentatonic, mode 1 (I II — IV V VI —)
[Music]
You may tell them, father, when you see them,
I’m a poor mourning pilgrim, I’m bound for Canaan’s land.
I weep and I mourn, and I move slowly on,
I’m a poor mourning pilgrim, I’m bound for Canaan’s land.
The text is probably a parody of ‘Rebel Soldier’ or ‘Poor Stranger’,
Sharp, ii., 212ff. Especially the refrain verses of the two songs show
textual and tonal resemblances. The secular refrain runs:
I am a rebel soldier and far from my home.
The cowboys, too, made use of the ‘Rebel Soldier’ or ‘Mourning
Pilgrim’ in the song ‘Poor Lonesome Cowboy’, Sandburg, p. 273, which
reads:
I’m a poor lonesome cowboy, and a long way from home.
The spiritual song appeared first in the 1859 edition of the _Sacred
Harp_.
No. 177
EXHILARATION or THEN MY TROUBLES WILL BE OVER or I NEVER SHALL FORGET
THE DAY, OSH 170
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
O may I worthy prove to see
The saints in full prosperity,
Then my troubles will be over.
To see the bride, the glitt’ring bride,
Close seated by my Savior’s side,
Then my troubles will be over.
I never shall forget the day
When Jesus wash’d my sins away,
And then my troubles will be over;
Will be over, will be over and rejoicing,
And then my troubles will be over.
I’ll praise him while he gives me breath,
I hope to praise him after death.
Then my troubles will be over.
I hope to praise him when I die,
And shout salvation as I fly,
Then my troubles will be over.
_Chorus_
I soon shall pass the vale of death,
And in his arms resign my breath.
O then my happy soul shall tell,
My Jesus has done all things well.
_Chorus_
Then shall I see my blessed God,
And praise him in his bright abode.
My theme to all eternity
Shall glory, glory, glory be.
_Chorus._
I have no information as to the tune excepting that it appeared in the
earliest edition of the _Sacred Harp_, that is, in 1844. The tune and
the words of its chorus have served the negroes in the construction of
‘Almost Over’, SS, No. 97.
No. 178
RESURRECTED or MY FATHER’S GONE or AWAY OVER YONDER or TO WEAR A
STARRY CROWN, OSH 524
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
My father’s gone to view that land,
My father’s gone to view that land,
My father’s gone to view that land
To wear a starry crown,
Away over yonder, away over yonder,
Away over yonder to wear a starry crown.
Seaborn M. Denson, widely known fasola country singing-school teacher
and musical editor of the 1911 edition of the _Original Sacred Harp_,
and author of this song, told me he had heard this song sung in camp
meetings around Civil War times in northern Alabama. He recorded it
from memory and published it first in the _Union Harp_ in 1909. The
tune is a member of the ‘Roll Jordan’ group. See Introduction, page
14, and the song by that name in this collection. Further stanzas read
“My mother’s gone”, “My sister’s gone” etc.
The wide spread of this song in the American oral tradition and
especially at the time when Mr. Denson heard it in northern Alabama,
is indicated by the variant and musically somewhat inferior recording
in the _Revivalist_, Albany, New York, 1868. It is there called ‘Away
over Jordan’. It runs:
My brother’s going to wear that crown _etc._
To wear that starry crown.
Away over Jordan, with my blessed Jesus,
Away over Jordan, to wear that starry crown.
My father’s gone to wear that crown _etc._
My mother’s gone _etc._
John Wesley’s gone _etc._
You must live right _etc._
No. 179
WINGS OF THE MORNING or WESTERN MELODY, BHTBK, p. 213
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
O thou almighty Father,
Come help me now to praise thy glory
(_These words lacking in my recording_)
Oh, had I the wings of the morning,
I’d fly away to Canaan’s shore;
Bright angels should convey me home
To the new Jerusalem.
The tune trend of the chorus is found also in ‘Rocky Mountain Top’,
Sharp, ii., 110; and it is the whole tune of ‘My Home is Over Jordan’
in this collection.
No. 180
WE’LL MARCH AROUND JERUSALEM, REV 358
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
O brethren, will you meet me
On that delightful shore?
O brethren, will you meet me
Where parting is no more?
And we’ll march around Jerusalem,
We’ll march around Jerusalem,
We’ll march around Jerusalem
When we arrive at home.
Subsequent stanzas use instead of brethren, sister, leader, preacher,
young convert, and backslider, with the conclusion:
Yes, bless the Lord, I’ll meet you, _etc._
The above tune, with some alterations, is found as a negro spiritual
in Dett, p. 78.
No. 181
RAGAN or I BELONG TO THIS BAND (B), OSH 176
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Fare-well, vain world, I’m going home,
I belong to this band, hallelujah,
My Savior smiles and bids me come,
I belong to this band, hallelujah.
Hallelujah, hallelujah,
I belong to this band, hallelujah.
The above melodic trend will be recognized as that of ‘Roll Jordan’
and Stephen Foster’s ‘Susanna’. Compare ‘Roll Jordan’ in this
collection. The chorus—both tune and words—appears also in ‘I Belong
to This Band (A)’. Further stanzas of the text are given under ‘Golden
Harp’.
No. 182
DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE or WE’LL END THIS WAR, REV 68
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
[Music]
Hark! listen to the trumpeters,
I mean to go!
They call for valiant volunteers,
I mean to go!
Oh! we’ll end this war.
Down by the river,
We’ll end this war down by the riverside.
See Gideon marching out to fight,
I mean to go!
He had no weapon but a light,
I mean to go!
_Chorus_
He took his pitcher and a lamp,
And stormed with ease the Midian camp.
I’ve listed during all this war,
Content to have a soldier’s fare.
The war is all my soul’s delight,
I love the thickest of the fight.
The hottest fight is just begun,
And who will stand and never run?
We want no cowards in our band,
We call for valiant-hearted men.
Fight on, ye conq’ring souls, fight on,
Until the conquest you have won.
I have some friends before me gone,
And I’m resolved to travel on.
Farewell, vain world, I’m going home,
My Savior smiles and bids me come.
I’ll tell you what I mean to do,
I mean to go to glory too.
The song bears the name of “Rev. J. K. Tinkham” as its purveyor to the
_Revivalist_. A version of the spiritual song, as sung at about the
same time (in the 1870’s) by the negroes, is in Marsh, No. 85, under
the title ‘Down by the River’. Another by the same title is in Dett,
p. 55; and still another in Dett, p. 74.
No. 183
I’M GOING HOME or I DON’T CARE TO STAY HERE LONG, OSH 282
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
Farewell, vain world, I’m going home,
My Savior smiles and bids me come,
And I don’t care to stay here long.
Sweet angels beckon me away
To sing God’s praise in endless day,
And I don’t care to stay here long.
Right up yonder, Christians,
Away up yonder;
O yes, my Lord,
For I don’t care to stay here long.
Further stanzas of the text are given under ‘Golden Harp’. This tune
was recorded for the 1850 edition of the _Sacred Harp_, evidently by
the Georgian, Leonard P. Breedlove.
No. 184
ROLL JORDAN, OSH 501
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
He comes, he comes, the Judge severe,
Roll, Jordan, roll;
The seventh trumpet speaks him near,
Roll, Jordan, roll.
I want to go to heav’n, I do,
Hallelujah Lord;
We’ll praise the Lord in heav’n above,
Roll, Jordan, roll.
His lightnings flash, his thunders roll,
Roll, Jordan, roll;
How welcome to the faithful soul,
Roll, Jordan, roll.
Charles Wesley wrote the text. According to Lightwood, p. 132, it is a
parody on a popular secular song which celebrated Admiral Vernon’s
return to England after taking Portobello in 1739. Its first stanza
is:
He comes! He comes! The hero comes!
Sound your trumpets, beat your drums!
From port to port let cannons roar
His welcome to the British shore.
It is found also in SOC, published in 1855. In the Introduction p. 14,
I have mentioned the ‘Roll Jordan’ type of melody; it was named after
the above tune. Other melodies of the type in this collection are
‘Florence’, ‘I Belong to this Band (B)’, ‘Tennessee’, ‘Jordan’, and
‘Resurrected’. It is this tune type which influenced Stephen Foster in
the making of his ‘Susanna Don’t You Cry’ and ‘De Camptown Races’. See
in this connection my article in _The Musical Quarterly_, vol. xxii.,
No. 2. For samples of negro borrowings of ‘Roll Jordan’ see _White
Spirituals_, 264; Dett, p. 76; and _Slave Songs_, Nos. 1 and 10.
No. 185
WE’LL ALL PRAISE GOD, REV 381
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
[Music]
Come and taste along with me
Consolation running free
From my Father’s wealthy throne,
Sweeter than the honey comb.
I’ll praise God, and you’ll praise God,
We’ll all praise God together;
I’ll praise the Lord for the work that he has done,
And we’ll bless his name forever.
Why should Christians feast alone?
Two are better far than one;
The more that comes with free good will
Makes the banquet sweeter still.
Now I go to heaven’s door,
Asking for a little more;
Jesus gives a double share,
Calling me his chosen heir.
Goodness, running like a stream
Through the new Jerusalem;
By its constant breaking forth
Sweetens earth and heaven both.
Two more stanzas are in the _Revivalist_. The relationship between
this tune and that of Stephen Foster’s ‘Long-Ago Day’ was noted by me
in _The Musical Quarterly_, vol. xxii., No. 2.
No. 186
HEAVENLY HOME, SWP 150
Pentatonic, mode 1 (I II — IV V VI —)
[Music]
O who will join and help me sing,
I never will turn back while heaven’s in my view.
The praise of Zion’s conqu’ring King,
I never will turn back while heaven’s in my view.
Heaven is my home, my journey I’ll pursue,
I never will turn back while heaven’s in my view.
By faith my journey I’ll pursue, I never _etc._
And bid all earthly things adieu, I never _etc._
I want my friends to go with me,
I’m bound fair Canaan’s land to see.
I want to take them by the hand
And march unto the promised land.
My Jesus dwells on Zion’s hill,
And faithful to his promise still.
Then whosoever will, may come,
For Jesus Christ refuseth none.
O what a Captain I have got!
O is not mine a happy lot!
He surely is the sinner’s friend,
And one that loves unto the end.
I’m travelling through the wilderness
And seeking for a heavenly rest.
That rest in Jesus Christ is found,
And I will sing it all around.
For fight I must, while here below;
The word of God has taught me so.
Has taught me I shall conqueror be,
In death and through eternity.
My Jesus bids me still press on,
And reaches out to me a crown.
He says to me, be not afraid,
For I can save beyond the grave.
O while I’m singing of his name,
My soul begins to feel the flame.
When he to me his presence gives,
I know that my Redeemer lives.
No. 187
WHEN WE ALL GET TO HEAVEN or RELIGION IS A FORTUNE, OSH 319
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
[Music]
O when shall I see Jesus And reign with Him above,
Shout glory, halle, hallelujah;
And from the flowing fountain Drink everlasting love?
Shout glory, halle, hallelujah.
When we all get to heaven we will shout aloud and sing,
Shout glory halle, hallelujah.
Religion is a fortune
And heaven is a home,
Shout glory, halle, hallelujah.
When shall I be delivered from this vain world of sin,
And with my blessed Jesus drink endless pleasures in?
The text core is generally ascribed to John Leland (1754-1844). See
_White Spirituals_, 217ff. Further stanzas are given under ‘Faithful
Soldier’.
No. 188
BATES or TO HEAR THE TRUMPET SOUND, REV 158
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
[Music]
Oh, brother, in that day
We’ll take wings and fly away,
And we’ll hear the trumpet sound in the morning.
Oh glory! how I want to go
To hear the trumpet sound in the morning.
Oh, sister, in that day, _etc._
Oh, preachers, in that day, _etc._
Oh, leaders, in that day, _etc._
Oh, converts, in that day, _etc._
You may bury me in the east,
You may bury me in the west, _etc._
You may bury me in the north,
You may bury me in the south, _etc._
A close negro variant of the above spiritual song is in Marsh, p. 136.
Both the Marsh song and the present one are rather degenerate
descendants, apparently, of ‘Morning Trumpet’ in this collection. See
also _White Spirituals_, 254.
No. 189
RIVER OF JORDAN or HAPPY IN THE LORD, OSH 493
Hexatonic, Mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Jesus, my all, to heav’n is gone,
Happy, O happy,
He who I fixed my hopes upon,
Happy in the Lord;
His tracks I see and I’ll pursue,
Happy, O happy,
The narrow way till him I view,
Happy in the Lord.
We’ll cross the river of Jordan,
Happy, O happy,
We’ll cross the river of Jordan,
Happy, in the Lord.
The way the holy prophets went,
The road that leads from banishment;
I’ll go, for all his paths are peace,
The King’s highway of holiness.
Then I will tell to sinners round,
What a dear Savior I have found.
I’ll point to thy redeeming blood
And say, “Behold the way to God.”
The core of the text is attributed to John Cennick, the English hymn
writer. Also found in the _Social Harp_ of 1855.
No. 190
I’M BOUND FOR THE LAND OF CANAAN or SWEET CANAAN, OSH 87
Pentachordal, cannot be classified (I II III IV V — —)
[Music]
O who will come and go with me?
I am bound for the land of Canaan;
I’m bound fair Canaan’s land to see,
I am bound for the land of Canaan.
O Canaan, sweet Canaan,
I’m bound for the land of Canaan;
Sweet Canaan ’tis my happy home,
I’m bound for the land of Canaan.
I’ll join with those who’re gone before, I am _etc._
Where sin and sorrow are no more, I am _etc._
_Chorus_
If you get there before I do, I am _etc._
Look out for me, I’m coming too, I am _etc._
_Chorus_
Text is based on a poem by Watts. The stanzas which are associated
with the above are numerous, as are also the refrains and choruses.
Found also BHTBK (1857), p. 334; and MHTBK (1889), No. 885. In _The
Musical Quarterly_, vol. xxii., No. 2, I have shown the relationship
between the above tune and Stephen Foster’s ‘The Glendy Burk’ and ‘Old
Uncle Ned’. See also Dett, p. 188, for a negro song showing some
textual and melodic influences.
No. 191
OLD SHIP OF ZION (A), OSH 79
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
What ship is this that will take us all home?
O glory hallelujah,
And safely land us on Canaan’s bright shore?
O glory hallelujah.
’Tis the old ship of Zion, hallelujah, hallelu,
’Tis the old ship of Zion, hallelujah.
The winds may blow and the billows may foam,
But she is able to land us all home.
She’s landed all who’ve gone before,
And yet she’s able to land still more.
If I arrive there before you do,
I’ll tell them that you are coming up too.
The text is said to have been written around 1800 by Rev. Samuel
Hauser of North Carolina. The tune is called the “North Carolina
Version” of the immensely popular song. See _White Spirituals_,
257-258. Closely related to the above tune is ‘Sweet Canaan’ in this
collection.
No. 192
BABYLON IS FALLEN, GOS 613
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Hail the day so long expected,
Hail the year of full release;
Zion’s walls are now erected,
And her watchmen publish peace.
Throughout Shiloh’s wide dominion,
Hear the trumpet loudly roar.
Babylon is fallen, is fallen, is fallen,
Babylon is fallen to rise no more.
All her merchants stand with wonder,
What is this that comes to pass?
Murmuring like the distant thunder,
Crying “O, alas, alas!”
Swell the sound, ye kings and nobles,
Priest and people, rich and poor;
Babylon is fallen _etc._
Blow the trumpet in Mount Zion!
Christ shall come the second time;
Ruling with a rod of iron,
All who now as foes combine.
Babel’s garments we’ve rejected,
And our fellowship is o’er.
Babylon is fallen _etc._
Negro borrowings of this chorus and the changing of its tune to a
major key are to be seen in Dett, p. 2.
No. 193
MARTIN or WAY OVER IN THE PROMISED LAND, SOC 29
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
We have fathers in the promised land,
We have mothers in the promised land;
I hope one day we’ll all get there,
Way over in the promised land.
_Chorus_
Away over in the promised land,
Away over in the promised land;
I hope one day we’ll all get there,
Way over in the promised land.
John G. McCurry, the compiler of the _Social Harp_, and William C.
Davis, both of Georgia, seem to have been the first to record this
tune. McCurry dates it 1854. A recently recorded variant of this tune
is ‘Long White Robe’, Richardson, p. 67. Compare for melodic
similarities the country dance ‘Once I Loved a Maiden Faire’ on page
47 of Playford’s _The English Dancing Master_.
[Music]
No. 194
HEBREW CHILDREN, OSH 481
Hexatonic, mode 5 A (I — 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Where are the Hebrew children?
Where are the Hebrew children?
Where are the Hebrew children?
Safe—in the promised land.
Though the furnace flamed around them,
God while in their troubles found them,
He with love and mercy bound them,
Safe—in the promised land.
Where are the twelve apostles? _etc._
They went up through pain and sighing,
Scoffing, scourging, crucifying,
Nobly for their Master dying,
Safe _etc._
Where are the holy Christians? _etc._
Those who’ve washed their robes and made them
White and spotless pure and laid them
Where no earthly stain can fade them,
Safe _etc._
Of the author, the editor of the OSH says: “Peter Cartwright [the
presumptive author of tune and words] was a minister of the gospel,
and used this tune in his camp meetings long before it was ever placed
in notation.—Peter Cartwright was born in Amherst County, Va., 1785,
and died in Sangamond [sic] County, Ill., 1872.” The song has been
widely sung by the negroes who have added numerous stanzas. See _White
Spirituals_, 263. A pre-Civil War secular negroid parody on ‘Hebrew
Children’ was published by C. Bradlee & Co., Boston, 1844. Its first
stanza is:
O whar is de spot dat we was born on, (_three times_)
Way down in Car’line State.
Mrs. Annabel Morris Buchanan has made an excellent arrangement of a
version of ‘Hebrew Children’ for chorus. It is published by J. Fischer
and Brother, New York.
No. 195
COME ALONG AND SHOUT ALONG or HEAVEN BORN SOLDIERS or NEVER GET
TIRED, SOC 184
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
O thou by long experience tried,
Never get tir’d a-serving of the Lord;
Near whom no griefs can long abide,
Never get tir’d a-serving of the Lord.
Come along and shout along,
Ye heav’n born soldiers,
Come along and shout along
And pray by the way.
The misfit of words and notes in the first part of the song is quite
evident. The compiler of the _Social Harp_ credits J. F. Wade with the
song and dates it 1854. The popularity of the melodic trend in the
above chorus may be realized when we see it in ‘Ecstacy’ in this
collection; in the negro _Slave Songs_, Nos. 78 and 114; in ‘William
and Polly’, Sharp, ii., 141; and ‘Rebel Soldier’, Sharp, ii., 212-215.
No. 196
TO LAY THIS BODY DOWN or WHITE or I’M A LONG TIME TRAVELING, OSH 288
Hexatonic, mode 1 b (I II — IV V VI 7)
[Music]
Ye fleeting charms of earth, farewell,
Your springs of joy are dry;
My soul now seeks another home,
A brighter home on high.
I’m a long time trav’ling here below,
I’m a long time trav’ling away from home;
I’m a long time trav’ling here below
To lay this body down.
Farewell, my friends, whose tender care
Has long engaged my love;
Your fond embrace I now exchange
For better friends above.
Elder Edmund Dumas of Georgia is supposed to have made the tune. He
very likely was the first to record it, that is, for the 1859 edition
of the _Sacred Harp_. A variant is ‘Converted Thief (A)’ in this
collection. The negroes have caught the significant part of the chorus
in their song ‘Lay This Body Down’, _Slave Songs_, No. 26. One couplet
of this song is
And my soul an’ your soul will meet in de day
When we lay dis body down.
No. 197
HAD I WINGS or ECSTACY, OSH 106
Pentatonic, mode 2 (I — 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
O when shall I see Jesus,
And reign with Him above,
And from the flowing fountain
Drink everlasting love?
O had I wings, I would fly away and be at rest,
And I’d praise God in his bright abode.
Further stanzas of the John Leland text are given under ‘Faithful
Soldier’. The tune seems, according to the note in the _Sacred Harp_,
to have been first recorded by T. W. Carter of Georgia in the 1840’s.
The tune of the chorus is essentially the same as in ‘Heaven-Born
Soldiers’; in the negro tune ‘Every Hour in the Day’, SS p. 58; the
negro tune ‘O Daniel’, SS p. 94; ‘William and Polly’, Sharp, ii., 141;
‘Rebel Soldier’, Sharp, ii., 212-215; and Petrie, Nos. 1191 and 1290.
No. 198
SAVE MIGHTY LORD, OSH 70
Pentatonic, mode 2 (I — 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
Jesus, my all, to heav’n is gone,
Save, mighty Lord;
He whom I fix my hopes upon,
Save, mighty Lord.
O save, save, mighty Lord,
And send converting power down,
Save, mighty Lord.
Further stanzas of the John Cennick text are given under ‘River of
Jordan’. The tune is attributed, in the _Social Harp_, p. 99, to J. A.
and J. F. Wade.
No. 199
GRACE IS FREE, REV 50
Heptatonic aeolian, minorized, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7 [VII])
[Music]
Thy ceaseless, unexhausted love,
Unmerited and free,
Delights our evil to remove,
And helps our misery.
O! hallelujah! grace is free;
There’s enough for each there’s enough for all,
There’s enough for evermore.
Thou waitest to be gracious still;
Thou dost with sinners bear;
That, saved, we may thy goodness feel,
And all thy grace declare.
Thy goodness and thy truth to me,
To every soul abound;
A vast unfathomable sea
Where all our thoughts are drowned.
Its streams the whole creation reach,
So plenteous is the store;
Enough for all, enough for each,
Enough for evermore.
Two more stanzas of text are in the _Revivalist_. The tune is of the
type seen in ‘The Rejected Lover’, Sharp, ii., 96ff.; and a closer
variant is ‘Come All You Worthy Christians’, JFSS, ii., 117.
No. 200
FOR ME THE SAVIOR DIED or ATONEMENT, REV 13
Hexatonic, mode 2 b, with cadentially raised seventh (I — 3 IV V 6 7
[VII])
[Music]
For ever here my rest shall be
Close to thy bleeding side;
This, all my hope and all my plea,
For me the Savior died.
For me the Savior died,
For me the Savior died,
This, all my hope and all my plea,
For me the Savior died.
My dying Savior and my God,
Fountain for guilt and sin,
Sprinkle me ever with thy blood,
And cleanse and keep me clean.
Wash me and make me thus thine own,
Wash me and mine thou art;
Wash me, but not my feet alone—
My hands, my head, my heart.
Th’ atonement of thy blood apply
Till faith to sight improve;
Till hope in full fruition die,
And all my soul be love.
The tune is related to ‘The Greenwood Siding’, Cox, p. 522; ‘Babe of
Bethlehem’ in this collection; and ‘Come all you Worthy Christians’,
fourth version, JFSS, ii., 117.
No. 201
HEAVENLY PORT or WE’LL STEM THE STORM, OSH 378
Pentachordal, cannot be classified (I II III IV V — —)
[Music]
On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand
And cast a wishful eye
To Canaan’s fair and happy land,
Where my possessions lie.
_Chorus_
We’ll stem the storm, it won’t be long,
The heav’nly port is nigh.
We’ll stem the storm, it won’t be long,
We’ll anchor by and by.
The words, given more fully under ‘Jordan’, are Samuel Stenett’s. The
_Sacred Harp_ editors attribute the tune to Elder Edmund Dumas, the
Georgia Primitive Baptist preacher, who was at the same time a zealous
musician of the fasola variety. A close melodic relative is ‘O How I
love Jesus’, REV 456. It will be seen as akin to ‘Merrily we Roll
Along’. The tune as adopted by the negroes is found in Dett, p. 189.
No. 202
SAY BROTHERS, REV 173
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
Say, brothers, will you meet us?
Say, brothers, will you meet us?
Say, brothers, will you meet us on Canaan’s happy shore?
Glory, glory hallelujah!
Glory, glory hallelujah!
Glory, glory hallelujah!
We are marching on.
Subsequent stanzas are made by substituting for “brothers” the word
“sisters” etc., then come phrases like
By the grace of God we’ll meet you, _etc._
Where parting is no more.
That will be a happy meeting, _etc._
On Canaan’s happy shore.
Jesus lives and reigns forever, _etc._
On Canaan’s happy shore.
Glory, glory hallelujah, _etc._
Forever, evermore.
This will be recognized as the tune which Julia Ward Howe used for the
chorus of her ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’. It is still popular in
the above form in negro churches of the South.
No. 203
O BROTHER BE FAITHFUL, REV 433
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
[Music]
O brother, be faithful,
O brother, be faithful,
O brother, be faithful, faithful, faithful,
Till we all arrive at home.
Further stanzas are constructed on: O sister, be faithful; There we
shall see Jesus; There we shall shout glory; There’ll be no more
parting; etc.
Miss Gilchrist found the above song in the _Wesleyan Psalmist_ (1842);
see JFSS, viii., 67. In Flanders and Brown’s _Vermont Songs and
Ballads_ the song (dating from 1831) entitled ‘The Gospel Ship’ has a
chorus text which is identical with the above. A negro version of both
tune and words is in _Slave Songs_, No. 71.
No. 204
SOON WE SHALL LAND or AUTAUGA, OSH 322
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
O when shall I see Jesus,
And reign with him above,
And from the flowing fountain
Drink everlasting love;
Soon we shall land on Canaan’s shore,
Soon we shall land on Canaan’s shore;
Soon we shall land on Canaan’s shore to live forevermore.
The text by John Leland is given more fully under ‘Faithful Soldier’.
The tune reappears with unimportant changes as a negro spiritual in
_Slave Songs_, No. 115. The first melodic sentence of the tune is
almost identical with the opening of ‘The Winter it is Past’, Petrie,
No. 439.
No. 205
WARRENTON or I AM BOUND FOR THE KINGDOM, GOS 275
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Whither goest thou, pilgrim stranger,
Passing thro’ this darksome vale?
Know’st thou not ’tis full of danger,
And will not thy courage fail?
_Chorus_
I am bound for the kingdom,
Will you go to glory with me?
Hallelujah, praise the Lord.
Pilgrim, thou dost justly call me,
Wand’ring o’er this waste so wide;
Yet no harm will e’er befall me,
While I’m blessed with such a Guide.
_Chorus_
Such a Guide!—no guide attends thee,
Hence for thee my fears arise;
If a guardian pow’r befriend thee,
’Tis unseen by mortal eyes.
_Chorus_
Four more stanzas are in _Good Old Songs_. It is found also as
‘Pilgrim Stranger’ in Dadmun’s _Melodeon_, Boston, 1861, and as
‘Female Pilgrim’ in the _Christian Lyre_, 18th edition, New York,
1835. The song is apparently one of the so called dialogue hymns of
the early English Methodists. The men sitting on one side of the
meeting house, and the women sitting opposite, sang alternate stanzas.
Lightwood cites one as follows:
_Men_:
Tell us, O women, we would know
Whither so fast ye move.
_Women_:
We’re called to leave the world below,
Are seeking one above.
_Chorus_:
Hallelujah.
See _Hymn Tunes and Their Story_, p. 144.
No. 206
SEND US A BLESSING, SOG 100
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
_Chorus_
O Lord, send us a blessing,
And O Lord, send us a blessing,
And O Lord, send us a blessing,
O send us a blessing from heaven above.
_Verse_
Of him who did salvation bring,
I could forever think and sing;
Arise, ye needy,—he’ll relieve;
Arise, ye guilty,—he’ll forgive.
I ask but grace, and lo, ’tis given;
Ask, and he turns your hell to heaven.
Though sin and sorrow wound my soul,
Jesus, thy balm will make it whole.
Six more stanzas are in _Songs of Grace_ under the song ‘He was Found
Worthy’. This tune is a clear adaptation of ‘Johnny’s So Long at the
Fair.’
No. 207
I WENT DOWN TO THE VALLEY
Pentatonic, mode 1 (I II — IV V VI —)
[Music]
I went down to the valley to pray,
Studying about the good old way.
Who will wear the starry crown?
Oh Lord, teach me to pray.
Recorded by the author from the singing of Donald Davidson, in
Nashville, Tennessee, January 20, 1932. He had heard his father, W. B.
Davidson, sing it twenty years before in Fayetteville, Tennessee.
Negro versions are in Marsh, p. 156, and _Slave Songs_, No. 104.
No. 208
GIVE ME JESUS, REV 89
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
When I’m happy, hear me sing,
When I’m happy, hear me sing,
When I’m happy, hear me sing,
Give me Jesus;
Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus;
You may have all the world,
Give me Jesus.
When in sorrow, hear me pray, _three times_
Give me Jesus, _etc._
When I’m dying, hear me cry, _three times_
Give me Jesus, _etc._
When I’m rising, hear me shout, _three times_
Give me Jesus, _etc._
When in heaven, we will sing, _three times_
Blessed Jesus, _etc._
By thy grace we are saved, _three times_
Blessed Jesus, _etc._
The noting of this tune, evidently from oral tradition, will be seen
as quite faulty. A close variant of the song was found by Miss
Gilchrist in the _Wesleyan Psalmist_ and reproduced by her, JFSS,
viii., 88. ‘Sweet William and Lady Margaret’, Davis, p. 570, is
similar throughout to this tune. A negro version is in Marsh, p. 140,
under the same title. The compilers of _Slave Songs_ rejected a song
called ‘Give Me Jesus’ as “spurious”, that is, as being of white
origin. (See _Slave Songs_, p. vi.)
No. 209
I DON’T EXPECT TO STAY or DONE WITH THE WORLD, OSH 88
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
Jesus, my all, to heav’n is gone,
And I don’t expect to stay much longer here;
He whom I fix my hopes upon,
And I don’t expect to stay much longer here.
I am done with the world, and I want to serve the Lord,
And I don’t expect to stay much longer here.
This spiritual with its text core made of the John Cennick words
(given more fully under ‘River of Jordan’) seems to have been first
recorded for the earliest edition of the _Sacred Harp_, that is, in
the early 1840’s. A negro version of the chorus is in Marsh, p. 188.
No. 210
OLD SHIP OF ZION (B) or HAPPY SAILOR, HH 355
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
Come along, come along and let us go home;
O glory hallelujah!
Our home is over Jordan, hallelujah!
Our home is over Jordan,
Hallelujah!
What ship is this that will take us all home?
O glory hallelujah!
’Tis the old ship of Zion _etc._
Do you think she’ll be able to take us all home?
I think she’ll be able _etc._
We have some friends who’re gone before;
By and by we’ll go and see them.
If you get there before I do,
You may tell them that I’m coming.
What will the Christian do when his lamp burns out?
Go shouting home to heaven.
It is found also in OSH 388. Negro adoptions under the same tide are
Dett, p. 81, and _Slave Songs_, p. 125. For additional stanzas of the
text see ‘Old Ship of Zion (A)’. The _Sacred Harp_ (1844) version of
the text begins:
Come tell me of your ship and what is her name?
Oh, tell me happy sailor.
Come tell me of your captain and what is his fame?
Oh, tell me happy sailor.
She’s the old ship of Zion, hallelu, hallelu,
And her captain, Judah’s Lion, hallelujah.
An interesting dressing-up of this straightforward folk-text came from
Boston in Dadmun’s _Melodeon_ in 1860, p. 102, where we read:
What vessel are you sailing in?
Pray tell me its name;
Our vessel is the ark of God,
And Christ our Captain’s name.
How old the American versions of the ‘Ship of Zion’ songs are I have
not been able to learn. Newman I. White points to versions in the
1820’s (_American Negro Folk-Songs_, p. 94).
An early use of the same allegory in religious song is seen in the
German folksong collection of Erk and Böhme, _Deutschyer Liederhort_,
vol. iii., p. 628f. I find no melodic similarities between the German
and the American songs; but the texts show remarkable parallels. To
make this clear I shall cite a few of the German stanzas, comparing
with them passages taken from various “ship” songs as sung by whites
and blacks in America.
_From a German manuscript of 1470-1480_
Uf einem stillen wage
kumpt uns das schiffelin,
es bringt uns riche gabe
die heren künigin.
Das schiflin das gat stille
und bringt uns richen last,
der segel ist diu minne,
der heilig geist der mast.
_American “ship” songs_
O she runs so level and steady.
O see that ship come sailing.
Dat ship is heavy loaded.
King Jesus is the captain.
O she runs so level and steady.
Dat ship is heavy loaded.
Behold the sails expanded,
Around the towering mast.
_A song from the year 1608_
Uns kompt ein Schiff gefahren,
Es bringt ein schöne Last,
Darauf viel Engelscharen
Und hat ein großen Mast.
O see that ship come sailing.
Dat ship is heavy loaded.
She’s loaded with bright angels.
No. 211
ANGELS HOVERING ROUND, REV 74
Pentatonic, cannot be classified (I II III — V — VII)
[Music]
There are angels hov’ring round,
There are angels hov’ring round,
There are angels, angels hov’ring round.
To carry the tidings home _etc._
To the new Jerusalem _etc._
Poor sinners are coming home.
And Jesus bids them come.
Let him that heareth come.
We’re on our journey home.
The song is found also in Mason’s _Harp of the South_, p. 272, where
the composer is given as “Husband”. The same tune with minor
variations appeared in the 1859 edition of the _Sacred Harp_, p. 425,
where it was attributed to J. L. Pickard. Its two one-line verses are:
I am on my journey home _etc._
To the New Jerusalem _etc._
No. 212
HOLY WAR, SWP 170
For mode see note below
[Music]
I’ve listed in the holy war,
Content to suffer soldier’s fare,
_Natural key Chorus_
And we’ll all shout for joy,
And we’ll give God the glory,
And I hope to join the army by and by.
I’ve fought through many a battle sore,
And I must fight through many more;
And we’ll _etc._
I take my breastplate, sword and shield,
And boldly march into the field.
The banner o’er my head is love,
I draw my rations from above.
The world, the flesh and Satan too
Unite and strive what they can do.
On thee, O Lord, I humbly call,
Uphold me, or my soul must fall.
I’ve listed and I mean to fight,
Till all my foes are put to flight.
And when the victory I have won,
I’ll give the praise to God alone.
Come, fellow-Christians, join with me,
Come, face the foe and never flee.
The heavenly battle is begun,
Come, take the field and win the crown.
With listing orders I have come;
Come rich, come poor, come old or young.
Here’s grace’s bounty Christ has given,
And glorious crowns laid up in heaven.
But if you will not list and fight,
You’ll sink into eternal night.
The tune as it stands is heptatonic dorian. And that is probably a
correct notation. The interesting thing is the device employed to
legitimize the dorian raised sixth, namely, the device of modulation.
The writer of the tune, knowing presumably nothing about the old
modes, set his first melodic phrase in _g_-major with a semi-cadence
on two of the scale. All went well because the _f_-sharp of _that_ key
was not represented. But in the second part of the tune the actual
_f_-natural appeared; and the only way he saw of handling it was to
change the signature to a “natural key chorus” as he specifically
calls it. And the final note in the tune agreed with the key which he
took to be _a_-minor.
No. 213
O GOD WHAT SHALL I SAY or ALVERSON, REV 181
Hexatonic, mode 5 A (I — 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
When pity prompts me to look round
Upon my fellow clay,
See men reject the gospel sound,
O God, what shall I say?
O God, what shall I say?
My bowels yearn for dying men,
Doom’d to eternal woe,
Fain would I speak, but ’tis in vain
If God does not speak too.
O sinner, sinner, won’t you hear
When in God’s name I come?
Upon your peril don’t forbear,
Lest hell should be your doom.
One more stanza is in the _Revivalist_. This is a phrygian tune with
the second of its scale unused. It reminds one strongly of the melody
of ‘Gala Water’, _Lyric Gems of Scotland_, p. 84.
No. 214
THAT LONESOME VALLEY, Author’s recording
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
You got to go that lonesome valley,
You got to go there by yourself.
There’s no one can go there for you;
You got to go there,
you got to go there by yourself.
Recorded by the author, February 11, 1933, from the singing of Don
West of the Highlander Folk School, Monteagle, Tennessee. Mr. West
told me that the two subsequent stanzas began, “You got to lie in that
lonesome graveyard” and “Some folks say that John was a Baptist.”
After each verse the tune is repeated to the words of the first
stanza.
The source of this spiritual song is very likely ‘In Seaport Town’,
see Sharp, i., 310, in which there is the recurring phrase:
Till at last they came to a lonesome valley,
and where considerable melodic similarity is to be found. Further
traces of this typical folk-tune are in ‘Young Beichan’, Sharp, i.,
79; ‘My Mother Bid Me’, Sharp, ii., 94, tune D; ‘Opossum’, Sharp, ii.,
353; ‘Drivin’ Steel’, Sandburg, p. 150; the negro song ‘You Got to
Cross it for Yourself’, Sandburg, p. 486; and ‘That Lonesome Valley’,
Grissom, p. 2.
In _The Carolina Low-Country_, pp. 284ff., there are two negro
spirituals which lean heavily on ‘That Lonesome Valley’. The “lonesome
valley” symbolized, among both negroes and whites, also the mourning
period which was a necessary forerunner of religious conversion.
No. 215
I’M BOUND TO DIE IN THE ARMY or SERVICE OF THE LORD, OSH 80
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
[Music]
Farewell, vain world, I’m going home,
I am bound to die in the army;
My Savior smiles and bids me come,
I am bound to die in the army;
I am bound to live in the service of my Lord,
I am bound to die in the army.
Further stanzas of the text are given under ‘Golden Harp’. A variant
of this tune is ‘Promise’ in this collection. ‘Antioch’ in this
collection, is also related. The tune ‘Service of the Lord’ or
‘Antioch’ seems to have been borrowed by those who sang ‘Little
Musgrave and Lady Barnard’ as it is found in Sharp, i., 162.
Indications that the direction of borrowing was as suggested may be
found in the misfit of words to tune in the secular song. See for
example where the “ar-my” of the above tune and the “-lu-jah” of
‘Antioch’ correspond to a mere repetition, “all, all”, in the ‘Little
Musgrave’ song. ‘Cruel Mother’, Sharp, i., 61, tune K, is also closely
related to ‘Service of the Lord’. For negro adoptions and adaptations
see Grissom, p. 60; Marsh, p. 169; _White Spirituals_, pp. 266 and
267; and Dett, p. 120.
No. 216
PROMISE or WITH US TO THE END, SOC 73
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
[Music]
Jesus my all to heav’n is gone,
And he’s promis’d to be with us to the end;
He whom I fix my hopes upon,
And he’s promis’d to be with us to the end;
_Chorus_
Jesus has been with us and he is still with us
And he’s promis’d to be with us to the end.
The text is given more fully under ‘River of Jordan’. The song is
ascribed by the compiler of the _Social Harp_ to Henry F. Chandler and
dated 1854. The tune has evidently been used for the worldly ballad
‘Cruel Mother’, see Sharp, i., 61. The chorus reappears in the
_Wesleyan Psalmist_ (1842) attached to a text which begins:
Children of God, renounce your fears,
Jesus says he will be with us to the end.
Lo, Jesus for your help appears,
Jesus says he will be with us to the end.
_Chorus_
For he has been with us _etc._
This chorus material, words and tune, is used also in ‘He’s Promised
to be With You’ in this collection. See for tune relationships also
‘Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard’, Sharp, i., 162.
No. 217
NEVER TURN BACK (A), OSH 381
Pentatonic, cannot be classified (I II 3 — V — 7)
[Music]
When to that blessed world I rise,
I’ll never turn back any more;
And join the anthems in the skies,
I’ll never turn back any more.
Any more, any more, any more, my Lord,
I’ll never turn back any more.
This was a recording from the 1840’s. Another, in the _Social Harp_ of
1855, p. 52, has the more indigenous reading “I’ll never turn back no
more.” See ‘Never Turn Back (B)’ in this collection. A negro variant
is in Marsh, p. 174. John Powell tells me that Lydia, negro servant in
the Powell house in Richmond, Virginia, and a remarkable singer, sings
a variant of this tune to the words:
King cried: “no mo’, no mo’, my Lord,
I’ll never turn to go back to E-jup Land no mo’.”
No. 218
OLD-TIME RELIGION
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
’Tis the old-time religion,
The old-time religion,
’Tis the old-time religion,
It’s good enough for me.
Subsequent verses have “It was good for Paul and Silas” and for
practically everybody. It is the author’s recording from memory of
hearing it sung at meetings of both negroes and whites. Sharp, ii.,
291, has the above tune with a judgment-day text under the title
‘Sinner Man’, a song which had come from negro sources.
No. 219
TAKE ME HOME or I’M ALONE IN THIS WORLD
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
My father’s gone to glory, I’m alone in this world,
my father’s gone to glory, I’m alone.
My father’s gone to glory, I’m alone in this world;
Take me home, dear Savior take me home.
Recorded by the author from the singing of Samuel E. Asbury, September
10, 1932, at Nashville, Tennessee. Mr. Asbury learned it in his
boyhood in the 1880’s, from hearing it at camp meetings in western
North Carolina. Subsequent verses substitute “my mother,” “my sister,”
etc. A negro version of the tune is in _Slave Songs_, p. 18.
No. 220
JESTER or I BELONG TO THIS BAND (A), OSH 531
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
If our fathers want to go,
Why don’t they come along?
I belong to this band, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, hallelujah,
I belong to this band, hallelujah.
The tune was first printed in the _Union Harp_ as recorded by S. M.
Denson of Alabama. Subsequent verses are made by the use of “mothers”,
“sisters,” etc. That the negroes used this formula is shown in _White
Spirituals_, 247. The refrain “I belong to this band, hallelujah”
reappears in ‘I Belong to This Band (B)’ in this collection.
No. 221
LONG-SOUGHT HOME, CHH 159
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Jerusalem, my happy home,
Oh how I long for thee!
When shall my sorrows have an end,
Thy joys when shall I see.
Home, sweet home, my long-sought home,
My home in heav’n above.
Thy walls are all of precious stone,
Most glorious to behold;
Thy gates are richly set with pearl,
Thy streets are paved with gold.
Thy garden and thy pleasing green
My study long have been;
Such sparkling light by human sight
Has never yet been seen.
The _Christian Harmony_ credits the song to William Bobo, Union, S. C.
The words are credited, in the _Primitive Baptist Hymn and Tune Book_,
No. 453, to Cowper.
No. 222
BEAUTIFUL HOME SWEET HOME
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
Beautiful home, sweet home,
Beautiful home, sweet home,
Beautiful home, sweet home,
Lord, I want to join the angels, beautiful home.
Recorded by the author from the singing of Samuel E. Asbury, September
10, 1932, as he remembered its being sung in the 1880’s in camp
meetings in western North Carolina. The above is merely the chorus of
the song. But it is essentially the same, melodically, as the verse.
The text proceeds:
Fathers have a home, sweet home _etc._
Mothers have a home, sweet home _etc._
By and by we’ll go and see them _etc._
Won’t that be a happy meeting _etc._
No. 223
COME FRIENDS GO WITH ME, CSH 206
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
Alas! and did my Savior bleed,
Alas! and did my Savior bleed,
Alas! and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sov’reign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I.
_Chorus_
I want my friends to go with me,
I want my friends to go with me,
I want my friends to go with me
To the new Jerusalem.
I wonder, Lord, shall I ever get to heaven,
The new Jerusalem.
William Hauser included the above tune, with different text, in his
_Olive Leaf_. Of the above chorus, “sometimes sung after each verse,”
he says: “Not worth while to criticise this chorus. Does anybody
criticise a camel? No; they take him for his usefulness”.
No. 224
I LOVE JESUS, REV 254
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Jesus, my all, to heav’n has gone, Glory hallelujah,
He whom I fix my hopes upon, Glory hallelujah.
_Chorus_
I love Jesus, glory hallelujah,
I love Jesus, glory hallelujah.
Further stanzas of the text are given under ‘River of Jordan’. The
tune is found in a negro version in Marsh, No. 65. I have, in
manuscript, practically the same tune which I recorded from the
dulcimer playing of F. S. Russell, Marion, Virginia. He called the
tune ‘Bonaparte’s Retreat’. Compare also the sixteenth century carol
tune ‘Tempus adest floridum’, _The Oxford Book of Carols_, No. 99.
No. 225
HALLELUJAH, OSH 146
Hexatonic, mode 1 b (I II — IV V VI 7)
[Music]
And let this feeble body fail,
And let it faint or die;
My soul shall quit this mournful vale
And soar to worlds on high.
And I’ll sing hallelujah,
And you’ll sing hallelujah,
And we’ll all sing hallelujah,
When we arrive at home.
This text by Charles Wesley, supplemented by the infectious chorus and
sung to this swingful tune, was widely popular in the first part of
the nineteenth century. It is given more fully under ‘Pleasant Hill’.
The song is found, SOH 107 and HH 102.
The tune had qualities which made it widely popular. There is of
course no knowing whether the many variant forms which I have found
derive from the above tune; but I have given them collectively the
name the ‘Hallelujah’ tune family. Other members of the family in this
collection are ‘Stephens’, ‘Pilgrim’s Triumph’, ‘Faithful Soldier’,
‘Tender Care’, ‘Sawyer’s Exit’, ‘O I’m So Happy’, and ‘Converted Thief
(a)’. Related melodies with secular texts are ‘The Reilly Song’,
Thomas, p. 166; ‘Chickens They are Crowing’, Sharp, ii., 378; ‘Lord
Thomas and Fair Eleanor’, Sharp, i., 125; ‘Virginian Lover’, Sharp,
ii., 149f.; ‘Banks of Sweet Dundee’, Sharp, i., 399; ‘The Pinery Boy’,
Shoemaker, p. 262; ‘Kilrush Air’ Petrie, Nos. 167 and 283; and ‘Tweed
Side’, SMM, p. 9.
No. 226
FEW DAYS, SOC 209
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
I pitch my tent on this camp ground,
Few days, few days,
And give old Satan another round,
And I am going home;
I can’t stay in these diggings,
Few days, few days,
I can’t stay in these diggings,
I am going home.
The compiler of the _Social Harp_, John G. McCurry, claims this song
and dates it 1855. A variant of the tune is in Richardson, p. 72. A
negro adoption is given in _White Spirituals_, 266.
No. 227
PARTING HYMN or JOYFUL or O THAT WILL BE JOYFUL, PB 303
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
How pleasant thus to dwell below
In fellowship of love!
And tho’ we part ’tis bliss to know
The good shall meet above!
The good shall meet above,
The good shall meet above.
And tho’ we part, ’tis bliss to know
The good shall meet above.
O that will be joyful, joyful, joyful.
O that will be joyful
To meet and part no more;
To meet and part no more,
On Canaan’s happy shore,
And sing the everlasting song
With those who’ve gone before.
James, editor of the 1911 _Original Sacred Harp_, says that ‘Joyful’
was composed by Rev. Abraham D. Merrell. He was born in New Hampshire
1796 and died in 1878. The first lines of a widely sung parody of this
song (or is the above the parody?) are:
The man who has plenty of good peanuts
And giveth his neighbor none,
Shan’t have any of my peanuts
When his peanuts are gone.
Miss Gilchrist informs us as to the relatives of tune and words in
England. One parody familiar to her was:
John Wesley had a little ghost,
The color of it was white;
It used to swarm up his bed-post
And frighten him at night.
Another, known to Miss Gilchrist, was ‘Three Little Kittens’, (See
JFSS, viii, 86). I also heard this song as a nursery ditty in my early
youth in Monson, Maine, in the 1880’s. Compare ‘Judgment Scenes’ in
this collection. The tune was used also for the carol ‘Joys Seven’,
_The Oxford Book of Carols_, No. 70.
No. 228
SOMETHING NEW, UHH 35
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
[Music]
Since man by sin has lost his God,
He seeks creation through;
And vainly strives for solid bliss
In trying something new.
In trying something new,
And vainly strives for solid bliss
In trying something new.
The new, possessed like fading flowers,
Soon loses its gay hue;
The bubble now no longer stays,
The soul wants something new.
And could we call all Europe ours,
With India and Peru,
The mind would feel an aching void
And still want something new.
But when we feel a Savior’s love,
All good in him we view;
The soul forsakes its vain delights—
In Christ finds all things new.
Also found, SOC 250, GOS 365, SOH 254. A negro adoption and adaptation
is cited in _White Spirituals_, 249.
No. 229
VICTORIA or ONE MORE RIVER TO CROSS, OSH 290
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
[Music]
Alas! and did my Savior bleed,
Alas! and did my Savior bleed,
Alas! and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sovreign die?
I have but one more river to cross,
I have but one more river to cross;
I have but one more river to cross,
And then I’ll be at rest.
The text theme of the chorus is seen in the negro spiritual SS 4:
And I hain’t but one more river to cross.
The tune is closely related to ‘Gaines’, HH 122, this collection;
‘Geordie’, Sharp, i., 240; ‘John of Hazelgreen’, Sharp, i., 294;
‘False Young Man’, (2), Sharp, ii., 52; ‘True Lover’s Farewell’,
Sharp, ii., 113ff. The ‘Geordie’ text begins with ‘As I crossed over
London’s Bridge’. This may indicate where the revival folk got their
suggestion for tune and text of ‘One More River to Cross’.
No. 230
NEW INDIAN SONG or WALK AND TALK WITH JESUS, SOC 45
Heptatonic ionian, mode 1 A + B (I II III IV V VI VII)
[Music]
When I can read my title clear
To mansions in the skies,
I’ll bid farewell to ev’ry fear
And wipe my weeping eyes.
Oh, walk and talk with Jesus,
Halle, hallelujah,
Oh, there’s glory in my soul.
Ah, poor sinner, you run from the rock,
When the moon goes down in blood,
To hide yourself in the mountain top,
For to hide yourself from God.
Should earth against my soul engage,
And hellish darts be hurled,
Then I can smile at Satan’s rage,
And face a frowning world.
Let cares like a wild deluge come,
And storms of sorrow fall;
May I but safely reach my home,
My God, my heaven, my all.
The compiler of the _Social Harp_ ascribes this song to J. A. & J. F.
Wade and dates it 1854. The words, excepting those of the chorus, are
by Watts.
No. 231
SUBSTANTIAL JOYS or I WANT TO GO THERE TOO, SOC 28
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
[Music]
Jesus, my all, to heav’n is gone,
I want to go there too;
He whom I fix my hopes upon,
And I want to go there too.
_Chorus_
I want to go,
I want to go,
I want to go there too,
Substantial joys shall fill my soul,
And I want to go there too.
John G. McCurry, compiler of the _Social Harp_, recorded it, according
to his note, in 1854. In the 1880’s in Monson, Maine, I heard almost
precisely the same tune sung to the words:
Johnny Morgan played the organ,
His father beat the drum;
His sister played the tambourine
And his brother went bum-bum.
The text of the spiritual song is given more completely under ‘River
of Jordan’. The tune is akin to ‘One Man Shall Mow my Meadow’ and ‘The
Knight and the Shepherd’s Daughter’, in Sharp, _One Hundred English
Folksongs_, Nos. 3 and 100.
No. 232
O HE’S TAKEN MY FEET, REV 114
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
[Music]
I’ll praise him while he gives me breath,
I hope to praise him after death.
_Chorus_
O he’s taken my feet from the mire and the clay,
And he’s placed them on the Rock of Ages.
I hope to praise him when I die,
And shout salvation as I fly.
_Chorus_
And I will tell to sinners round
What a dear Savior I have found.
_Chorus_
No. 233
MY BIBLE LEADS TO GLORY, REV 385
Hexatonic, 6th missing, cannot be classified, obviously ionian (I II
III IV V — VII)
[Music]
My bible leads to glory,
My bible leads to glory,
My bible leads to glory,
Ye foll’wers of the Lamb,
Sing on, pray on,
Foll’wers of Immanuel;
Sing on, pray on,
Soldiers of the cross.
Subsequent stanzas are constructed from such sentences as:
Religion makes me happy.
King Jesus is my captain.
I long to see my Savior.
Then farewell, sin and sorrow.
We’ll have a shout in glory.
We’ll wave our palms forever.
A variant of tune and words is in Richardson, p. 68. The melody is the
same as ‘Bobbing Around’ which was published by Oliver Ditson & Co.,
Boston, about 1855, as one of a series called _Melodies of the day_.
No. 234
I’M TRAVELING TO MY GRAVE or TRAVELER SOC 37
Pentatonic, mode 1 (I II — IV V VI —)
[Music]
I’m trav’ling to my grave,
I’m trav’ling to my grave,
I’m trav’ling to my grave
To lay this body down.
My fathers died a-shouting,
rejoicing in the Lord;
The last word I heard them say
Was about Jerusalem,
The saints’ delightful home.
The song is ascribed in the _Social Harp_ to John G. McCurry and Wm.
C. Davis and dated 1853. For a variant among the negro spiritual tunes
see _White Spirituals_, p. 261. Compare ‘I’m a Long Time Traveling’ in
this collection. Similarity is seen also between the above melody and
‘The Merchant’s Daughter’, second tune, JFSS, i., 160.
No. 235
ON THE OTHER SIDE OF JORDAN, REV 465
Hexatonic, mode 2 A (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand,
And cast a wishful eye,
On the other side of Jordan, hallelujah!
To Canaan’s fair and happy land,
Where my possessions lie,
On the other side of Jordan, hallelujah!
On the other side of Jordan, hallelujah!
On the other side of Jordan, hallelujah!
Further stanzas of the text are given under ‘Jordan’. The tune is
reminiscent of ‘Morning Trumpet’ in this collection.
No. 236
JESUS IS MY FRIEND (B), REV 311
Hexatonic, mode 4 b (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
There is a heav’n o’er yonder skies,
A heav’n where pleasure never dies,
A heav’n I sometimes hope to see,
But fear again ’tis not for me;
But Jesus, Jesus is my friend,
O, hallelujah, hallelujah,
Jesus, Jesus is my friend.
The chorus of the above tune has features similar to ‘Jesus Is My
Friend (A)’, in this collection. The whole tune seems to be a
degenerate offspring of ‘Davisson’s Retirement’, in this collection.
No. 237
DERRETT or IT WON’T BE LONG, SOC 108
Hexatonic, mode 4 a (I II — IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Jesus, my all, to heav’n is gone,
O hallelujah;
He whom I fix my hopes upon,
O hallelujah.
And it won’t be long,
Nor it can’t be long,
O halle, hallelujah,
And it won’t be long till Christ will come,
O hallelujah.
The compiler of the _Social Harp_, John G. McCurry, claims the song
and dates it 1847. We know the words as those of John Cennick.
Additional stanzas are given under ‘River of Jordan’.
No. 238
CARTER or NEVER TURN BACK (B), SOC 52
Hexatonic, mode 2 A (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
Jesus, my all, to heav’n is gone,
I’ll never turn back no more;
He whom I fix my hopes upon,
I’ll never turn back no more.
I’ll never turn back no more, my Lord,
I’ll never turn back no more.
A variant tune is ‘Never Turn Back (A)’, this collection. A negro
variant is in Marsh, p. 174. Additional stanzas of the text are given
under ‘River of Jordan’.
No. 239
I WILL ARISE
Pentatonic, mode 2 (I — 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore,
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love and pow’r.
_Chorus_
I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in his arms,
In the arms of my dear Savior,
O there are ten thousand charms.
Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness he requireth
Is to feel your need of him.
_Chorus_
Agonizing in the garden,
Lo, your Master prostrate lies;
On the bloody tree behold him,
Hear him cry before he dies.
_Chorus_
Lo, th’incarnate God ascended,
Pleads the merit of his blood;
Venture on him, venture wholely,
Let no other trust intrude.
_Chorus_
I recorded this song from the singing of Donald Davidson, Vanderbilt
University, June, 1935. Joseph Hart published this poem in 1759. The
refrain text is probably of camp-meeting origin. The tune has been
immensely popular for certainly more than a hundred years in the
South. Found also SOH 5, HH 217, WP 25, PB 342, OSH 312 (tune with
other words), OSH 81 (words with another tune).
The tune is typical of a traditional trend. Many other songs show
either close relationship throughout or use single phrases of this
melody. The tunes in this collection which are close to the ‘I Will
Arise’ type (mentioned in the Introduction, p. 14) are ‘Humble
Penitent’, and ‘Be Gone Unbelief’. Others making use of the second
phrase only, marked _a_, are ‘Bozrah’ and ‘New Orleans’. A secular
tune in the ‘I Will Arise’ form is ‘The Bird Song’, Sharp, ii., 304;
and among the secular tunes employing phrase _a_ as their tune
beginnings are ‘Oh Love It is a Killing Thing’ and ‘When I first Left
Old Ireland’, Petrie, Nos. 469 and 863; and ‘The Cruel Mother’, Cox,
p. 522. Thomas gives the beginning of a lullaby which doubtlessly
belongs to this tune group, see _Devil’s Ditties_, p. 17.
No. 240
I WANT A SEAT IN PARADISE or NORTH PORT, OSH 324
Hexatonic, mode 2 A (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
Jesus, my all, to heav’n has gone,
Glory hallelujah,
He whom I fix my hopes upon,
Glory hallelujah.
I want a seat in paradise,
Glory hallelujah,
I love that union never dies,
Glory hallelujah.
The recording of this tune is credited to Dr. R. R. Osborne, a
Georgian. The core of the words is by John Cennick, a text which is
given more fully under ‘River of Jordan’.
The tune is built up easily on the theme of the first two measures
which is similar to the beginning of ‘Henry Martin’, see Rickaby, p.
161, and Sandburg, p. 176. ‘Henry Martin’ is based on an incident in
British marine history which took place in the year 1476. See S.
Baring-Gould, _Songs of the West_, song No. 53, and note. Another old
relative of the tune seems to be ‘There were Three Ravens’ which was
recorded in 1611 as follows:
[Music]
There were three ra’ens sat on a tree,
Down a down hey down a down.
See Jackson, _English Melodies from the 13th to the 18th Century_, p.
24. German tunes with practically the same opening phrase and dating
from the sixteenth century are in Erk-Böhme, _Deutscher Liederhort_,
vol. iii., p. 718.
No. 241
MORNING TRUMPET, OSH 85
Hexatonic, mode 2 A (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
O when shall I see Jesus
And reign with him above,
And from the flowing fountain
Drink everlasting love,
And shall hear the trumpet sound in that morning.
Shout O glory, for I shall mount above the skies
When I hear the trumpet sound in that morning.
This is one of the best examples of the revival spiritual song. It has
the John Leland words of matchless popularity in the southern song
region, a refrain in clarion tones, a chorus with rare swing, and a
primeval melodic mode.
For a negro version and the black man’s story of the song’s source see
_White Spirituals_, pp. 254-255. Found also SOH (1854) 195, SOC 111,
HOC 99. Further stanzas of the text are given under ‘Faithful
Soldier’. A later and simplified version of ‘Morning Trumpet’ is ‘To
Hear the Trumpet Sound’ in this collection.
No. 242
GREAT PROVIDER or HE’S PROMISED TO BE WITH YOU, UHP 112
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
[Music]
Peace, troubled soul, thou need not fear,
Jesus says he will be with you to the end.
The great provider still is near,
Jesus says he will be with you to the end.
_Chorus_
Hallelujah, hallelujah,
And he’s promised to be with you to the end.
The Lord who built the earth and sky,
In mercy stoops to hear our cry;
His promise all may truly claim,
Ask and receive in Jesus’ name.
The tune from the start to the chorus is practically the same as the
chorus tune in ‘With Us to the End’ in this collection. It is claimed
by S. M. Denson and dated 1908. Mr. Denson recorded many revival
tunes. For data as to his life see _White Spirituals_, 107ff. He died
1936. See ‘Cruel Mother’, Sharp, i., 61, tune K, for melodic
similarities.
No. 243
WARFARE, SWP 130
Hexatonic, mode 2 A (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
Children of the heavenly King,
Till the warfare is ended, hallelujah!
As ye journey sweetly sing,
Till the warfare is ended, hallelujah!
Shout glory, children,
Till the warfare is ended, hallelujah!
Sing your Savior’s worthy praise, Till _etc._
Glorious in his works and ways, Till _etc._
We are travelling home to God
In the way the fathers trod.
They are happy now, and we
Soon their happiness shall see.
O ye banished seed, be glad!
Christ our advocate is made.
Us to save, our flesh assumes,
Brother to our souls becomes.
Shout, ye little flock, and blest
You on Jesus’ throne shall rest.
There your seat is now prepared,
There your kingdom and reward.
Fear not, brethren; joyful stand
On the borders of your land.
Christ, your Father’s darling son,
Bids you undismayed go on.
Lord, submissive make us go,
Gladly leaving all below.
Only thou our leader be,
And we still will follow thee.
See ’Till the Warfare is Over’, OSH 76, for melodic and textual
relationships.
No. 244
GENERAL ROLL CALL, REV 356
Pentatonic, mode 2 with cadentially raised seventh (I — 3 IV V — VII)
[Music]
If you get there before I do,
When the gen’ral roll is call’d
We’ll be there;
Look out for me I’m coming too,
When the gen’ral roll is call’d
We’ll be there.
We’ll be there, we’ll be there, we’ll be there,
When the gen’ral roll is call’d we’ll be there.
We’re pressing on to Canaan’s land,
We’ll join the blood-wash’d pilgrim band.
Then we’ll go up the shining way,
And praise the Lord through endless day.
The tune is attributed, in the _Revivalist_, to J. Baker. Two negro
spirituals based melodically and textually on this song are in Dett,
pp. 121 and 166.
No. 245
SHOUTING PILGRIM, SWP 163
Hexatonic, mode 2 A (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
The trumpets are a-sounding And calling for more volunteers,
The armies are in motion, Behold in front their officers.
Shout Oh! glory, for the battle is begun,
And I’ll shout glory while the Israelites go on.
I love to live rejoicing, I cannot bear to live lukewarm,
Although there’s many blames me for trusting in the Lord alone.
Shout Oh! glory, for I love to praise the Lord,
And I’ll shout glory while I hear the gospel word.
I love to live a-shouting, I feel my Savior in my soul,
Sweet heaven drawing nigher, I feel the living waters roll.
Shout Oh! glory, for the glory is begun,
And I’ll shout glory while the work is going on.
The time is fast approaching when all religion will be tried,
When Jesus with his jewels will ornament his lovely bride.
Shout Oh! glory, for my soul is full of love,
And I’ll shout glory when I meet you all above.
I see the flame arising.—Had I the pinions of a dove,
My soul would then realize the wonders of redeeming love.
Shout Oh! glory, for there’s glory in my soul,
And I’ll shout glory while I feel the current roll.
The current is a-spreading and sinners coming home to God,
A-weeping and a-mourning, and finding favor in the Lord.
Shout Oh! glory, and my song shall never end,
And I’ll shout glory to the sinner’s dearest friend.
No. 246
BOUND FOR THE PROMISED LAND, OSH 128
Hexatonic, mode 2 A (I II 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand
And cast a wishful eye,
To Canaan’s fair and happy land
Where my possessions lie.
I am bound for the promis’d land,
I’m bound for the promised land;
Oh, who will come and go with me,
I am bound for the promised land.
Further stanzas of the text are given under ‘Jordan’. The combination
here of the widely sung words of Samuel Stennett and an especially
folkish revival phrase has resulted in an enormously well liked
spiritual. Found also SOH 51, HH 154, SOC 114, HOC 47, WP 53, GOS 512.
Its first appearance in the fasola books seems to have been in the
_Southern Harmony_ of 1835 where it is attributed to Miss M. Durham.
The tune is like ‘I’ll Go and Enlist for a Sailor’, Sharp, _Morris
Dances_, Set viii, No. 6.
No. 247
LISBON or I CAN NOT TARRY HERE, SOC 182
Pentatonic, mode 2 (I — 3 IV V — 7)
[Music]
Farewell, dear brethren in the Lord,
And I can not tarry here;
Yet we believe his gracious word,
And I can not tarry here.
And I can not tarry here,
And I can not tarry here;
The gospel sounds the jubilee,
And I can not tarry here.
This song is attributed to Henry F. Chandler and dated 1854. ‘The
Irish Girl’, as sung in Virginia, shows a similar rhythmic trend but
is less closely related tonally. See Sharp, ii., 254. Greater melodic
resemblance is seen in ‘Our Goodman’ Sharp, i., 269, tune “D”.
No. 248
I WANT TO GO TO GLORY, SWP 168
Hexatonic, cannot be classified (I II 3 IV V 6 —)
[Music]
Jesus, my all, to heav’n is gone,
I want to go to glory;
He whom I fix my hopes upon,
I want to go to glory.
I want to go, I want to go,
I want to go to glory;
We’ve so many trials here below,
They say there are none in glory.
The full text, by Samuel Medley (1738-1799), may be found under ‘River
of Jordan’ in this collection. The _Southern and Western Pocket
Harmonist_ gives this tune “as sung by Rev. M. L. Little”. An old
Irish song in Petrie, No. 1164, shows noteworthy similarities. See
also ‘I Want a Seat in Paradise’, in this collection, for further tune
relationships.
No. 249
CHRISTIAN RACE, REV 76
Heptatonic dorian, mode 2 A + B (I II 3 IV V VI 7)
[Music]
The Christian race is now begun,
O, glory, glory, hallelujah!
We’re striving for a heav’nly crown,
O, glory, glory, hallelujah!
_Chorus_
For the prize it lies at the end of the race,
O, glory, glory, hallelujah!
We’ll run the race and gain the prize,
O, glory _etc._
Our heav’nly mansion in the skies,
O, glory _etc._
_Chorus_
We’ll lay aside our every weight,
The way is narrow and straight the gate.
In earnest cry we’ll wrestle along;
Then on a kingly throne sit down.
Omnipotence is on our side,
And God himself will be our guide.
Then when the race we’ve nobly run,
He’ll count us worthy of a crown.
The form of the above is “as sung by Rev. G. C. Wells”.
No. 250
I YIELD, REV 443
Heptatonic, minor (I II 3 IV V 6 VII)
[Music]
Alas! and did my Savior bleed,
And did my Sov’reign die?
Would he devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?
I yield, I yield, I yield,
I can hold out no more;
I sink by dying love compell’d,
And own thee conqueror.
I suggest the possibility that the editor of the _Revivalist_ made his
tune over from one which was originally in the dorian mode.
Footnotes
[1]John Powell’s article “In the Lowlands Low”, in the _Southern
Folklore Quarterly_, Vol. i., No. 1, provides a corrective for
those who think loosely of our American music tradition as one
observable in the highlands only.
[2]The churchman’s frown on the early intrusion of the folk into hymn
making may be seen in _The English Hymn_ by Louis F. Benson, pp.
291ff.
[3]See Warren A. Chandler, _Great Revivals and the Great Republic_,
pp. 109ff. and 138f.
[4]Samuel E. Asbury tells me that the camp meetings at Rock Springs,
Lincoln County, North Carolina, which he attended in his youth in
the 1880’s had been the “mating grounds” for that state for fifty
years.
[5]Compare my article on this subject in _The American Mercury_ of
June, 1932.
[6]Anne G. Gilchrist, in her article cited above, assumes this
song-book recognition of the revival tunes to have _begun_ in
1842. The _height_ of this activity was, to be sure, around that
date, that is, from a decade earlier to a decade later. See JFSS,
viii., 63 f.; and compare p. 11 of this work.
[7]The new edition of _The Original Sacred Harp_, 1936, was not used
in making the present collection.
[8]All these books use the country people’s own shape notation,
described at length in _White Spirituals_. See also my article
“Buckwheat Notes,” in the _Musical Quarterly_, xix., No. 4, and
the Preface of this book.
[9]In Chapter xxi of _White Spirituals_ is the story of how the
city-controlled denominations have shown uniformly and
increasingly an aversion to the old revival type of song.
[10]The following is a comment made in this connection by John Powell.
“It may be well to remember here that only in comparatively recent
times has any distinction been made between the use of already
existing material (melodic and thematic) and the use of material
created by the composer. The Contrapuntists relied very largely on
folk-music for their basic material. Bach followed this example to
a great extent; Handel not only did this but took material
composed by others at his own sweet will with no thought of
deception and with no contemporary reproach of plagiarism. Haydn,
Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms followed frequently the same
practice. In the literary field in Elizabethan times it would be
difficult to find a play the fundamental material of which was not
drawn from already existing sources. The word _composer_ literally
means the one who puts together a piece. The material of this
piece may, or may not, be invented by such composer. These
reflections would seem to explain and to justify the modest claims
of the American singing-school book compilers to authorship of
songs, and such thoughts should make us approach their labors, not
with caviling, but with gratefulness for their invaluable service
to American traditional song.”
[11]On examining the first 50 tunes of the Folk-Hymns in this
collection, I find _within_ their melodic phrases a total of only
17 jumps of a fifth and 10 of a sixth. Sevenths and octaves—I
found but two each—appeared only as the intervals between the end
note of one phrase and the beginning note of the following one.
[12]My own hearing of these tunes at the southern country singings has
convinced me that the dorian mode is far more widely used than the
above statistics, based on the notation, indicate. That is, I have
heard the sixth clearly _raised_ in numbers of songs where the key
signature called for a flatting.
[13]Observations made in recent years of the folk-tunes in the British
Isles show modality to be on the decline. In Germany the modes are
already practically gone, with the regular major and minor scales
taking their places.
[14]From this statement it will be seen that I hold with those who
look on the full diatonic scales as having evolved from the gapped
ones, rather than the other way around. This however is still a
matter of controversy.
[15]To those who desire to follow in more detail the problem of the
essence of the folk-tune, I commend Cecil Sharp’s _English
Folk-Song, Some Conclusions_, especially chapters VI and VII.
Despite Sharp’s having come to his “conclusions” thirty years ago
and even though they are concerned with the folk-songs of the
British Isles only, they have not, to my knowledge, been
essentially altered by subsequent thought on the subject; and they
apply, by and large, to American folk-tunes as well.
[16]A real defect of this system of cataloguing inheres in the
difficulty, sometimes the impossibility, of determining the proper
key signatures of gapped tunes. And the difficulty is augmented by
the tendency of all the old recorders to regard dorian tunes as
natural minor ones (or aeolian). I have reproduced all such
doubtful tunes here just as I found them. I have catalogued them,
however, (and inserted them here serially according to that
catalog arrangement) in an order which is determined by what has
seemed to be their proper modal form. Among the songs which are
touched by this modal (and hence key-signature) uncertainty are
Nos. 20, 21, 22, 37, 51, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 97, 115, 144, 148,
236, 237, 249, and 250.
[17]Author of Southern Harmony.
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_Sacred Harp._ Edited by W. M. Cooper, Dothan, Alabama, printed in
various places, first in Dothan, 1902. It is an enlarged
edition of the 1844 _Sacred Harp_, which see.
Sandburg, Carl. _The American Songbag._ New York, Harcourt, Brace
and Co., 1927.
Scarbrough, Dorothy. _On the Trail of the Negro Folk-Songs._
Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1925.
_Scots Musical Museum._ Compiled by James Johnson and Robert Burns,
Edinburgh, 1787-1803.
Sharp, Cecil J., and Campbell, Olive Dame. _English Folk Songs From
the Southern Appalachians._ New York, Putnam’s, 1917.
Sharp, Cecil J. _English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians._
Two volumes, edited by Maud Karpeles, London, Oxford
University Press, Humphrey Milford, 1932.
— _One Hundred English Folksongs._ Boston, Ditson, 1916.
— _The Morris Book._ Five parts, London, Novello, 1912-1913.
— _English Folk-Song, Some Conclusions._ London, Novello, 1907.
Shoemaker, Henry W. _Mountain Minstrelsy of Pennsylvania._ Third
edition, Philadelphia, 1931.
_Singer’s Companion, The._ New York, 1854.
_Slave Songs._ (See Allen, William Francis.)
Smythe, Augustine T. and others. _The Carolina Low-Country._ New
York, Macmillan, 1931.
Smith, Reed. _South Carolina Ballads._ Cambridge, Harvard University
Press, 1928.
_Social Harp._ Compiled by John G. McCurry, Andersonville, Georgia,
printed in Philadelphia, 1855.
_Social Hymn and Tune Book._ Philadelphia, Presbyterian Publication
Committee, 1865.
_Songs of Grace._ Compiled by E. S. Lorenz and I. Baltzell, Dayton,
Ohio, United Brethren Publishing House, 1879.
_Southern and Western Pocket Harmonist._ Compiled by William Walker,
Spartanburg, South Carolina, printed in Philadelphia, 1846.
_Southern Folklore Quarterly._ Gainesville, Florida.
_Southern Harmony._ Compiled by William Walker, Spartanburg, South
Carolina, printed in New Haven, Connecticut, 1835.
_Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony._ Compiled by Ananias Davisson,
Rockingham County, Virginia, printed in Harrisonburg,
Virginia, 1820. (In McGhee Public Libr., Knoxville.)
_Texas Folk-Lore Society, Publications of._ (See Asbury, Samuel E.)
Thomas, Jean. _Devil’s Ditties._ Chicago, W. Wilbur Hatfield, 1931.
Tillett, Wilbur, F. _The Hymns and Writers of the Church._
Nashville, Smith and Lamar, 1911.
_Timbrel of Zion._ Compiled by T. K. Collins, Jr., Philadelphia,
1854.
_Union Harmony._ Compiled by William Caldwell, Maryville, Tennessee,
printed in Maryville, 1837.
_Union Harmony._ Compiled by George Hendrickson, Mountain Valley,
Virginia, printed in Mountain Valley, 1848.
_Union Harp and History of Songs._ Compiled by Joe S. James,
Douglasville, Georgia, printed in Douglasville (?), 1909.
_Virginia Harmony._ Compiled by James P. Carrell and David S.
Clayton, Lebanon, Virginia, printed in Winchester, Virginia,
1831.
_Wesleyan Psalmist._ Compiled by M. L. Scudder, (place?), 1842.
_Western Harmony._ Compiled by Allen D. Carden, Samuel J. Rogers, F.
Moore, and J. Green, printed in Nashville, 1824.
_Western Psalmodist._ Compiled by Andrew W. Johnson, Cornersville,
Tennessee, printed in Nashville, Tennessee, 1853.
White, Newman I. _American Negro Folk-Songs._ Cambridge, Harvard
University Press, 1928.
_White Spirituals._ (See Jackson, George Pullen.)
Work, John Wesley. _Folk Song of the American Negro._ Nashville,
Tennessee, Fisk University Press, 1915.
Wyman, Loraine, and Brockway, Howard. _Lonesome Tunes._ New York,
Gray, 1916.
_Zion’s Harp._ Place and year unknown, probably between 1825 and
1840, 312 pages, texts only.
_Zion’s Harp._ 33 pages of tunes, issued as a companion to
Nettleton’s _Village Hymns_, compiled by N. and S. S.
Jocelyn, registered in the District of Connecticut, 1824.
List of Abbreviations of Titles
BHTBK Baptist Hymn and Tune Book, 1857
BS Bible Songs (DeWitt)
CH Church Harmony (Smith)
CHH Christian Harmony (Walker)
CHI Christian Harmony (Ingalls)
COH Columbian Harmony (Moore)
CSH Sacred Harp, 1902 (Cooper)
DT Religious Folk-Songs of the Negro (Dett)
GCM Genuine Church Music (Funk)
GOS Good Old Songs (Cayce)
HH Hesperian Harp (Hauser)
HOC Harp of Columbia (Swan)
JAFL Journal of American Folk-Lore
JFSS Journal of the [English] Folk-Song Society
KYH Kentucky Harmony (Davisson)
KNH Knoxville Harmony (Jackson)
MHTBK Methodist Hymn and Tune Book, 1889
MOH Missouri Harmony (Carden)
OL Olive Leaf (Hauser)
OSH Original Sacred Harp (James)
PB Primitive Baptist Hymn and Tune Book (Daily)
REV Revivalist (Hillman)
SCB South Carolina Ballads (Smith)
SH Sacred Harp, 1844 (White and King)
SKH Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony (Davisson)
SMM Scots Musical Museum (Johnson)
SOC Social Harp (McCurry)
SOG Songs of Grace (Lorenz and Baltzell)
SOH Southern Harmony (Walker)
SS Slave Songs of the United States (Allen, Ware, and Garrison)
SWP Southern and Western Pocket Harmonist (Walker)
TZ Timbrel of Zion (Collins)
UH Union Harmony (Caldwell)
UHH Union Harmony (Hendrickson)
UHP Union Harp and History of Songs (James)
VH Virginia Harmony (Carrell)
WH Western Harmony (Carden, Rogers, Moore, and Green)
WP Western Psalmodist (Johnson)
WS White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands (Jackson)
Index of Songs by Titles
A
Number
Address for All 29
Albert 83
Albion 78
All is Well 58
All the Way ’Long 170
Alverson 213
Angels Hovering Round 211
Animation 62
Antioch 166
Atonement 200
Autauga 204
Away Over Yonder 178
B
Babe of Bethlehem 51
Babylon Is Fallen 192
Backslider 71
Balm in Gilead 127
Bartimeus 21
Bates 188
Beautiful Home Sweet Home 222
Beggar 2
Be Gone Unbelief 117
Beloved 163
Bound for the Promised Land 246
Bourbon 109
Bowers 172
Bozrah 138
C
Captain Kidd 142
Carry Me Home 85
Carter 238
Ceylon 132
Chariot of Mercy 102
Charming Name 126
Christian Prospect 161
Christian Race 249
Christian’s Hope 162
Christian Soldier 68
Church of My Youth 45
Church’s Desolation 28
Clamanda 93
Columbus 75
Come Along and Shout Along 195
Come Friends Go With Me 223
Come to Jesus 159
Condescension 30
Converted Thief (A) 23
Converted Thief (B) 35
Cross of Christ 91
Cuba 156
D
Davisson’s Retirement 97
Death Ain’t You Got No Shame 158
Deep Spring 35
Derrett 237
Detroit 147
Devotion 120
Done With the World 209
Down By the Riverside 182
Down in the Garden 77
Drooping Souls 116
Dulcimer 163
Dunlap’s Creek 79
Dying Boy 15
Dying Californian 10
E
Ecstacy 197
Edgefield 149
Enquirer 87
Ester 17
Eternity 111
Exhileration 177
Experience 37
F
Faithful Soldier 59
Farewell 25
Female Convict 42
Few Days 226
Florence 82
For Me the Savior Died 200
Free Salvation 5
French Broad 96
Friends of Freedom 112
Frozen Heart 65
G
Gaines 124
General Roll Call 244
Give Me Jesus 208
Glad News 160
Glorious Prospect 110
Golden Harp 152
Good Morning Brother Pilgrim 36
Good Old Way (A) 169
Good Old Way (B) 72
Good Physician 31
Go Preachers 156
Grace is Free 199
Great Day 165
Great Provider 242
Green Fields 60
H
Had I Wings 197
Hallelujah 225
Happy in the Lord 189
Happy Sailor 210
Happy Souls (A) 50
Happy Souls (B) 172
Hark My Soul 64
Harmony Grove 135
Heaven Born Soldiers 195
Heavenly Dove 131
Heavenly Home 186
Heavenly Port 201
Heavenly Union 37
Heaven’s My Home 173
Hebrew Children 194
He’s Promised to Be with You 242
Hicks’ Farewell 4
Holy Manna 114
Holy Son of God 140
Holy War 212
Humble Penitent 125
I
I Am Bound for the Kingdom 205
I Belong to This Band (A) 220
I Belong to This Band (B) 181
I Can Not Tarry Here 247
I Can’t Stay Away 153
I Don’t Care to Stay Here Long 183
I Don’t Expect to Stay 209
Idumea 137
I’ll Ramble and I’ll Rove 38
I Love Jesus 224
I Love Thee 134
I’m Alone In This World 219
I’m a Long Time Traveling 196
I’m a Poor Mourning Pilgrim 176
I’m Bound for the Land of Canaan 190
I’m Bound to Die In the Army 215
I’m Going Home 183
I’m Traveling to My Grave 234
I Never Shall Forget the Day 177
In Jesus’ Blood 174
Invitation 63
I Shall Be Satisfied 148
It Won’t Be Long 237
I Want a Seat In Paradise 240
I Want To Go There Too 231
I Want To Go To Glory 248
I Went Down To the Valley 207
I Will Arise 239
I Yield 250
J
Jerusalem 143
Jester 220
Jesus Is My Friend (A) 150
Jesus Is My Friend (B) 236
John Adkins’ Farewell 11
Jordan 86
Joyful 227
Judgment Scenes 175
K
Kedron 57
L
Land of Rest 81
Leander 107
Lebanon 66
Lep’rous Jew 44
Lisbon 247
Little Family 8
Liverpool 7
Lone Pilgrim 18
Lonesome Grove 34
Long-Sought Home 221
Look Out 32
Lost City 151
M
Marion 38
Martin 193
Mecklinburg 94
Miss Hataway’s Experience 9
Missionary’s Farewell 56
Mississippi 99
Morning Trumpet 241
Moses 27
Mouldering Vine 22
Mount Watson 90
Mourner’s Lamentation 28
My Bible Leads to Glory 233
My Father’s Gone 178
My Home Is Over Jordan 154
N
Nettleton 101
Never Get Tired 195
Never Turn Back (A) 217
Never Turn Back (B) 238
Newberry 34
New Britain 135
New Indian Song 230
New Orleans 139
New Prospect 133
North Port 240
O
O Brother Be Faithful 203
O God What Shall I Say 213
O He’s Taken My Feet 232
O I’m So Happy 155
O Land of Rest 133
Old Ship of Zion (A) 191
Old Ship of Zion (B) 210
Old-Time Religion 218
Old Troy 174
One More River to Cross 229
On the Other Side of Jordan 235
Orphan Girl 19
O Tell Me No More 130
O That Will Be Joyful 227
O Ye Young and Gay and Proud 111
P
Paralytic 20
Parting Hymn 227
Patton 14
Penick 85
Pilgrim 98
Pilgrim’s Song 113
Pilgrim’s Triumph 118
Pisgah 123
Pleading Savior 100
Plenary 128
Poor Mourner’s Found a Home 156
Poor Wayfaring Stranger 40
Praise God 106
Prodigal 49
Promise 216
R
Ragan 181
Redemption (A) 48
Redemption (B) 46
Redemption (C) 12
Reflection 122
Religion Is a Fortune 187
Remember Sinful Youth 145
Rest In Heaven 73
Resurrected 178
Reverend James Axley’s Song 3
Revival Song 167
River of Jordan 189
Roby 144
Roll Jordan 184
Romish Lady 1
Rose 104
Rose Tree 92
Royal Proclamation 84
S
Sailor’s Home 6
Saints’ Rapture 61
Saint’s Request 33
Salutation 36
Salvation (A) 89
Salvation (B) 95
Save Mighty Lord 198
Saw Ye My Savior 16
Sawyer’s Exit 129
Say Brothers 202
Send Us a Blessing 206
Separation 54
Service of the Lord 215
Shouting Pilgrim 245
Shout On, Pray On 166
Sinner’s Call 101
Sinner’s Invitation 80
Sinners Turn 157
Sister Thou Wast Mild 103
Soldier’s Return 67
Solemn Address to Young People 7
Solemn Thought 145
Something New 228
Soon We Shall Land 204
Spiritual Sailor 136
Spring Place 45
Stephens 53
Stockwood 103
Substantial Joys 231
Supplication 105
Sweet Canaan 190
Sweet Morning 168
T
Take Me Home 219
Tender Care 121
Tennessee 24
That Lonesome Valley 214
Then My Troubles Will Be Over 177
There Is a Rest Remains 108
There’s a Better Day 161
There Will Be Mourning 175
’Tis a Wonder 171
To Begging I Will Go 2
To Be With Christ 119
To Die No More 74
To Glory I Will Go 151
To Hear the Trumpet Sound 188
To Lay This Body Down 196
To Play On the Golden Harp 152
To Wear a Starry Crown 178
Traveler 234
Tribulation 69
U
Union 39
V
Vesper 55
Victoria 229
Villulia 21
Volunteers 70
W
Walk and Talk With Jesus 230
War Department 115
Warfare 243
Warrenton 205
Washington 52
Way Over In the Promised Land 193
Wedlock (A) 13
Wedlock (B) 43
Weeping Mary (A) 164
Weeping Mary (B) 47
Weeping Pilgrim 176
Weeping Savior 146
We’ll All Praise God 185
We’ll End This War 182
We’ll Land On Shore 160
We’ll March Around Jerusalem 180
We’ll Shout and Give Him Glory 167
We’ll Stem the Storm 201
Western Melody 179
When I Was Young 32
When We all Get to Heaven 187
Where All Is Peace and Love 162
Where Will You Stand 165
White 196
Wicked Polly 26
Wings of the Morning 179
With Us To the End 216
Wondrous Love 88
Worthy the Lamb 141
Y
Yongst 76
You May Tell Them Father 176
Z
Zion’s Soldier 41
Index of First Lines
(Italicized numbers, used where reference is made to several songs
with the same first lines, indicate where the _fuller_ text is given.)
A
Number
Afflictions, though they seem severe 24, _49_
Alas, and did my Savior bleed 223, 229, 250
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound 135
And am I born to die 137
And let this feeble body fail 225
An’ Phareeoh’s daughter went down to the water 27
Are there anybody here like Mary a-weeping 164
As on the cross the Savior hung 23, _35_
B
Beautiful home, sweet home, beautiful 222
Be gone, unbelief, my Savior is near 117
Behold the lep’rous Jew 44
Brethren, we have met to worship 114
Bright scenes of glory strike my sense 67, _94_
C
Children of the heavenly King 243
Christ is set on Zion’s hill 41
Come, all my dear brethren and help me sing 173
Come, all ye mourning pilgrims dear 98
Come all ye young people of every relation 12
Come along, come along and let us go home 210
Come and taste along with me 185
Come, brothers and sisters who love one another 39
Come, friends and relations _46_, 48
Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly dove 131
Come, humble sinner in whose breast 95
Come life, come death, come then what will 150
Come, saints and sinners, hear me tell 37
Come, thou fount of every blessing _101_, 160
Come to Jesus, come to Jesus 159
Come, ye sinners, poor and needy 239
Come, ye that love the Lord 78
D
Dark was the hour, Gethsemane 77
Death, ain’t you got no shame 158
Death shall not destroy my comfort 90
Death, ’tis a melancholy day 69
Did Christ o’er sinners weep 146
Did Christ the great example lead 91
Dismiss us with thy blessing, Lord 52
Do I not love thee, O my Lord 147
Drooping souls, no longer grieve 62, 116
F
Farewell, dear brethren in the Lord 247
Farewell, vain world, I’m going home _152_, 153, 181, 183, 215
Father, I sing thy wondrous grace 76
Forever here my rest shall be 200
Friends of freedom, swell the song 112
From whence doth this union arise 53
G
Glory to God on high 141
Good morning, brother pilgrim 36
Go, preachers, and tell it to the world 156
H
Hail the day so long expected 192
Hail! ye sighing sons of sorrow 22
Hark, from the tombs a doleful sound 128
Hark, I hear the harps eternal 63
Hark, listen to the trumpeters _70_, 182
Hark, my soul, it is the Lord 64
Hear the royal proclamation 84
He comes, he comes, the Judge severe 184
Here at thy table, Lord, we meet 68
High in yonder realms of light 61
High o’er the hills the mountains rise 96
How bright is the day when the Christian 129
How can I vent my grief 71
How condescending and how kind 30
How long, O Lord our Savior 132
How lost was my condition _31_, 127
How pleasant thus to dwell below 227
How tedious and tasteless the hours _60_, 149
I
I am a poor wayfaring stranger 40
I came to the place where the lone pilgrim lay 18
I’d rather live a beggar while here on earth I stay 2
If I in thy likeness, O Lord 148
If our fathers want to go 220
If you get there before I do 244
I have a loving old father at home 38
I know that my Redeemer lives 166
I’ll praise him while he gives me breath 232
I love thee, I love thee 134
I love the holy Son of God 140
I’m dying, mother, dying now 15
I’m not ashamed to own my Lord 87
I’m thinking today of the church of my youth 45
I’m trav’ling to my grave 234
I pitch my tent on this camp ground 226
I sing a song which doth belong 29
I’ve a long time heard that there will be a judgment 165
I’ve listed in the holy war 212
I went down to the valley to pray 207
J
Jerusalem, my happy home 143, _221_
Jesus, and shall it ever be 97
Jesus, I love thy charming name 126
Jesus, my all, to heav’n is gone _189_, 198, 209, 216, 224, 231,
237, 238, 240, 248
Jesus, thou art the sinner’s friend 123
Judgment day is rolling on 175
L
Lay up nearer, brother, nearer 10
Lift up your heads, Immanuel’s friends _72_, 169
Lord, I believe a rest remains 108
Lord, shed a beam of heavenly day 65
M
Man at his first creation in Eden God did place 5
Mercy, O thou son of David 21
Mourning souls, no longer grieve 66
My bible leads to glory 233
My brethren all, on you I call 83
My father’s gone to glory 219
My father’s gone to view that land 178
My God, my Portion and my Love 79
My heavenly home is bright and fair 74
My home is over Jordan 154
My rest is in heaven 73
My soul forsakes her vain delight 107
My soul’s full of glory inspiring my tongue _110_, 172
N
“No home, no home,” plead a little girl 19
No more shall the sound of the war-whoop be heard 115
No sleep nor slumber to his eyes 122
Not many years their rounds shall roll 82
Now see the Savior stands pleading 100
O
O brethren, will you meet me 180
O brother, be faithful 203
O, brother, in that day 188
O, for a thousand tongues to sing 124
O happy souls, how fast you go 50
Oh, brethren, I have found a land 113
Oh, for a heart to praise my God 106
Oh, good old way, how sweet thou art 170
Oh, how I love my Savior 167
Oh, once I had a glorious view 75
O I am so happy in Jesus 155
O land of rest, for thee I sigh 133
O Lord, send us a blessing 206
O may I worthy prove to see 177
One day while in a lonesome grove 34
On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand _86_, 201, 235, 246
O sleep not my babe for the morn of tomorrow 42
O tell me no more of this world’s vain store 104, _130_
O Thou almighty Father 179
O thou by long experience tried 195
O thou God of my salvation 89
O thou in whose presence my soul takes delight 163
O thou who hearest when sinners cry 105
O ’tis a glorious mystery 171
Our cheerful voices let us raise 54
O when shall I see Jesus _59_, 151, 187, 197, 204, 241
O who will come and go with me 190
O who will join and help me sing 186
O ye young and gay and proud 111
P
Peace, troubled soul, thou need not fear 242
Poor drunkards, poor drunkards, take warning by me 11
Poor mourning soul in deep distress 28
R
Remember, sinful youth, you must die 145
Review the palsied sinner’s case 20
S
Saw ye my Savior, saw ye my Savior 16
Say, brothers, will you meet us 202
Say now, ye lovely social band 93
Since man by sin has lost his God 228
Sinner, go, will you go 80
Sinners, turn, why will ye die 157
Sister, thou was mild and lovely 103
Stay, thou insulted spirit, stay 125
Sweet is the day of sacred rest 120
T
Tempest-tossed, troubled spirit 144
The chariot of mercy is speeding its way 102
The Christian race is now begun 249
The day is past and gone 55
The happy day will soon appear 168
The news of his mercy is spreading abroad 174
The people called Christians 136
There are angels hovering round 211
There is a heaven o’er yonder skies 236
There is a land of pleasure 92
There is a land of pure delight 81
There was a little fam’ly that liv’d in Bethany 8
There was a Romish lady 1
The time is swiftly rolling on 4, _25_
The trumpets are a-sounding 245
This world is beautiful and bright 119
Tho’ sinners would vex me 3
Thou man of grief, remember me 57
Through all the world below 142
Thy ceaseless, unexhausted love 199
’Tis the old-time religion 218
To see a pilgrim as he dies 118
’Twas on that dark and doleful night 109
W
We have fathers in the promised land 193
We have our trials here below 161
We have our troubles here below 162
What ship is this that will take us all home 191
What’s this that steals, that steals upon my frame 58
What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul 88
When Adam was created he dwelt in Eden’s shade 13, _43_
When all thy mercies, O my God 121
When for eternal worlds we steer 6
When Gabriel’s awful trump shall sound 99
When I can read my title clear to mansions in the skies 230
When I’m happy, hear me sing 208
When I was young of tender years 32
When pity prompts me to look round 213
When to that blessed world I rise 217
When weeping Mary came to seek 47
Where are the Hebrew children 194
While traveling through this world below 85
Whither goest thou, pilgrim stranger 205
Who is this that comes from far 138
Why do we mourn departing friends 139
Y
Ye fleeting charms of earth, farewell 196
Ye nations all, on you I call 51
Yes, my native land, I love thee 56
You got to go that lonesome valley 214
You may tell them, father, when you see them 176
Young ladies all, attention give 17
Young people all, attention give _7_, 14, 33
Young people who delight in sin 26
Young women all, I pray draw near 9
Transcriber’s Notes
--Retained publication information from the printed edition: this
eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.
--Transcribed lyrics within music images.
--Transcribed music into MIDI files, linked from the HTML version.
--Silently corrected a few palpable typos.
--In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
_underscores_.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Spiritual Folk-Songs of Early America - Two Hundred and Fifty Tunes and Texts With an Introduction and Notes" ***
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