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.
Heptatonic aeolian, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7)
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.
Hexatonic, mode 1 b (I II — IV V VI 7)
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.
Pentatonic, mode 2 (I — 3 IV V — 7)
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.
Pentatonic, mode 2 (I — 3 IV V — 7)
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.
Heptatonic aeolian, minorized, mode 2 A + b (I II 3 IV V 6 7 [VII])
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.
Hexatonic, mode 2 b, with cadentially raised seventh (I — 3 IV V 6 7 [VII])
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.
Pentachordal, cannot be classified (I II III IV V — —)
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.
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
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.
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
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.
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
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.
Hexatonic, mode 3 A (I II III — V VI VII)
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.
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
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.’
Pentatonic, mode 1 (I II — IV V VI —)
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.
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
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.)
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
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.
Heptatonic ionian, mode 3 A + b (I II III IV V VI VII)
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.
Pentatonic, cannot be classified (I II III — V — VII)
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.
For mode see note below
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.
Hexatonic, mode 5 A (I — 3 IV V 6 7)
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.
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
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.
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
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.
Hexatonic, mode 3 b (I II III IV V VI —)
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.
Pentatonic, cannot be classified (I II 3 — V — 7)
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’.”
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
’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.
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)
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.
Pentatonic, mode 3 (I II III — V VI —)