Origins: Wayfaring Stranger

Subject: RE: Wayfaring Stranger
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 16 Jul 98 - 11:32 PM

In the 40's, Burl Ives used this as a signature tune; he billed himself as The Wayfaring Stranger.Back then, he had a radio show, and some folk purists used to sing:

I'm just a radio folksinger
I'll keep on singing till I die.
I'm in a rut, and there I'll linger
Forever bleating The Blue Tail Fly
I'll sing the same old tired folksongs
Though list'ners sigh and cry and groan
I'll do the same old stuff for Philco
Till fatter contracts do come along.

Philco was the sponsor; sometimes there was a word
substitution for "stuff"

Subject: RE: Wayfaring Stranger
From: Andy
Date: 16 Jul 98 - 05:58 PM

But where did I first hear it ? Is it rercorded by someone like Burl Ives, or Pete Seeger, or Guthrie ?

Subject: RE: Wayfaring Stranger
From:
Date: 27 Feb 97 - 05:42 AM

Yes, it is in the Digital Tradition database.

Try looking in the list of titles. Look for: "I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger"

Sandy [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Wayfaring Stranger
From: Susan of DT
Date: 26 Feb 97 - 06:43 PM

It's in the Digital Tradition. I searched for wayfar*

Subject: Wayfaring Stranger
From: Mike
Date: 26 Feb 97 - 12:27 PM

I've been looking for lyrics to this tune, often played as a Bluegrass number.