Lyr Req: Old Rugged Cross

Subject: Old Rugged Cross
From:
Date: 11 Sep 99 - 06:08 AM

I am a jazz musician in Northern Germany. A lot of bands are playing an either slow or fast version of "Old Rugged Cross", but nobody seems to know the words for this nice tune. Could anybody help me in getting the lyrics? Furthermore it would be interesting to know whether there is a verse to the tune as the common band versions only consist of the chords for one chorus. Many thanks in advance! Horst Friedrichs

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Rugged Cross
From:
Date: 11 Sep 99 - 06:14 AM

Horst, here you go. Probably not too far from you either

The Old Rugged Cross
HISTORY OF HYMNS: 'The Old Rugged Cross'

Not sure how long that second one will last.

Subject: Cyber Hymnal
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Sep 99 - 06:35 PM

Uh-oh. The Cyber Hymnal doesn't seem to be working at the URL I have, http://tch.simplenet.com/Default.htm. Anybody know anything about it? A hymn site killed by the copyright cops?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Rugged Cross
From: campfire
Date: 11 Sep 99 - 06:42 PM

Joe- I couldn't get there off my bookmark last week either, but when I went to Yahoo and searched for it all over again, I got there. I re-bookmarked it, and that works. I just cut and pasted this address from my browser while there:

http://tch.simplenet.com/

hope that works for you.

campfire

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Rugged Cross
From: Dale Rose
Date: 11 Sep 99 - 06:47 PM

http://tch.simplenet.com/ Looks like I've been following you around today, Joe.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Rugged Cross
From: Dale Rose
Date: 11 Sep 99 - 06:48 PM

. . . but not as closely as campfire.

Subject: RE: Old Rugged Cross
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Sep 99 - 06:59 PM

Whew! I thought another great site had bit the dust. Cyber Hymnal is the best hymn reference I've found. as I expected, they have some good information on The Old Rugged Cross (click). thanks, Dale & campfire. Campfire, you can follow me around ANYTIME (grin). Dale, keep your distance...
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Rugged Cross
From: WyoWoman
Date: 11 Sep 99 - 07:04 PM

I'm astounded. Jazz musicians in northern Germany are doing various renditions of this very old-time hymn I grew up singing just about every other Sunday in a little, tiny town in Oklahoma? This is simply amazing. And wonderful. But my mind is boggling ...

ww

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Rugged Cross
From: black walnut
Date: 11 Sep 99 - 09:32 PM

...and i sang this one just about every other sunday growing up in ontario. it's a standard in every baptist hymnal i've seen.

~black walnut

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Rugged Cross
From: WyoWoman
Date: 11 Sep 99 - 11:43 PM

Well, I guess part of my surprise is in this particular song. However, "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" has certainly made its way into many, many different genres and venues.

Horst, I'm curious -- what kind of jazz does your group do? Is it more "Dixieland" or how would you describe it?

WyoWoman

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Rugged Cross
From: Banjer
Date: 12 Sep 99 - 05:46 AM

OK, Campfire, you saved the day on the Cyber Hymnal...Now what can you tell us about the Gospel Music Archive. I tried to go there also for Horst and met with no results...Have they all taken new URL's and if so, wonder why...I would think even the copyright cops would recognize the fact(?) that most of the hymns and gospel music we enjoy are traditional and public domain in most cases. Aren't they?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Rugged Cross
From: campfire
Date: 12 Sep 99 - 07:01 PM

Banjer - I hate to admit it, but Gospel Music Archive is one I hadn't stumbled across in my wanderings. I wish I WOULD have. I'll see if I can find it now - any hints???

campfire

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Rugged Cross
From:
Date: 13 Sep 99 - 02:21 PM

Thanks a lot, George, both URLs worked perfectly, so now I have the lyrics of "The Old Rugged Cross" as well as the history. Very interesting! Thank you for your curiosity, WyoWoman! In fact, the popularity of "The Old Rugged Cross" is not limited to northern Germany. I should have said, that is the region where I live. The hymn is famous all over Europe and as far as I know it has been made a hit by the English clarinet player Monty Sunshine with the Chris Barber Band in the Fifties. After that all the other Dixieland bands took it up - from Scandinavia to Italy and from Britain to Poland and Russia, even when the Iron Curtain still existed. The band I'm playing with does what we call "New Orleans Jazz". That is the style King Oliver and Louis Armstrong created in 1923 and the following years in Chicago with the famous "Creole Jazzband". The most important musician of this style was in fact the self-announced "inventor of Jazz, Stomps and Swing", Mr. Jelly Roll Morton himself. Others in this line were Johnny Dodds, Clarence Williams, Kid Ory and many more of the great American jazz musicians of the Roaring Twenties. There are several present day's bands in the United States playing this very old style which has very little similarity with Dixieland. If you want to have more information about our music I'll be glad to let you have it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Rugged Cross
From: WyoWoman
Date: 13 Sep 99 - 08:37 PM

Dear Horst, Thanks for the information. Yes, I'm actually a bit familiar with that style of jazz, as distinct from Dixieland. Do you have a website?

WW

Subject: Lyr Add: THE OLD RUGGED CROSS
From: Hutzul
Date: 14 Sep 99 - 02:03 AM

THE OLD RUGGED CROSS

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross
The emblem of suffering and shame
How I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain

CHORUS: So I'll cherish the old rugged cross
'Til my trophies at last I lay down
I will cling to the old rugged cross
And exchange it some day for a crown

Two pieces of wood formed the old rugged cross
That stood on a hill far away
One had its roots in the evil of man
The other brought redemption that day

Two pieces of wood formed the old rugged cross
That once held the King of all Kings
Once carried hope to the earth and from the sky
The other drew to it all things

Two pieces of wood formed the old rugged cross
I can see it all clearly again
One pointed upward to God in His love
The other reached out to all men

Two pieces of wood formed the old rugged cross
But they met near the heart of Our Lord
They joined human need with mercy from above
And brought them into sweet accord

What love, what compassion Christ had for us all
As He patiently bore His loss
On that symbol of faith and of life evermore
Two pieces of wood, His cross

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true
It's shame and reproach gladly bear
Then He'll call me someday to my home far away
Where His glory forever I'll share.

Subject: Gospel Links
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Sep 99 - 03:48 AM

In case you missed it in the other thread, here (click) is a link to the Gospel Music Home Page, also known as the Gospel Music Archive. I believe that our links page has up-to-date links for both the Gospel Music Home Page, and the Cyber Hymnal. Southern Harmony is another good one.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Rugged Cross
From:
Date: 15 Sep 99 - 04:01 AM

Dear WyoWoman, sorry, but our band doesn't have a website yet - only plans in respect. At the moment I only have the above mentioned e-mail address as a means of cyber communication. Thanks a lot, Hutzul, for sending me the complete lyrics!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Rugged Cross
From: WyoWoman
Date: 15 Sep 99 - 10:41 AM

That's okay, Horst. Just checking. I'm trying to learn what I need to create a website of my own right now. Feeling mightily overwhelmed, I am.

best, ww

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Rugged Cross
From: wysiwyg
Date: 30 Jan 04 - 11:04 PM

See and hear a sound/video clip HERE in a concert at the Kennedy Center's Millenium Stage by the Myles Family. It's at about 39:00 into the concert, done black gospel quartet style.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Rugged Cross
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 12:13 AM

Interesting that this thread should re-surface... This is a hymn that never moved me in it's usual country style presentation. I've recently slowed it down so we can savor the words and the power of the message, and it has become a completely new song for us.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Rugged Cross
From: masato sakurai
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 01:37 AM

From Levy:

Title: The Bright Fiery Cross. Our Song. [Tune "The Old Rugged Cross"].
Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: Words by Alvia O. DeRee. Music by Rev. Geo. Bennard.
Geo. Bennard Publication: Indianapolis: The American?], 1913.
Form of Composition: strophic with chorus
Instrumentation: piano and voice
First Line: Over all the U.S.A., the fiery cross we display
First Line of Chorus: So I'll cherish the Bright Fiery Cross

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Rugged Cross
From: John Hardly
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 10:52 AM

This makes a wonderful fingerstyle guitar piece (and a great excuse to use that dim7 slide up three frets thingy). I play it in medley with "Beneath The Cross Of Jesus" as the two have a similar movement in the opening lines.