The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #126933   Message #2825891
Posted By: Joe Offer
30-Jan-10 - 05:57 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Parting Friends - any more verses?
Subject: ADD Version: Parting Friends (Lomax)
For the record, here is the version from American Ballads & Folk Songs by John & Alan Lomax (1934), page 564:

PARTING FRIENDS

Farewell, my friends, I'm bound for Canaan,
I'm trav'ling through the wilderness,
Your company has been delightful,
You, who doth leave my mind distressed.
I go away, behind to leave you,
Perhaps never to meet again;
But if we never have this pleasure,
I hope we'll meet on Canaan's land.


To confuse things a bit, Lomax has two slightly different versions of the lyrics. The music notation from Lomax has the lyrics above. The separate lyrics that follow have "But if we ever have the pleasure," which makes less sense to me; and the meeting is on Canaan's shore. Also, as 999 pointed out, Lomax misidentifies the source, which should be White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands.


Click to play


Click here for a very nice YouTube recording by the "Word of Mouth Chorus."



Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry on this song:
Roud has only one entry - the version in Lomax.