The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #33922   Message #459010
Posted By: Burke
09-May-01 - 05:29 PM
Thread Name: Tune Req: Long Time Traveling
Subject: RE: Tune Req: Long Time Traveling
It turns out my paste put a space at the beginning of every line. When I deleted them it worked. Thanks for the offer, Ivan.

I was hoping to hear a similarity between it & the Sacred Harp version. There doesn't seem to be any at all.

I can add some lyric information, however. The Sacred Harp has DT's version v. 1 & 3, with the chorus only following the verses. Verse 2 in DT & not in SH, When I can read my titles clear, is the first verse of a longer hymn by Isaac Watts.

The source for the words in Sacred Harp is listed as: Dobell's New Selection, 1810. Which must be this words only book: Dobell, John. A new selection of 700 evangelical hymns for private, family, and public worship ... intended as a supplement to Dr. Watt's Psalms and hymns. Morristown, Peter A. Johnson, 1810. By the 1825 ed. it was 800 hymns. Without viewing the book, I don't know if it had the chorus with it, or just the verses.

The music in Sacred Harp is attributed to Edmund Dumas, 1856. Dumas has a fair number of tunes in the book. Many, if not most of the tunes set down at this time period seem to be folk hymns set down & arranged by the person given credit. I think a lot of these 'composers' probably learned these tunes in a way similar to how Jean learned her version. When the set them down they seem to have picked the notes that gave the outline of the tune & then barred it, etc. When done in a Sacred Harp singing its tempos are very regular & can be pretty fast. I'm trying to 'reverse engineer' some of the tunes & may give this one a try.