ADD: The Old Churchyard (Watersons, et al)

Subject: Lyr Req: The Old Churchyard
From: Lynzi
Date: 03 Sep 07 - 10:14 AM

Hi folks, however many times I listen to The Watersons wonderful recording of The Old Churchyard ("Come, come with me up to the old churchyard...")I just cannot catch all the words in verse 4, which goes something like this, "But where I am rest me yonder tree (?), O why would you weep my friends for me, I`m so weary, so .........?, why would you retard(?)the peace I seek in the old churchyard."
Help appreciated, thanks, Lynzi.

Subject: Lyr Add: The Old Churchyard
From:
Date: 03 Sep 07 - 10:30 AM

Found at https://mainlynorfolk.info/watersons/songs/theoldchurchyard.html - The Old Churchyard

The Old Churchyard
Trad - Learned from Almeda Riddle of Arkansas

^^

Come, come with me out to the old churchyard
I so well know those paths 'neath the soft green sward
Friends slumber in there that we want to regard
We will trace out their names in the old churchyard
 
Mourn not for them, their trials are o'er
And why weep for those who will weep no more
For sweet is their sleep, though cold and hard
Their pillows may be in the old churchyard
 
I know that it's vain when our friends depart
To breathe kind words to a broken heart
And I know that the joy of life is marred
When we follow lost friends to the old churchyard
 
But were I at rest 'neath yonder tree
Oh, why would you weep, my friends, for me?
I'm so weary, so wayworn, why would you retard
The peace I seek in the old churchyard
 
Why weep for me, for I'm anxious to go
To that haven of rest where no tears ever flow
And I fear not to enter that dark lonely tomb
Where our saviour has lain and conquered the gloom
 
|: I rest in the hope that one bright day
Sunshine will burst to these prisons of clay
And old Gabriel's trumpet and voice of the Lord
Will wake up the dead in the old churchyard :|

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Churchyard
From:
Date: 03 Sep 07 - 10:44 AM

Folk Music Index

The Old Church Yard
Mf - [700] Old Granite State
 
1. Dethrow, J. E.. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume IV, Religous Songs and Others, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p 57/#620 [1938/04/26]
2. Riddle, Almeda. Ballads and Hymns from the Ozarks, Rounder 0017, LP (1972), trk# 3
3. Riddle, Almeda. Abrahams, Roger D.(ed.) / A Singer and Her Songs. Almeda Riddle's Book o, Louisiana State U. Press, Bk (1970), p 90 [1964-67]
4. Schwarz, Tracy; and Ginny Hawker. Deep Hollows and High Ridges, Marimac 9063, CD (1995), trk# 10 (Old Churchyard)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Churchyard
From: Lynzi
Date: 03 Sep 07 - 10:57 AM

Thank you very much!! Lynzi

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Churchyard
From:
Date: 03 Sep 07 - 11:49 AM

You're very welcome Lynzi. Nice words. If someone could locate music for it, we could add a tune in here too.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Churchyard (Watersons)
From: GUEST,Kim C
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 03:17 PM

Anyone got an idea of a date on this song?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Churchyard (Watersons)
From: GUEST,Reinhard Zierke
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 04:38 PM

This webpage attributes The Old Churchyard to William Sanford ca 1773-1866.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Churchyard (Watersons)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 09:30 PM

The tune is the same as "Clamanda", in the Sacred Harp (a different text appears there). No attribution is given for the tune specifically; it's not clear whether the citation, "Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1814" is for both text and tune, or not.

At one point I did a search for the 1814 "Collection" and was not able to locate the song.

There's an image of the page from the 1860 edition of the Sacred Harp here (courtesy of the Michigan State University Library special collection, "Shaping the Values of Youth: Sunday School Books in 19th Century America").

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: Lyr Add: THE OLD CHURCH YARD
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 14 Nov 08 - 05:21 AM

From The Christian Psalmist by Silas W Leonard and A D Fillmore. Louisville, KY: S. W. Leonard, 1854.

[The song is printed there with an odd kind of musical notation. There is no attribution.]


THE OLD CHURCH YARD

1. Oh, come, come with me to the old church yard.
I well know the path through the soft green sward.
Friends slumber there, we were wont to regard.
We'll trace out their names in the old church yard.
Oh, mourn not for them; their grief is o'er.
Weep not for them; they weep no more,
For deep is their sleep, though cold and hard
Their pillow may be in the old church yard.

2. I know it seems vain when friends depart
To breathe kind words to the broken heart.
I know that the joys of life seem marred
When we follow our friends to the old church yard.
But were I at rest beneath yon tree,
Why should you weep, dear friends, for me?
I'm wayworn and sad. Oh, why then retard
The rest that I seek in the old church yard?

3. Our friends linger there in the sweetest repose,
Released from the world's sad bereavements and woes,
And who would not rest with the friends they regard
In quietude sweet in the old church yard?
We'll rest in the hope of that bright day
When beauty shall spring from the prison of clay,
When Gabriel's voice and the trump of the Lord
Shall awaken the dead in the old church yard.

4. Oh! weep not for me; I am anxious to go
To that haven of rest where tears never flow.
I fear not to enter that dark, lonely ward,
For soon I shall rise from the old church yard.
Yes, soon I shall join that heavenly band
Of glorified souls at my Savior's right hand,
Forever to dwell in bright mansions prepared
For the saints, who shall rise from the old church yard.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Churchyard (Watersons)
From: masato sakurai
Date: 14 Nov 08 - 07:39 AM

There are three hymnals in the Enos E. Dowling Hymnal Collection which contain this:

1. Christian Psalms and Hymns. [text only]
    Walter Scott and Silas Leonard.
    [1839] A S Tilden.

2. The Christian Psalmist.
    Silas W Leonard and A D Fillmore.
    [1850] S W Leonard.

3. Fillmore's Harp of Zion. [Composer: T.H. Bailey]
    A D Fillmore.
    [1867] R W Carroll & Co.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Churchyard (Watersons)
From: masato sakurai
Date: 14 Nov 08 - 07:52 AM

The Max Hunter collection has:

Old Church Yard
As sung by Ollie Gilbert, Mountain View, Arkansas on August 29, 1969

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Churchyard (Watersons)
From: GUEST,hg
Date: 06 Jan 11 - 10:39 PM

Does anyone have a handy set of lyrics for this done by the Peasall Sisters?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Churchyard (Watersons)
From: GUEST,hg
Date: 06 Jan 11 - 10:57 PM

got them,nevermine...but that key?????

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Churchyard (Watersons)
From: Anglo
Date: 07 Jan 11 - 12:42 AM

I believe the Watersons learned this from Almeda Riddle.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Churchyard (Watersons)
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 04 Nov 15 - 02:26 PM

Please check out The Murphy Beds if you haven't already. Great version.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Churchyard (Watersons)
From: Haruo
Date: 19 Aug 16 - 06:36 PM

This is hymn 262 in Daily's "Primitive Baptist Hymn & Tune Book" (1918 ed'), set to AAMBOY, which is a 7-shape melody-in-the-treble version of what the Sacred Harp calls CLAMANDA. The text is pretty much as given above by Jim Dixon.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Churchyard (Watersons)
From: GUEST,Ebor Fiddler
Date: 19 Aug 16 - 06:48 PM

Yes, it sounds like one of the Prim's hymns.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Churchyard (Watersons)
From: RunrigFan
Date: 12 Feb 21 - 10:48 PM

A Gaelic translation

Thugainn còmhla riums’ dhan t-seann chladh thall,

Oir b’ eòl leam an t-sligh’ fon an fheur maoth, glas

Tha ar càirdean nan suain 's nan tàmh ann gu bràth,

Aithnichidh sinn ainmean san t-seann chladh thall



Na bithibh fo bhròn, tha an deuchainnean dèant’

’S ci’n fàth bhith gan caoidh 's nach bi dragh’ orr’ a-rithist?

Oir socair an cadal, ged fuar agus trom

A’ chluasag fo cheann san t-seann chladh thall



Is tha fhios g’ eil e faoin nuair a thig am bàs,

Bhith cagar bhriathran coibhneil do chridhe sgàint’

Is tha fhios gum bi aoibhneas ar beathannan caillt’

Nuair leanamaid ar càirdean dhan t-seann chladh thall



Nam bithinn nam thàmh fon chraoibh ud thall,

Na bithibh gam chaoidh ’s mi sìnte san fhonn

’S mi tha airsneulach, claoidhte, na cuiribh idir maill

Air an t-sìth tha ri faotainn san t-seann chladh thall



Na bithibh fo bhròn ’s mi deis’ a dhol ann,

Gu cala mòr a’ ghlòir far nach sruth deòir fann

’S cha bhi eagal orm siubhal don uaigneas ud thall

Far an d’ fhuair ar Tighearna a’ bhuaidh nach gann



’S mi beò ann an dòchas, air aon latha brèagha,

Gun làigh deò-grèin’ air a’ phrìosan sa chrèadh

Is dùisgidh na mairbh ri fonn Ghabriel

’S ri do ghuth-sa a Dhia san t-seann chladh thall.

https://www.sian-music.com/lyrics
https://www.discogs.com/Sian-Sian/release/14915652

Subject: RE: ADD: The Old Churchyard (Watersons, et al)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 16 Jan 23 - 06:16 PM

Joe - update