Lyr Add: Friendship (as sung by Tim Ericksen)

Subject: Lyr Add: Friendship (as sung by Tim Ericksen)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Sep 18 - 01:09 AM

Tim Ericksen was one of the performers at the recent Madtrad camp, and Robert Rodriquez has been asking me about songs performed at the camp. One song that impressed Robert was "Friendship." I found these lyrics:

FRIENDSHIP

Words by Mr. Bidwell of Connecticut, Philadelphia Songster, 1789
Tune: G.F. Handel, Viva la face, viva l'amor, in Atalanta, 1736,
Christian Harmony, page 282
Video, sung by Tim Eriksen, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsmsmXbzSog. [Alternate words that Eriksen sings are in brackets].

Friendship to ev'ry willing mind
Opens a heav'nly treasure:
There may the sons of sorrow find
Sources of real pleasure.
See what employments men pursue,
Then you will own my words are true:
Friendship alone presents [unfolds] to view
Sources of real pleasure.

Poor [False] are the joys that fools esteem,
Fading and transitory;
Mirth is as fleeting as a dream,
Or a delusive story;
Luxury leaves a sting behind,
Wounding the body and the mind;
Only in Friendship can we find
Pleasure and solid glory.

Beauty, with all its gaudy shows,
Is but a painted bubble;
Short is the triumph wit bestows,
Full of deceit and trouble;
Fame like a shadow flees away,
Titles and dignities decay;
Nothing but Friendship can display
Joys that are free from trouble.

Learning (that boasted glitt'ring thing)
Scarcely is worth possessing;
Riches, forever on the wing,
Cannot be called a blessing;
Sensual pleasures swell desire,
Just as the fuel feeds the fire;
Friendship can real bliss inspire:
Bliss that is worth possessing.

Happy the man who has a friend
Form'd by the God of nature;
Well may he feel and recommend
Friendship for his Creator:
Then let our hearts [hands] in Friendship join,
So let our social pow'rs combine,
Rul'd by a passion most divine:
Friendship with our Creator.


Ericksen does not sing the 'beauty' and 'learning' verses.


Original words in Atalanta, act 3 (librettist unknown)
   
Coro (Gavotta):
Viva la face, viva l'amor!
Viva, su, festeggiate!
Viva la face, viva l'amor!
Viva, su, festeggiate!
Rendete a sposi un alto onor.
Viva la pace ne' due cor!
Viva la face, viva l'amor!
Viva, su, festeggiate!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Friendship (as sung by Tim Ericksen)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Sep 18 - 01:23 AM

It's #1252 in Songs of Pilgrimage: A Hymnal for the Churches of Christ (1888).

It's also in an article entitled Early Songs from North Carolina, by Emma M. Backus in The Journal of American Folklore Vol. 14, No. 55 (Oct. - Dec., 1901), pp. 286-294 (9 pages)

You'll also find it in an 1844 book entitled The American Minstrel: Being a Choice Collection of Original and Popular Songs ... New and Revised Edition. With Select Music