Lyr Req: All is Well

Subject: All is Well
From: Matt Woodbury/Mimosa
Date: 07 Apr 00 - 03:06 PM

Hi Mudcatters. I'm new to the Cat, I've been reading the threads for a couple of days, and thought maybe someone here could help me find this song. The Mormon's use this tune for their hymn "Come, Come, ye Saints" and list it in the Hymnal as and English Folk song, with the title "ALL IS WELL". I found a version of the tune in midi at http://www.conterio.com/hymns/_vti_bin/shtml.exe/index.htmand a earlier version of the words from the "Sacred Harp" 1844 version at http://fasola.org/index/L/122.html , But I've always heard it was an English Drinking song, and would like to find those words.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All is Well
From: Barbara
Date: 07 Apr 00 - 11:16 PM

Hi Mimosa, I could easily believe that is an English Drinking song, it certainly has a ring to it. I couldn't get your links to play a tune, but if you click here, it will take you to the CyberHymnal where you can find out a bit about the man who wrote the words (and the implication on the page is that he wrote the tune, too, though I have my doubts.
Blessings,
Barbara
PS, if I punted the link, CyberHymnal is in the Mudcat links.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All is Well
From: Matt Woodbury/Mimosa
Date: 08 Apr 00 - 04:36 AM

Thanks, Barbara. I think that's a better link than mine. The best I've been able to find is that the "Sacred Harp" source suggests that the Mormon lyrics were written to fit the tune in 1846, but that the tune was written in 1844 to fit lyrics written in 1842. The problem I have with that is that the meter is odd (do folk sources ever count meters like hymnodists do?) and I can't imagine a poet in 1842 writing a poem in that meter without a tune in his head for it to go with

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All is Well
From: Ferrara
Date: 08 Apr 00 - 11:40 AM

The one in Cyber Hymnal is the Mormon version. It's actually called "Come, Come Ye Saints." There was a song called "All is Well" in the Sacred Harp shaped note book and that's where Clayton got his tune.

The way I learned the third verse (which a friend copied for me from a Mormon hymnal) was:

We'll find the place which God for us prepared
Far away, in the West
Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid
There the Saints will be blessed.
We'll make the air with music ring,
Sing praises to our God and King,
And this above all else we'll tell,
All is Well, All is well.

A lot of Mormon songs have changed through the years, both versions are surely "authentic."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All is Well
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 08 Apr 00 - 10:58 PM

I have a good musical friend who is a Latter Day Saint (Mormon). Needless to say, he's quite familiar with "Come, Come Ye Siants"--overly so. When I showed the Sacred Harp version, "All Is Well" him, he was amazed. The strange irregular rhythm and wonderful odd harmonies of the Sacred Harp version made the old boring tune fresh and new for him.

--Charlie Baum

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All is Well
From: Matt Woodbury/Mimosa
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 04:26 PM

I'd like to find a copy of the Sacred harp version to campare with the one I have, but I still have this memory of a tradition that the original tue was "An English Drinking Song". does anyone know a good source for such things that I could compare to the meter of the tune? I know that "the Church" has made a practice of appropriating secular music for it's own use for centuries, and was hoping to revive the secular version.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All is Well
From: Snuffy
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 07:24 PM

It's not the same tune, but it "feels" simailar to When The King Enjoys His Own Again - perhaps it comes from the 17th century English Civil War period, but I haven't a clue how to find that out.

Wassail! V

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All is Well
From: Barbara
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 01:51 AM

One of the folks who frequents this place, Bruce Olson, has just come out with a Tune Coding Index for sorting songs by tune. I haven't explored it yet, but I believe it is up at his website of rare songs, and that should be listed in the links. If not, post here, and I'll locate the address.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: Tune Add: ALL IS WELL
From: masato sakurai
Date: 10 Jul 04 - 07:15 AM

The Mormon version of "Come, Come, Ye Saints" is sometimes said to have come from the shape-note hymn "All Is Well," but the tune of the latter is not the same.

All Is Well (B.F. White, The Sacred Harp, A Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, Odes, and Anthems, Selected from the Most Eminent Authors..., Philadelphia: S.C. Collins, 1860, p. 122)

All is Well (Southern Harmony, no. 306)

"All Is Well" appears also in The American Vocalist (ca. 1848, p. 254).

The earliest version ("What's this that steals upon my frame") I saw is in William B. Bradbury and Charles W. Sanders, The Young Choir, Adapted to the Use of Juvenile Singing Schools, Sabbath Schools, Primary Classes, &c. (New York: Dayton and Saxton, 1841, pp. 84-85), which may have been the source of the Mormon version.

X:1
T:All Is Well
M:6/8
L:1/8
Q:3/8=72
S:William B. Bradbury & Charles W. Sanders, The Young Choir, 1841
%%MIDI program 1
K:A
[ACA,]|[A5C5A,5][BEG,E,]|[c5E5A,5][AEA,C]|
[G2E2D2][AEC][B2G2B,2][cAA,]|H[d2B2E,2]z[cEA,-][BDA,][ACA,]|
[B3D3D,3][A2C2E,2][GB,E,]|[A5C5A,,5][ACA,]|
[A5C5A,5][BEG,E,]|[c5E5A,5][AEA,C]|
[G2E2D2][AEC][B2G2B,2][cAA,]|H[d2B2E,2]z[cEA,-][BDA,][ACA,]|
[B3D3D,3][A2C2E,2][GB,E,]|[A5C5A,,5][c/A/A,,/-][d/B/A,,/]|
[e2c2A,2][ecA,][ecA,-][dBA,][cAA,,]|
[d2B2E,2][dBE,][dBE,-][cAE,][BGE,]|
[c2A2A,2][cAA,][ecA,-][dBA,][cEA,,]|
[B2D2E,2][BDE,][BDE-][ACE,][GB,E,]|
[A2C2A,2][GB,E,][A2C2A,,][BEE,]|[c2E2A,2][^dAF,][e3-G3-E,3-]
[e2G2E,2]z[cEA,-][BDA,][ACA,]|
[B3D3D,3][A2C2E,2][GB,E,]|[A5C5A,,5]:|]

Subject: Lyr Add: BEGONE DULL CARE
From: nutty
Date: 10 Jul 04 - 02:45 PM

The tune Masato has given above, from "The American Vocalist", is very reminiscent (to my ears) of ....

BEGONE DULL CARE

Begone, dull care!
I prithee begone from me;
Begone, dull care!
Thou and I can never agree.
Long while thou hast been tarrying here,
And fain thou wouldst me kill;
But i' faith, dull care,
Thou never shalt have thy will.

Too much care
Will make a young man grey;
Too much care
Will turn an old man to clay.
My wife shall dance, and I shall sing,
So merrily pass the day;
For I hold it is the wisest thing,
To drive dull care away.

Hence, dull care,
I'll none of thy company;
Hence, dull care,
Thou art no pair {68} for me.
We'll hunt the wild boar through the wold,
So merrily pass the day;
And then at night, o'er a cheerful bowl,
We'll drive dull care away.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All is Well
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 10 Jul 04 - 03:41 PM

Yes, it is rather.  Begone Dull Care (midi)

Dull Care seems in turn to derive from The Queen's Jig. Music at  The Dancing Master: an Illustrated Compendium:

The Queen's Jigg

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All is Well
From: Burke
Date: 15 Jul 04 - 04:29 PM

Prilgrim Productions has a convention recording of the Sacred Harp version. I recommend you do a "find" on the page.

Here's a direct link to the MP3 of All is Well.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All is Well
From: GUEST,RLD
Date: 29 Sep 10 - 11:38 PM

The CD Ephraim's Harp has a "traditional" arrangement of 'All is Well' and it can be heard at http://www.ephraimsharp.org

I believe that the LDS song was "inspired" by this traditional tune. Be aware the there is a kind of tradition in Mormonism of altering hymns to fit their POV or view on music - Including "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" which is pivotal in LDS history (I am LDS FYI).

For a while Miss DeSpain and the Ephraim's Harp group did educational concerts in the New York area about Shape Note singing. Their CD is available at their site and has a number of amazing arrangements.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE DYING CHRISTIAN
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 03 Oct 10 - 06:28 PM

Here are the lyrics that appear, along with musical notation for 3 voices, in The Evangelical Harp by Jacob Knapp (Utica: Bennett, Backus & Hawley, 1845), page 86:

[Note that repetition of certain phrases is implied but not explicit, in verses 2-5.]


THE DYING CHRISTIAN

1. What's this that steals, that steals upon my frame?
Is it death? Is it death?
That soon will quench, will quench this vital frame.
Is it death? Is it death?
If this be death, I soon shall be
From ev'ry pain and sorrow free.
I shall the King of glory see.
All is well. All is well.

2. Weep not, my friends; weep not for me.
All is well.
My sins are pardoned. I am free.
All is well.
There's not a cloud that doth arise
To hide my Savior from my eyes.
I soon shall mount the upper skies.
All is well.

3. Tune, tune your harps, ye saints in glory.
All is well.
I will rehearse the pleasing story.
All is well.
Bright angels have from glory come.
They're round my bed. they're in my room.
They wait to waft my spirit home.
All is well.

4. Hark! hark! my Lord, and Master calls me.
All is well.
I soon shall see his face in glory.
All is well.
Farewell, my friends, adieu, adieu!
I can no longer stay with you.
My glittering crown appears in view.
All is well.

5. Hail, hail, all hail! ye blood-washed throng,
Sav'd by grace.
I come to join your rapturous song,
Sav'd by grace.
All, all is peace and joy divine,
And heaven and glory now are mine.
O, hallelujah to the Lamb.
All is well.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All is Well
From: masato sakurai
Date: 04 Oct 10 - 09:37 AM

"All Is Well" is also in these books:

John Boyden, The Eastern Harp (1848), p. 122

Revival Melodies, or, Songs of Zion (1842), p. 18

The Jubilee Harp (1868), p. 230

Eben Tourjee, The Tribute of Praise and Methodist Protestant Hymn Book (1882), p. 265

Thomas Whittemore, Conference Hymns and Tunes: First and Second Books (1843), 1st bk, p. 16

John Winebrenner, The Seraphina, or, Christian Library of Church Music (1862), p. 396

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All is Well
From: GUEST,Choirdirector
Date: 20 Feb 11 - 09:40 AM

I have read this page in detail and had an interesting education in 19th century hymns. This feels more like a fiddle tune to me than anything else.

Thanks for all the interesting information. I also am LDS.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All is Well
From: GUEST,Buddy Gill
Date: 29 Jan 14 - 08:20 PM

My problem is that I know the tune and part of the lyrics very clearly, but I can't remember how I came to know them. I've been scouring old hymnbooks to no avail. This site gives me additional directions. So thanks. I cannot spend the rest of my days with half a hymn hanging in my head.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All is Well
From: GUEST,Larry L.
Date: 14 Feb 16 - 04:57 PM

I am an organist and decided one Sunday to play this hymn as a prelude with my own improvisations. This was an Episcopal Church for which I was the organist/choirmaster. After the service the PIC (Priest in charge) called me into his office and told me that he had a complaint from some parishioners who had just been confirmed. It seems they were former Mormons. They didn't like that I played the hymn. I was rather stunned but told the PIC that it was originally an English folk song. He still was concerned until I reminded him that we Anglicans had the tune first. He grinned and told me that "All is well" he'd inform the newly confirmed members of this. Before I left I also reminded him of what Martin Luther once said to someone who complained that he was using in his church service tunes sung in the taverns: "Why should the devil have ALL the Good tunes?" By the way, I played this hymn during the tables of communion a few Sundays later. During the playing this hymn I happened to glance up in time to catch the eye of the same PIC (who was also the celebrating priest) who grinned from ear to ear at me and even gave me thumbs up.