Some info on 'Stand on the shore'

Subject: Some info on 'Stand on the shore'
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Jul 00 - 02:39 PM

I sang this song in HearMe last night and Night Owl was asking about its origins. I read the liner notes from Geoff Kaufman's cassette, "Fair Stood the Wind", from Mystic Seaport, in which he gives original credit to our own Mudcatter Sandy Paton's Folk Legacy's Records!

Anyway, I emailed Sandy Paton to let him know we all enjoyed it and that I had learned it at a women's sacred circle which got together once a month in Northampton, Massachusetts, and off of a Libana (women's acapella group in Boston) tape called "A Circle Is Cast."

This is what Sandy sent me in reply:

Nice to know you sing that song. I recorded it from Buna (Buna Vista) Hicks on Beech Mountain, NC, in 1961 or 1962. It's actually quite widely known in Appalachia, but I've always loved her version of it. It's included on my 2-volume "Traditional Music of Beech Mountain" set. Caroline and I have ended many a program with that one.

If you haven't heard this song I would urge you to contact Sandy & Caroline and get that set he mentions; it would be well worth it.

Thanks,

kat

Subject: RE: Some info on 'Stand on the shore'
From: Chicky
Date: 04 Jul 00 - 06:50 PM

Would this be the Shaker Hymn "Meeting Is Over"?

Callie (babysitting for Chicky)

Subject: LYRICS
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Jul 00 - 10:26 PM

Sounds as though it might be, Callie, those words are in it:

Friends now our meeting is over
Friends we must part
And, if I never see you anymore
I will love you in my heart

Yes, we'll stand on the shore
Yes, we'll stand on the shore
Yes, we'll stand on the shore
And, be safe forevermore.

Geoff Kaufman says he got it from his friend Tom Buckner int eh Catskills who got it from Jeff & Gerret Warner on Long Island. When he asked Jeff about the source, he said it was from the first Beech Mountain, NC album on Folk Legacy. The very ones Sandy mentioned to me.

Thanks,

kat

Subject: RE: Some info on 'Stand on the shore'
From: Chicky
Date: 04 Jul 00 - 11:41 PM

Wow - it's almost the same song. the one I know goes

Brothers now our meeting is over
Brothers we must part
And if we should never meet again
I'll keep you in my heart

And we'll stand by the shore
And we'll stand by the shore
And we'll stand by the shore
And be safe forever more

I heard The Fagans (from Australia) sing it, and I've arranged for four parts for a choir I teach. At the time I arranged it, I read about the Shakers on their website (which I no longer have the link to).

It's a lovely song, and a great way to finish a rehearsal or any kind of gathering.

Callie (still babysitting for Chicky)

Subject: RE: Some info on 'Stand on the shore'
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Jul 00 - 12:50 AM

I am sure it is the same, as the words I learned at the women's groups was "sister" etc. I have sung it starting with "friends", then on to "brothers", then "sisters".

Libana has a song book out with their acapella arrangement, too. Here's a a clickie for their website with lots of info. Mudcattrer Animaterra's groups sings a lot of the types of songs they do, too.

Thanks!

kat

Subject: RE: Some info on 'Stand on the shore'
From: Night Owl
Date: 05 Jul 00 - 01:00 AM

kat, thanks for pursuing the information on this song. Callie...I think it is the same song with minor variations in the tune kat sang.

Subject: RE: Some info on 'Stand on the shore'
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 05 Jul 00 - 01:48 AM

Buna Hicks sang:

Now, my friends, the meeting is over,
Fathers, we must part.
And if I never see you anymore,
I'll love you in my heart.

We will land on shore,
We will land on shore.
We will land on shore,
And be safe forever more.

Other verses were sung for "mothers," "sisters," "brothers" and we often sang "neighbors" for the final verse. Yes, Caroline and I also recorded it on a record we made back in about 1965 or 1966 (I don't remember for sure and I'm too lazy to go look it up).

Jeff and Gerret Warner's father, Frank Warner, also recorded Buna Hicks back in about 1938, and then again, probably, in 1951. There may have been slight variations in her own singing of the hymn over the 23 years between Frank Warner's first visit to Beech Mountain and my much later one. By the way, this was not a Shaker hymn, to my knowledge, but was more likely an old Shape Note hymn quite widely sung in Appalachia. Buna told me that her mother was always asked to lead the song at the end of the camp meetings held in their area.

My Beech Mountain collection was first released on vinyl in the mid-1960s. It may not have made the charts, folks, but a lot of people learned good songs from it, people like the Armstrongs in Chicago, Geoff Kaufman, Jeff and Jeff, and "Cordelia's Dad," which is what it's all about, isn't it?

Sandy

Subject: RE: Some info on 'Stand on the shore'
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Jul 00 - 07:56 AM

Very kewl, SandyGramps! Thanks! So any info on by whom and when it was also sung "stand on the shore", as Geoff lists it? I've heard it both ways and actually usually do one of each when I sing it. Also, did it ever have a lot of use by seafaring folk? Just wondering since Geoff included it in the cassette I mentioned.

luvyakat

Subject: RE: Some info on 'Stand on the shore'
From: Callie
Date: 05 Jul 00 - 08:24 AM

Thanks all. What an interesting thread.

Kat: I just tried the blue clicky thing on you posting. It worked ok, but all the links to that page led to something about a swing duo, and not to anything about "Libana". you might want to let the people in question know about it!

Callie

Subject: RE: Some info on 'Stand on the shore'
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Jul 00 - 12:55 PM

Thanks, Callie, for letting me know that! Sheesh! Don't even know who the Bob's or whatever are! I took another look around on Yahoo and found their own domain at libana.com, but it is down. You can hear sample cuts from two of their CD's, both of which I highly recommend, here.

You can also read more about them, at this spot.

Thanks,

kat

Subject: RE: arrangement for 'Stand on the shore'
From:
Date: 17 Jun 05 - 05:56 PM

If anyone can help me find an arrangement for the hymn 'Stand by the Shore" or perhaps it is called "Meeting is over" I would be really happy
Jill

Subject: RE: Some info on 'Stand on the shore'
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Jun 05 - 10:14 PM

"Now Our Meeting's Over" was provided to Lomax and Lomax from the song collector Sam P. Bayard of Pennsylvania, and first appeared in print (1934) in American Ballads and Folk Songs," with music, p. 571. This should provide the basis for an arrangement.

Bayard noted that it was a song used to close a camp meeting, as does Paton's posting above.

Also collected by Frank Warner- see note above by Sandy Paton, who suggests that it could be an old Shape Note song.

Subject: RE: Some info on 'Stand on the shore'
From: rich-joy
Date: 18 Jun 05 - 02:10 AM

Don't know how I missed this thread the first time round!

I first heard - and learnt - this song in Darwin (Northern Territory) in the mid 80s, from the wonderful duo Louisa Myers (originally an Idaho girl, MAYbe??) and Scott Wise (both from Western Australia) - and promptly taught it to all the a cappella harmony groups I have been in since!
Always goes down well with an audience ...

Nice to know some more history now - Thanks!



Cheers! R-J

Subject: RE: Some info on 'Stand on the shore'
From: GUEST,John Gravvy
Date: 25 Aug 22 - 07:28 AM

Can anyone give me a link to the Shaker side of the artists mentioned as

My choir wants to kn ow and so do I as we are to sing it in a concert Saturday week in 4 parts.

We would all be grateful.

John