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Subject: RE: Origins: I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: GUEST Date: 16 Jan 24 - 11:40 PM I believe the original melody was composed by Johann Georg Ebeling and lyrics written by Paul Gerhardt in 1666 in Germany as "Ich bin ja nur ein Gast auf Erden". The song is based on Psalm 39:12 and Psalm 119:19 It possibly shows the German escape to the fledgling America's in that period as there are well documented colonies by the 1670's here is some evidence https://ccel.org/ccel/hewitt/gerhardt/gerhardt.p2_2.h_284.html The words have a similar feel to the evolved song It would be interesting in documenting the transition from the 1670's to the published version in the 1840's |
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Subject: RE: Origins: I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: GUEST,John Braden Date: 13 May 20 - 04:40 AM Thank you, Lighter. Question answered. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: voyager Date: 12 Apr 20 - 11:51 AM Very timely post Mudcatters....I have been playing a flatpick version of IAAPWS two of three times a day during Pandemic-2020/ Be safe out there. voyager |
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Subject: RE: Origins: I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: GUEST,Lighter Date: 12 Apr 20 - 10:46 AM Note the Quartet's old-time Southern pronunciation "Jerdan" (rhymes with "burden.") I've heard this many times. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: GUEST,Lighter Date: 12 Apr 20 - 10:44 AM John, check out this recent (Jan., 2020) article, by Eric Sinclair: https://sixstrstories.com/2020/01/19/the-ballad-of-wayfaring-stranger/ According to the research of John Garst, the first joint appearance of the familiar words and (essentially) music was in the early 1890s. A really "transitional" version is the one recorded by Vaughn's Texas Quartet in 1929. It's at the linked site. So far, it looks like the now standard version was introduced by Burl Ives. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: GUEST,john braden Date: 11 Apr 20 - 09:15 PM Thank you for the link to the "I am a Pilgrim" thread, Joe Offer. Despite a few similarities, they are different hymns. 1. "I am a poor wayfaring stranger" a. Second line: "I'm traveling through this world of woe." b. Refrain "I'm just going over Jordan." c. Appearance: Words only at p. 34 of Joseph Bever, "Christian Songster" (Dayton, Ohio: United Brethren in Christ 1858) 2. "I am a pilgrim and I'm a stranger." a. Second line: "I can tarry but a night." b. Refrain: same as first and second lines. c. Appearance: Mary S.B. Dana (author of the lyrics), "The Northern Harp" (NY: Dayton & Saxon 1841), set at p. 54 to an "Italian Melody" which is different than the tune used for "I am a poor wayfaring stranger." As the other thread notes, Mrs. Dana's hymn was quite popular, being reprinted in 1848, 1854, 1855, in three Civil War soldier hymnals and in numerous postwar hymnals. It has also appeared to additional tunes, but of the four tunes I looked at, none match the one for "I am a poor Wayfaring Stranger." So, I'm still in the dark about the earliest publication of "I am a poor wayfaring stranger" with the tune we use. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: Joe Offer Date: 30 Mar 20 - 03:41 AM John Braden, I'm wondering if you're referring to the song "I Am a Pilgrim," that was recorded by Merle Travis and Doc Watson. There's definitely a tie between that song and "Wayfaring Stranger." I wonder if these songs are based on a passage from scripture. -Joe- |
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Subject: RE: Origins: I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: Rusty Dobro Date: 30 Mar 20 - 03:20 AM I have posted to another thread about the use of this song/hymn in the film '1917', where it is performed by a British soldier during an impromptu service held before going into action. I do not believe that it would have reached the UK by this date, especially as the film is set on the very day that the USA joined the Great War. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: GUEST,john braden Date: 29 Mar 20 - 05:20 AM Thank you, Lighter. The Kentucky Harmony has been posted online by the University of Kentucky. A link to it can be found at the Wikipedia article "Kentucky Harmony." At page 32 is the tune "Judment" (sic) for a hymn whose first line is "My God what inward grief I feel." My sight-reading is rudimentary, but none of the parts for this four-part harmony tune seem to match the tune currently used for "I am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger." The tune would fit the words, but that is true of numerous tunes and hymns, and does not establish that they were ever sung together. So my original question remains: When was the tune we currently use first published to the words of "I am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger"? Addressing your BTW question, I'm not aware of other tunes being used for "I am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger," but nevertheless avoid calling any tune "the" tune used for a hymn, given that hymns were often sung to whatever tune fit (a necessity at a time when most hymnals lacked music). |
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Subject: RE: Origins: I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: Lighter Date: 28 Mar 20 - 03:53 PM See 03 Jun 08 above. If "Judgment" is really the same tune, then it could have been attached to the words as soon as they appeared. Have they ever been sung to a different tune, BTW? |
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Subject: RE: Origins: I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: GUEST,john braden Date: 28 Mar 20 - 11:44 AM OK, we've nailed down earliest publication of the words to Joseph Bever's Christian Songster (United Brethren in Christ, 1858), where it is No. 23 (page 34) under the catchline "Going Over Jordan," first line "I am a pilgrim and a stranger". You can see it at hymnary.org However, like most songsters, Bever's book does not include music. So when was the tune we know first published with the words? One poster said the tune is in the 1860 edition of the Sacred Harp, titled Fulfillment. The Wikipedia article on that book gives a table of contents, and I see neither that tune nor "I am a poor wayfaring stranger." The Wikipedia article on the hymn says it was added to the Sacred Harp in 1935. So the question remains: when did the words first appear with the tune we use? |
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Subject: RE: Origins: I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch Date: 08 Feb 17 - 03:05 AM It's closer to the one posted above than the other 'Pilgrim' thread that just got bumped: The Wayfaring Pilgrim Rev. Ivy Ernest Rippetoe; Rev. Robert Henry Cunningham (As performed by the Stamps Co. Music Quartet c.1940) I am a poor wayfaring pilgrim, While trav'ling thru this world below; There is no sickness, toil nor danger In that bright world to which I go, to which I go. I'm going there to meet my father, I'm going there no more to roam; I am going over Jordan, I'm just going over home. I know dark clouds will gather o'er me, I know my pathway's rough and steep; But golden fields lie out before me, What weary eyes no more shall weep, no more shall weep. I'm going there to see my mother, She said she'd meet me when I come; I am going over Jordan, I'm just going over home. I'll soon be free from ev'ry trial, This form will rest beneath the sod; I'll drop the cross of self denial, And enter in my home with God. I'm going there to meet my Savior, Who shed for me his precious blood, I am going over Jordan, I'm just going I'm going home. Note: This is lifted from an old AM radio rebroadcast. The Rev. Rippetoe (1892-1962) was a Texas music teacher; composer and one-time Prez. Of the Texas State Singing Convention. He sang for one or another of the V.O. Stamps Quartets briefly, his brother a while longer. R.H. Cunningham is mentioned as being from Lexington, KY but I haven't looked into him much. It appears in several of the Zion's Call camp meeting songbooks. Copyright: 1944, Stamps-Baxter Music but none are credited to Cunningham-Rippetoe. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: Jeri Date: 09 Apr 16 - 09:58 PM Based, I believe, on the phrase "washed in the blood of the lamb". There's a whole sermon on it at princeton.edu |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 09 Apr 16 - 08:57 PM As the result of the above post, Big Data has now decided I'm a German. So far I have been: an American a Canadian a German a Kansas Citian a Chicagoan a St Louisan and a resident of three local counties. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 08 Apr 16 - 11:43 AM Guten Tag, Meister. The blood-washed band is a group of souls who have gone to Heaven because they have been by the suffering (blood) of Jesus Christ on the cross. "Band" has a lot of meanings, but here it simply means "group." |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: GUEST,Guest Meister Date: 08 Apr 16 - 09:43 AM Can any of you explain what the meaning of "that blood-washed band" is |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Wayfaring Stranger From: Jack Campin Date: 07 Feb 13 - 08:06 AM Derek's link is interesting. It traces it back to the Melungeons in the 1780s. Since the Melungeons trace their ancestry in part back to Ottoman Empire, that gives a link with the place that Sephardic song came from. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Wayfaring Stranger From: GUEST Date: 07 Feb 13 - 04:10 AM Being about a journey of a poor soul through Iife can be seen as a spiritual journey through life. See wiiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wayfaring_Stranger_(song) A sort of pilgrims progress through a vale of tears! |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Wayfaring Stranger From: GUEST,Derek Hatley Date: 06 Feb 13 - 04:31 PM Here's a web reference that seems pretty legit: http://www.manhattanbeachmusic.com/html/wayfaring_stranger.html |
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Subject: RE: Req/ADD: I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: GUEST,DWR Date: 19 Oct 10 - 03:26 PM Do notice that this is one of the books available for download. Just click on the pdf link up on the right, and it's all yours, free and clear. |
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Subject: RE: Req/ADD: I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: Genie Date: 09 Apr 10 - 03:55 PM Maybe not, Gerry, but there's "Texas tea" there (oil, that is). ; D I'm looking for the lyrics and authorship of different (newer) song titled "Wafaring Stranger," which Mo Mack (Morris McClellan) has recorded. The chorus starts, "Don't mind me - I'm a poor wayfaring stranger ... " If it's not here in the forum somewhere and someone finds the info on it, maybe we should put it in a separate thread? Not sure, since the two songs have the same title. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Wayfaring Stranger From: Jack Campin Date: 18 Dec 08 - 09:11 PM There is a startlingly similar tune from Sephardic tradition - on the Voice of the Turtle recording "Balkan Voices, Spanish Dreams", it's "Ken es akeyo de la meniana", whose source is given as Avraam Altarats of Sarajevo. Judith Wachs' note says it's of Yugoslav origin, which in this context presumably means Bosniak. It ends a tone higher than Wayfaring Stranger, though it doesn't really sound Phrygian. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Wayfaring Stranger From: Lonesome EJ Date: 18 Dec 08 - 02:25 PM Checked McGuinn's Folk Den for info on this beautiful old song. While the info is scanty, my heart was warmed to see the photo Roger used with the song, a tribute to his old friend Gene Clark. |
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Subject: RE: Req/ADD: I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: GUEST,Gerry Date: 08 Jun 08 - 07:07 AM I'm sorry, there is no "T" in "Oklahoma." |
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Subject: RE: Req/ADD: I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: T in Oklahoma (Okiemockbird) Date: 07 Jun 08 - 11:20 PM Fulfillment, from the 1860 Sacred Harp, can be found here. F.Mud.I the song I'm going home is here. |
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Subject: RE: Req/ADD: I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: T in Oklahoma (Okiemockbird) Date: 05 Jun 08 - 12:04 AM Yet another correction: the second note in Judgement should be c, not B. George Pullen Jackson, in Another Sheaf of White Spirituals, page 147, seems to be the one who first identified the melody Judgement (transcribed above) as being related to "Poor Wayfaring Stranger." But after listening to Judgement several times, I have concluded that this was mere wishful thinking on Jackson's part. The resemblance is remote at best. Another melody in ASoWS, #300, Fulfillment, from the 1844 edition of the Sacred Harp, is also identified by Jackson as being related to "Poor Wayfaring Stranger." In this case the resemblance is much stronger. This conclusion is complicated, however, by the way Jackson has manipulated the rhythm of his transcription of Fulfillment precisely in order to bring out its resemblance to PWS. |
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Subject: Tune Add: JUDGEMENT From: T in Oklahoma (Okiemockbird) Date: 03 Jun 08 - 08:23 AM There are a couple of transcription errors in my last post. Here is the air again: X: 1 T: Judgement C: Ananias Davission, Kentucky Harmony 2nd Edition, Knoxville, Nashville, and Lexington, 1817, p. 32 M: 4/4 K: G L: 1/4 B2 | B E B2 |G E B G | E3 A | B B A2| G2 D E| E4:| G2 | E E G2 | B d e e | e2 B2 | d e/ d/ B2| G2 B>A | A2 G2 | E E G2 | B d e e | e2 B2 | d e/ d/ B2| A>B G F | E2 || The original I'm working from is a digital facsimile of a copy that was damaged and smudged in spots, unfortunately making a couple of notes hard to make out. |
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Subject: RE: Req/ADD: I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: T in Oklahoma (Okiemockbird) Date: 02 Jun 08 - 08:16 PM Found it. It's on page 32 just before Funeral Thought. The meter is given as long meter. The words are "My God, what inward grief I feel." The melody has similarities to PWS, but it isn't the same: X: 1 T: Judgement C: Ananias Davission, Kentucky Harmony 2nd Edition, Knoxville, Nashville, and Lexington, 1817, p. 32 M: 4/4 K: G L: 1/4 B2 | E E B2 |G E B G | E3 A | B B A2| G2 D E| E4:| G2 | E E A2 | B d e e | e2 B2 | d e/ d/ B2| G2 B. /A | A2 G2 | E E A2 | B d e e | e2 B2 | d e/ d/ B2| A. /B G F | E2 || Sorry, I forgot how to do dotted notes in ABC. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 01 Oct 07 - 10:07 PM Other versions in thread 23495: Wayfaring Stranger Also see thread 879: Wayfaring Stranger The latter has words from a songster of 1858; it seems to be an old Sacred Harp shape note song. First known appearance in print 1816, "Kentucky Harmony," as "Judgement." See Traditional Ballads Index. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wayfaring Stranger From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 07 Aug 05 - 09:45 AM This is a great tune for DAG tuning on the mountain dulcimer.
-Joe Offer- |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wayfaring Stranger From: GUEST,Cluin Date: 06 Aug 05 - 12:46 PM Yep. When he was a Blurgrass Boy. He still performs it regularly. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wayfaring Stranger From: Dave Hanson Date: 06 Aug 05 - 10:11 AM Didn't Peter Rowan sing it with Bill Monroe and the Blurgrass Boys ? eric |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wayfaring Stranger From: masato sakurai Date: 06 Aug 05 - 04:57 AM Bill Monroe's "Wayfaring Stranger" is on Bluegrass 1950-1958 by Bill Monroe (Bear Family). To listen to sound clip, scroll down to "101." |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wayfaring Stranger From: rangeroger Date: 06 Aug 05 - 02:29 AM So there I was,listening to Bluegrass Junction on XM radio, and I hear Bill Monroe's version of "Wayfaring Stranger" with a verse I had not heard before. Next step is go on-line to the Mudcat to find the third verse. Didn't show up in the Digitrad, but after perusing the related Forum threads I now have 6 (six)!!!! additional verses. Which of course means I have to sing the song a lot to memorize the new ones. Lord, save me. |
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Subject: RE: origin of Wayfaring Stranger From: Peace Date: 10 Apr 05 - 10:59 PM Thanks, Q. Keep remindin' me. I am getting trained; I just ain't housebroke yet. Bruce |
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Subject: RE: origin of Wayfaring Stranger From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 10 Apr 05 - 10:15 PM Pretty complete data right here at Mudcat (of course!). Put wayfaring stranger in the Lyrics and Knowledge Search and read the threads that are brought up. No need to google for most of these well-known songs. |
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Subject: RE: origin of Wayfaring Stranger From: Peace Date: 10 Apr 05 - 08:35 PM It's in order alphabetically. |
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Subject: RE: origin of Wayfaring Stranger From: Peace Date: 10 Apr 05 - 08:31 PM Bit here. |
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Subject: origin of Wayfaring Stranger From: GUEST Date: 10 Apr 05 - 08:28 PM Does anyone know anything about the origins of the song "Wayfaring Stranger"? My band will be performing it at an upcoming public school function, and figure if we couch it in a little history we can safely get around potential church/state complaints. (It is our best song and we don't want to cut it!) Thanks! HJK |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: wayfaring stranger From: GUEST,emr Date: 23 Jan 03 - 04:12 PM These are the lyrics I remember: I am a poor wayfaring stranger, A-wandering through this world of woe. There is no sickness, no toil or danger, In that bright world to which I go. I'm going there to meet my Savior, I'm going there to see my Lord. I'm only going over Jordan, I'm only going over home. I know my sins are all forgiven, My hopes are stayed on things above. I'm going home to you, bright heaven, Where all is joy and peace and love. I'm going there to meet my Savior, I'm going there to see my Lord. I'm only going over Jordan, I'm only going over home. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wayfaring Stranger From: Steve in Idaho Date: 14 Feb 02 - 12:26 PM Doc Watson did this song also. Just as good as Bill Monroes I think. I had no idea the origins so am grateful as always for the music archeologists work. Steve |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wayfaring Stranger From: wysiwyg Date: 14 Feb 02 - 11:40 AM indexed |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wayfaring Stranger From: Dicho (Frank Staplin) Date: 09 Jan 02 - 08:12 PM Cross-reference to Hymn stories thread, with related Pilgrim Song: Here |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wayfaring Stranger From: paddymac Date: 04 Jan 02 - 08:14 AM Willie-O: I whole-heartedly agree that "Wayward Wind" by Cogi Grant is also a great song. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wayfaring Stranger From: Thyme2dream Date: 05 Nov 00 - 12:49 AM eeek! That was me the anon guest last post... guess I lost my cookie...glad its found again:-) |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wayfaring Stranger From: GUEST Date: 05 Nov 00 - 12:45 AM I agree 100% Richlmo, Monroe's version is downright ethereal...I first heard him perform it live one night at his Beanblossom Bluegrass festival when I was still a teenager. It's been more than twenty years now, but I can still remember the hush that came over the rowdy Saturday night crowds, the intense look on his face as he played the incredible mandolin break, and the goosebumps on my arms that I still get when I hear the recording of it. I miss 'The Mon'..:-( |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wayfaring Stranger From: richlmo Date: 04 Nov 00 - 08:50 PM What a great song. When I hear it I think Bill Monroe's version. There was a thread a few weeks back about , " What is The High Lonsome Sound? " listen to Monroe sing Wayfaring Stranger, that pretty much defines the term. Emmylou Harris' " Roses In The Snow " has a real good version only 2 verses. |
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Subject: Tune Add: A POOR WAYFARING STRANGER From: T in Oklahoma (Okiemockbird) Date: 04 Nov 00 - 09:57 AM X: 1 T: A Poor Wayfaring Stranger C: C. H. Cayce, The Good Old Songs, Thornton, AR, 1914. Hymn # 714 (accidentals omitted) M: 6/4 K: G L: 1/4 E E B | B3 A B B | A/ G/ E2 G A B | A3 G E D | E3 :| B B d | e3 d e B | B A2 B B d | e3 d e B | A3 B e d | B3 A B B | A/ G/ E2 G A B | A3 G E D | E3||
Cayce has D# in measure 4 and in next-to-last measure T. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wayfaring Stranger From: GUEST,Burke Date: 26 Jul 00 - 08:12 PM There's a relativly late (1935) arrangement in the Sacred Harp. But from the citation one source of the text is: The Christian songster : a collectin of hymns and spiritual songs, usually sung at camp, prayer, and social meetings, and revivals of religion. Designed for all denominations / compiled by Joseph Bever. Dayton, Ohio : Printed at the printing establishment of the United Brethren in Christ, 1858.
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wayfaring Stranger From: Kim C Date: 26 Jul 00 - 11:45 AM According to some sources, Wayfaring Stranger goes back to at least the mid-18th century. There are several different versions. |
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