ADD/Origins: Seek and Ye Shall Find

Subject: RE: ADD/Origins: Seek and Ye Shall Find
From: Tuvya
Date: 30 Sep 17 - 11:40 AM

On the album Rainbow Quest(1960) Pete Seeger had this verse to sing:
I WISH I KNEW I WISH I COULD SEE
THE LOVE COME TUMBLIN DOWN
JUST WHAT YOUR'S AND MY FUTURE WILL BE
WHEN THE LOVE COME TUMBLIN DOWN

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Seek and Ye Shall Find
From: GUEST,Jack Hopkins
Date: 12 Aug 14 - 05:51 PM

SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND
(Traditional folk song; arranged by Steve Kinnaird)

          CHORUS:        Seek and ye shall find
                        Knock and the door shall be opened
                        Ask and it shall be given
                        And the love comes a-tumblin' down.

                        My Lord, His name is Jesus (3X)
                        And the love comes a-tumblin' down
                        (repeat chorus)

                        My Lord, He died on Calvary (3X)
                        And the love comes a-tumblin' down

                        (repeat Chorus)

                        My Lord, He rose on Easter (3X)
                        And the love comes a-tumblin' down

                        (repeat Chorus)

                        My Lord, He sends His Spirit (3X)
                        And the love comes a-tumblin' down

                        (repeat Chorus)

                        My Lord, He'll come in glory (3X)
                        And the love comes a-tumblin' down

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Seek and Ye Shall Find
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Mar 14 - 05:14 PM

i have a question - i have been remembering a camp song from when i was little - i am a youth pastor & director of christian ed now, and i want to use this song in something that i am doing with the kids in the early summer. there was a little green song book with a serpent and apple on the cover (i THINK0 and i think that the camp song came from this… can't be sure - however, it's a different version from what you guys are posting - it's not the kingston trio one… it's like someone took the kingston trip one and made it into a camp song lol

what i can remember: (roughly)

seek and you shall find
you gotta knock, and the door shall be open
just ask, and it shall be given
and the love comes a trickling down…

**and then there are a lot of other verses - but not like with the brother or mother like the kingston trio - and i remember around the last verse it's kind of like this:

my lord, died on calvary,
my lord died on friday…
my lord rose on sunday?

(somewhere in the lyrics - can't remember exactly how it was arranged)

does anyone have this one in their head?

thanks!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Seek and Ye Shall Find
From: GUEST,Ruth Q M
Date: 09 Oct 11 - 08:59 PM

Seek and you will find.
Knock and the door will be opened
Ask and you will receive
For such is the way of the LORD

Who Knows in truth
What God in three persons can do?
If you believe,
Great Happiness will come to you.

Repeat

Subject: RE: req/ADD: Seek and ye shall find.
From: GUEST,Bob G
Date: 12 Mar 11 - 04:27 PM

http://everything2.com/title/Seek+And+You+Shall+Find

A song by Pete Seeger, available on Waist Deep In The Big Muddy And Other Love Songs (1993). From the album's liner notes:
..."Seek And You Shall Find," is a great old spiritual. But no verses to it are half as great as the chorus. So I interspersed a few old folk stories, and dedicated the whole to all students. And to all teachers. Locked in eternal combat. The third story, about the maggots, I got from Carl Sandburg, and the fourth, about Columbus, is from Don Sherwood, the rakish San Franciscan.

Chorus:
Repeat x2
Seek and you shall find
Knock and the door shall be open
Ask and it shall be given
When the love come tumblin' down

There was once a king in the olden days. He had three sons and he wanted to give them a good education. He called in his wise men. He said, "I wish you'd boil down the world's wisdom into one book, and I'm going to give it to my sons and have them learn it."

So the wise men went away. Took them a whole year, and they came back with a beautiful leather-bound volume, trimmed in gold. The king leafed through it, "Hmm... Very good. Hmm... Yes! This is it!" And he gives it to his sons and he says, "OK, learn it!"

Then he turned to the wise men and he said, "You know, you did such a good job with that, I wonder if you couldn't boil down all the world's wisdom into one sentence."

Well, the wise men went away. It took them five years. When they came back their beards must've been dragging on the ground. They said, "Your Majesty, we have decided upon the sentence."

"What is it?" says the king.

"This too shall pass."

I guess the king didn't have anything better to do with his wise men. He said, "I wonder if you couldn't boil down all the world's wisdom into one word?"

The poor men must've groaned. They went away. It took them ten years. When they came back they were all bent over. The king said, "Oh yes, what was that word?" He'd forgotten all about his little whim.

They said, "Your Majesty, the one word is: Maybe."

Chorus

There was another king, in another country, in the olden days. He was sitting in his palace one day, and a messenger came:

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! A sea captain has landed on your coast, and in the hold of his vessel is a strange animal called an elephant!"

Well, the king was busy enjoying himself. He said to his wise men, he said, "I wish you'd go down and bring me back a report."

So the wise men got in the carriages and they were all taken down to the coast, and they went on board the ship. But you know, they'd all been reading books so long they were blind as bats.

And the first wise man, he felt the leg of the elephant. And he says, "Hm."

And the next one feels the side of the elephant. "Hmm," says he.

The next one felt the ear of the elephant. "Hmmm," says he.

The next one felt the tusk of the elephant, and the next one felt the trunk, and the last one pulled on the tail.

Well, they all got back in the carriages, and they all went back to the king. And the king says, "Now, what manner of beast is this elephant?"

And the first wise man bowed low and said, "Your Majesty, this elephant is very like unto the trunk of a small tree."

"You're completely wrong!" said the next one. "I felt it myself, it's like the side of a building."

"Oh you're both wrong!" says the third. "It's like a... a big - a big leaf of a large plant!"

The third says, "No no no! You're all wrong! It's like a smooth spear."

"No no no!" says the next, "It's like a big snake."

And the last one says, "Your majesty, you know I'm right. It's like a rope hanging down from heaven. You pull on it, and the heavens open up with waste."

Chorus

I got a story about two little maggots. You know, little worms. They were sitting on the handle of a shovel. The shovel was in a workshop, and early in the morning, a workman came, put the shovel on his shoulder, and started down the street to work.

Well, the two little maggots held on as long as they could, but finally they jiggled off, and one fell down into a crack in the sidewalk, and the next fell off onto the curb. And from the curb, he fell into a cat. A very dead cat.

Well the second maggot just started in eating. And he ate and he ate and he ate for three days. He couldn't eat anymore. He finally said, "*Yawn* I think I'll go hunt up my brother."

And the second maggot humped himself up over the curb, humped along the sidewalk, came to the crack. He leaned and said, "Hello! You down there, brother?"

"Yes, I'm down here all right! I've been here for three days without a bite to eat or a drop to drink. I'm nearly starved to death! But you... you're so sleek and fat. To what do you attribute your success?"

"Brains and personality brother, brains and personality."

Chorus

I got one more story. It's about Columbus, Christopher Columbus. 1492 sailed the ocean blue and all that. Forty days and forty nights and they almost starved to death and almost had a mutiny. And they were ready to give up and go home, when they saw land. Green land!

Columbus ordered the little boat to anchor offshore, and he got into a still smaller boat, a little lifeboat I guess, and he went in through the surf. Threw himself on his knees in the sand. Then he planted the big yellow and red flag of King Ferdinand and Isabella.

Then looking up, Columbus saw two brown faces looking at him from the bushes. Columbus says, "Buenos días, señores!"

And one Indian said to the other, "Well, there goes the neighborhood."

Chorus

Subject: RE: req/ADD: Seek and ye shall find.
From: GUEST,Wally Macnow
Date: 25 May 10 - 06:28 PM

Andy Wallace dropped me this note this afternoon.

I sauntered down to the LOC with Norman Kennedy yesterday, and, while there, looked up "seek and you shall find." As I suspected it's an old spiritual. First printed version was in Jubilee and Plantation Songs, as sung by the Hampton Student Chorus, published by Ditson in 1887. There was a later Cabin and Plantation Songs, published in 1901, and also Religious Folk Songs of the Negro. So it was obviously in the repertoire of the black college groups that popularized so many of these sorts of songs.

Subject: RE: Seek and ye shall find.
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 02:24 AM

http://www.stephen-foster-songs.de/foster173.htm

Seek and Ye Shall Find
Stephen Collins Foster, 1863

1.	3.
Who has our Redeemer heard, Whose voice was good and kind? Thus he spoke in holy word: Seek and ye shall find. Chorus: Ask and it shall be given, Seek and ye shall find, Every prayer is heard in heaven That is breathed from a truthful mind.	Every prayer is heard above That we sincerely feel, Every sigh received with love, When we repenting kneel. Chorus:
2.	4.
Come with gentle, contrite heart, And seek the Saviour’s grace, Come, that when from earth we part, We’ll meet him face to face. Chorus:	Life to all, our Lord has shown, Then be to Hope resigned, When around you, doubts are thrown, “Seek and ye shall find.” Chorus:

Subject: RE: Seek and ye shall find.
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Nov 01 - 04:48 PM

Hi, Ian - synoptic comes from the Greek - means "with one eye." Matthew, Mark, and Luke apparently drew much of what they wrote from a common source, probably a written source. If you look at the three Gospels in Greek, you can see many passages that are word-for-word the same in all three.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Seek and ye shall find.
From: GUEST,Ian P
Date: 21 Nov 01 - 03:25 PM

Does 'synoptic' mean that they copied each other? (Serious question)

Ian

Subject: RE: Seek and ye shall find.
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Nov 01 - 03:05 PM

Yup, the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:7. As far as I can tell, there is no comparable verse anywhere else in the Bible. Lots of parts are repeated almost word-for-word in Matthew, Mark, and Luke (the Synoptics), but not this one.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Seek and ye shall find.
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Nov 01 - 11:53 AM

From the Sermon on the Mount... in Latin I think its Querendo Invenitis

Subject: ADD: Seek and You Shall Find (Schneyer)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Nov 01 - 01:18 AM

Thanks for the tip on the Schneyer recording, Harmony. It is indeed available from Folk-Legacy, and it's a wonderful recording. Schneyer's lyrics have different verses, so I'll inclued them here.
-Joe Offer-

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SEEK AND YOU SHALL FIND

CHORUS
Seek and you shall find,
Knock, and the door shall be opened,
Ask, and it shall be given,
Oh, love will come a tumblin' down. (2x)

Brothers, the Lord has been here (3x)
And the love has come a tumblin', Love come tumblin'
Chorus 3x

Sisters, the Lord has been here (3x)
And the love has come a tumblin', Love come tumblin'
Chorus 3x

Subject: RE: Seek and ye shall find.
From: 2 in harmony
Date: 21 Nov 01 - 12:01 AM

Learned this song recently in a workshop by Helen Schneyer. She's been making great music for a long time. This song is on her CD Somber,Sacred & Silly. I'm planning to sing it in upcoming concert. Apparently there are many slightly different verses of this traditional song,"sung in both Black & White congregations."(liner notes) "Printings of this song can be found...in 1887 in Jubilee and Plantation Songs...Also published in 1901 in 'Cabin & Plantation Songs as Sung by the Hampton Students." Recommend entire CD. I believe it is available from Folk Legacy. Thanks for the verses I didn't know.

Subject: RE: Seek and ye shall find.
From: raredance
Date: 20 Nov 01 - 08:16 PM

Pete Seeger used the chorus of this interspersed between short stories (albums "Waist Deep In The Big Muddy", "Rainbow Quest"). He said it is an old spiritual that he learned from Alan Lomax in 1959 ("Where Have All the Flowers Gone")

rich r

Subject: RE: Seek and ye shall find.
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Nov 01 - 02:44 PM

Get yer mind outa the gutter, Mrrr!
[grin]

...but back to the song, it IS interesting to note that the Kingston Trio lyrics say "the love come a-trickling down." The lyrics in Rise Up Singing are "When the love come tumblin' down," but I typed it "When the love comes tumblin' down" because "come" didn't make sense to me.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Seek and ye shall find.
From: Mrrzy
Date: 20 Nov 01 - 02:06 PM

Love come a-trickling down, eh? Sounds like she got up too soon after!

Subject: ADD: Love Comes A-Trickling Down
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Nov 01 - 12:23 AM

Here are the lyrics from the Kingston Trio recording on the "Nick-Bob-John" album. I found the song here (click)
-Joe Offer-

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LOVE COMES A-TRICKLING DOWN
(Jonathan Harris)

Chorus:
Seek and ye shall find.
Knock and the door shall open.
Ask and it shall be given
and the love come a-trickling down.
My mother, the Lord has been here.
My mother, the Lord has been here.
My mother, the Lord has been here.
and the love come a-trickling down.

Chorus

My sister, the Lord has told me.
My sister, the Lord has told me.
My sister, the Lord has told me.
and the love come a-trickling down.

Chorus

My brother, the Lord has showed me.
My brother, the Lord has showed me.
My brother, the Lord has showed me.
and the love come a-trickling down.

Chorus

Yeah, I said seek (Seek and ye shall find.)
Then you knock (Knock and the door shall open.)
And you ask (Ask and it shall be given)
and the love come a-trickling down.

Yeah, I said love (Love come a-trickling down.)
I said love (Love come a trickling down)

Subject: ADD: Seek and You Shall Find
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Nov 01 - 12:08 AM

Here's the version from Rise Up Singing It's identified as traditional, with verses by Sam Hinton. I'd swear the Limeliters sang it with the love coming "tricklin" down, but I can't find a recording. I see that the Kingston Trio "Nick-Bob-John album has a song called "Love Comes a Trickling Down" by Jonathan Harris, whoever he was.
-Joe Offer-

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SEEK AND YOU SHALL FIND
(trad/Hinton)

Seek and you shall find
Knock and the door shall be opened
Ask, and you shall be answered
When the love comes tumblin' down

O you look in the Bible and what do you see?
When the love comes tumblin' down
That you shall know the truth and it will make you free
When the love comes tumblin' down

You've got to love your neighbor, like the Lord has done...
You've got to walk three miles if he asks for one...

If you want to go to heaven where the Saints all go...
You've got to try to make a heaven while you're here below...

Subject: RE: Seek and ye shall find.
From:
Date: 27 Aug 97 - 09:02 PM

Joe Offer

Thanks for the lyrics. As soon as I saw them, even the right tune came back. These are the words I remembered (or was trying to remember).

Subject: ADD: Seek and Ye Shall Find.
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Aug 97 - 03:45 AM

Seek and Ye Shall Find

Seek and Ye Shall Find
Knock and the door shall be opened
Ask, and it shall be given
And the love comes a-tricklin' down.

My brother, the Lord has spoken
My sister, the Lord has spoken
My brother, the Lord has spoken,
And the love comes a-tricklin' down.

OK, that's what I have in memory, and that tricklin' may come from the trickle-down theory or something. Here are the lyrics from an actual, printed book called "Songs," by Yohann Anderson:

(If you just) Seek and you shall find
Knock and the door shall be opened,
Ask, and it shall be given
And the love will come a-tum-ba-lin down.

1. On every door I knocked full measure
Some they offered fame and pleasure
But I found life's greatest treasure
When the love came a-tum-ba-lin down.

2. Life is a long hard journey and
To Him it matters where it ends
So make the journey count my friend
And Love will come a-tum-ba-lin down.

3. I know that the Lord is with us
I know that the Lord is with us
I know that the Lord is with us
And the love will come a tum-ba-lin down

4. I know that the Lord has shown me. (repeat twice more)
And the love will come a tum-ba-lin down

5. I know that the Lord has told me (repeat twice more)
And the love will come a tum-ba-lin down

there's also a version in Rise Up Singing.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Seek and ye shall find.
From:
Date: 19 Aug 97 - 09:49 PM

Does anyone know the title and lyrics to the song containing the following: "Seek and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened, ask and it shall be given. And the love will come atrickling down."? I have been trying to remember the rest of the words and its driving me crazy. Thanks.

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