Lyr Req: Prayer (Josh Bogin)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Prayer (Josh Bogin)
From: GUEST,jory squibb, camden maine
Date: 14 Dec 19 - 06:29 PM

ann sang this again this past weekend in camden, Maine at her christmas concert. An amazing surgical intervention has given her a break from parkenson's tremors and allowed this recent concert.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Prayer (Josh Bogin)
From: GUEST,Heather Innes
Date: 09 Jul 15 - 11:14 AM

Hi, I learnt Prayer from an Anne Dodson cassette in the early 90s and have been gigging an a Capella version for years at folk clubs,folk festivals etc around the world. More importantly I've been asked to sing prayer at some weddings and at funerals because it has meant so much to people hearing it . I've always wanted to find Josh Bogin to thank him for his song and to tell him how much it's meant to so many people. I recorded an a Capella harmony version on a Fellside CD in the nineties which isn't available any longer & another version with accompaniment on my duo "Caim"s CD "Caim Ceilidh" available at www.cluniemusic.com I will try emailing you Josh now I have an email to try. My email is [e-mail] . Thanks you so much for such an inspirational song and prayer which I still enjoy singing after all these years. Heather

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Prayer (Josh Bogin)
From: GUEST,Josh Bogin
Date: 22 Oct 14 - 02:49 PM

Here's the words as I scrawled them back in the late 70's. I was motivated to capture the spirit of some of the Navajo prayers that were gathered in a beautiful book of poetry my parents had been given. I cobbled a chorus from the poems, and crafted verses from individual lines, then added my own. Anne Dodson and I have been friends since we were 12 and shared Beatles discoveries. She was the first person I shared the song with, and we actually performed it together in a lovely venue in Deer Isle, Maine, I think in the late 80's. Anne brought it forward--beautifully, of course. My original vision had Aaron Neville fronting it. Josh

I can be reached at [e-mail]

The curtain of daybreak, it is hanging.
The wind whispers a morning grace.
Before the sky you will find me standing.
Let me live in this holy place.

All before me, peaceful.
All behind me, peaceful.
Under me--peaceful.
Over me--peaceful.
All around me peaceful.
All around me peaceful.

In the house of freedom, there I wander.
In the house of life shall I pass my days.
In old age traveling, with you I'll wander.
Walk with me in this holy place.

(chorus)

Homeward now down this road I wander,
Where my soul's long lines are deeply traced.
Homeward now shall I make my journey.
Lo, yonder this holy place.

(chorus)

For anyone interested, I'd never really heard the word "Lo" until I heard Rev. Gary Davis sing "Lo, I'll be with you always." It wasn't until years after using the word in Prayer that I realized it was likely short for "Lord." Not my intent--the word "lo" just always felt powerful to me, as did everything that ever came out of Gary Davis' mouth.

Subject: ADD: Prayer (Josh Bogin)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 16 Sep 12 - 04:33 AM

I'm not sure of a few words, but this is what I hear:

PRAYER
(Josh Bogin)

Curtain of daybreak, it is hanging;
The wind, it whispers a morning praise;
Before the sky you will find me standing;
Let me live in this holy place.

CHORUS
All before me peaceful,
All behind me peaceful,
Under me peaceful,
Over me peaceful,
All around me peaceful -
All around me peaceful.

In the house of freedom, there I'll wander;
In the house of life shall I pass my days;
In old age traveling, there I'll wander;
Walk with me in this holy place.
CHORUS

Homeward now down this road I'll wander,
Where my soul's long lines are deeply traced;
Homeward now shall I make my journey,
Lo, yonder this holy place.
CHORUS


Transcribed from the Anne Dodson recording, In Its Own Sweet Time

Gordon Bok's Website calls this song "The Navajo Prayer." Gordon has performed the song in concert, but has not recorded it.

My wife says this is often sung by Threshold Choir groups.

Subject: ADD: War God's Horse Song
From: Joe Offer
Date: 16 Sep 12 - 03:43 AM

Josh Bogin did a couple of children's albums for Folkways, but this song wasn't on either of them. There's a Josh Bogin who's Magnet School Director for Springfield (Massachusetts) Public Schools - I wonder if that's him. I'll do a transcription of the Anne Dodson recording if somebody doesn't beat me to it - I don't have time for a couple of days. Here's the chorus of the song as she sings it:

All before me peaceful,
All behind me peaceful,
Under me peaceful,
Over me peaceful,
All around me peaceful -
All around me peaceful.

By the way, the Anne Dodson Website says she was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 2002, but apparently she still performs occasionally. Her recordings are just wonderful, by the way.

---

In the meantime, I found this:



WAR GOD'S HORSE SONG
(Sung by Navajo Tall Kia ah'ni and interpreted by Louis Watchman)

I am the Turquoise Woman's Son,
On top of Belted Mountain
Beautiful horses--slim like a weasel!
My horse has a hoof like striped agate,
His fetlock like a fine eagle-plume;
His legs are like quick lightning.
My horse's body is like an eagle-plumed arrow:
My horse has a tail like a trailing black cloud.
I put flexible goods on my horse's back;
The Little Holy Wind blows through his hair.
His mane is made of short rainbows.
My horse's ears are made of round corn.
My horse's eyes are made of big stars.
My horse's head is made of mixed waters
(From the holy springs – he never knows thirst)
My horse's teeth are made of white shell.
The long rainbow is in his mouth for a bridle,
and with it I guide him.
When my horse neighs, different-colored horses follow.
When my horse neighs, different-colored sheep follow.
I am wealthy, because of him.

Before me peaceful,
Behind me peaceful,
Under me peaceful,
Over me peaceful,
All around me peaceful –
Peaceful voice when he neighs.
I am Everlasting and Peaceful,
I stand for my horse.


Source: The Lore of New Mexico by Marta Weigle & Peter White, pp 41-42

Originally in The Navajo Indians, by Dane Coolidge and Mary Roberts Coolidge (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1930)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Prayer
From: GUEST,LYRIC ADD ................ 999
Date: 15 Sep 12 - 09:24 PM

http://www.unitychurchinalbany.org/lyrics


Prayer - Josh Bogin

as sung at Unity:

All below me peaceful
All above me peaceful
All behind me peaceful
All before me peaceful
All around me peaceful
All around me peaceful

original text:

All before me peaceful
All behind me peaceful
Wunder me, peaceful
Over me, peaceful
All around me peaceful
All around me peaceful

[ Anne Dodson recorded a lovely version on her In Its Own Sweet Time ]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Prayer
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Mar 02 - 03:02 PM

The web page mentioned above seems to no longer exist.

I found this listing on a radio station's playlist:

'Prayer -- Anne Dodson: "In Its Own Sweet Time" 1990 (Beech Hill cd #101, available from P.O.. Box 14, Camden, ME 04843) (writer: Josh Bogin)'

It is also mentioned on Anne Dodson's own web site but no lyrics are given.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Prayer
From: late 'n short 2
Date: 03 Jul 01 - 10:42 PM

This site: "lyricsvra.tripod.com/cgi-bin/dlpage.pl?d810 - 5k" claims to have the lyrics as recorded by Anne Dodson but I haven't been able to open it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Prayer
From: wysiwyg
Date: 03 Jul 01 - 02:31 PM

Better bookmark your thread so you can find it again... it may take awhile to get an answer.

~S~

Subject: Prayer
From: GUEST,Davey
Date: 03 Jul 01 - 11:05 AM

Does anyone have the lyrics to Prayer, by Josh Bogin?