Info re: 'Give me oil in my lamp' (Esperanto)

Subject: RE: Info re: 'Give me oil in my lamp' (Esperanto)
From: GUEST,musicstave
Date: 18 Sep 17 - 05:35 AM

The earliest notation of the song, "Give Me Oil In My Lamp Keep It Burning", is in the book 'Dawning light' by J. Vaughn and G. Kieffer published in 1943. Composer is unknown. It is listed as Song 103. This is a link to that book - https://archive.org/details/boundlesslovefor00vaug

Subject: RE: Info re: 'Give me oil in my lamp'
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 24 Jul 01 - 02:29 AM

give me salt for my Fritos....
God is neato, neato, neato.

After nearly four months on the road...it is grand to be back in town.....the world welcomes musicians, like membership in a secret fraternity from "Coal Porters" (great pun) in the Portabello region of Dublin...to O'Grady's and "Z's" in central Peru.....

Advice, carry a blue's harp, and pickup local instruments they fit in everywhere. Spring time in Dublin I met some sorry-assed-Mudcatter, with his wife, at the airport, tiredly lugging two guitars around. He relaterd his experience as "unhospitable, cold, they only want to hear pros, there are no open mics!!!*" Hell, what did he expect? With a little more time, and a lot less hurry, he should have tried the local church scenes and moved on to the pub connections.

Musicians, are willing to "jam" anywhere, with anyone, it IS a wonderful life!!!! Just do it on their terms not yours.

Subject: RE: Info re: 'Give me oil in my lamp'
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Jul 01 - 01:03 AM

Rise Up Singing gives no songwriter attribution. Here are the verses from that book:

Give me truth as my guide, keep me seeking...
Give me joy in my soul, keep me shining...
Give me love in my life, keep me sharing...
Give me umption in my gumption, help me function...
(and for applepickers, for some reason, but could be for guitarists)
Give me strength in my arms, keep me picking...

-Joe Offer-

---

This song was on the "Ballad of Easy Rider" album by the Byrds.

Subject: RE: Info re: 'Give me oil in my lamp'
From: Haruo
Date: 23 Jul 01 - 11:46 PM

Sorry, pavane, if I came across defensively. I'm not sure in what sense Esperanto as currently spoken is held to be an artificial language. It seems to me that as soon as a language is actively used by a live human being it is natural, language being a natural feature of humanity. There was original song in Esperanto even before there was Esperanto (Esperanto was published in 1887; the first example of it being sung [in an earlier form, of course, but clearly Esperanto as Beowulf's language is clearly Shakespeare's] dates from 1879, and was Zamenhof's poem

Malamikete de las nacjes,
Kadó, kadó, jam temp' está!
La tot homoze in familje
Konunigare so debá

which we Seattle Esperantists have sung to the beginning of the Marseillaise; I don't know what tune was used in 1879 when Zamenhof's buddies sang it at his birthday party. A modern Esperanto translation would go

Malamikeco de l' nacioj
Ekfalu jam! Jam estas temp'!
La tuthomaro en familio
Kununuigi sin devas ja!

Which scans okay but loses the rhyme...

Other original in Esperanto songs from my website include the drinking song Samideana trinkkanto, Hejm', Hejm-koloni', La fluanta tajdo, and of course the Esperanto anthem La Espero, among others (including all the Zambankanzonoj). There are quite a few Esperanto rock bands, mostly closer to Wales than to Seattle, with CDs and whatnot out.

Liland

Subject: RE: Info re: 'Give me oil in my lamp'
From: pavane
Date: 23 Jul 01 - 09:33 AM

Hi, Liland, my comment was badly worded, I didn't mean it to be derogatory or insulting to Esperanto speakers (I did start to learn it once). I was just surprised that one would want to sing in an artificial language rather than just a foreign one. I suppose each language has its own special characteristics when sung. Are there songs which ORIGINATED in Esperanto rather than being translated nito it?

I am rather a long way from Seattle, as I live in Wales, UK, but thanks for the offer.

Subject: RE: Info re: 'Give me oil in my lamp'
From: Haruo
Date: 22 Jul 01 - 04:29 PM

There is no mention of it that I can find on the website of the folks in Nashville who bought Singspiration from Zondervan. I'm going with the assumption that the first verse and melody are public domain, and I've put the rest of my verses in my hymnal.

pavane, anybody who knows Esperanto and likes to sing is welcome to sing the stuff on my website. There are millions of Esperanto-speakers (no idea how many also like to sing), and at least some people who don't know the language but sing in it (just as a lot of singers sing German or Italian without knowing was die Wörte meinen, capisce?). If you are under the impression that Esperanto speakers don't exist (or can't sing), you're simply wrong as to the facts. If you're in the Seattle area, come to the Seattle Esperanto Society picnic at Carkeek Park on August 5th, if you can tear yourself away from the hydros, that is, and I'll sing some to you.

Liland

Subject: RE: Info re: 'Give me oil in my lamp'
From: Burke
Date: 22 Jul 01 - 03:04 PM

I put "Oil in my lamp" in a Google search. There are a lot of words out there, but very little in attribution. I did find one site that at least tries to provide attributions. A wedding planning guide!

Here are some of the words I found. The fuel & gumption verses never seem to be with the joy, peace, love ones.

Make me fishers of men keep me searching
Give me joy in my heart keep me praising
Give me peace in my heart keep me resting
Give me love in my heart keep me serving
Shed Your Love in My Heart, Keep Me Sharing.
Place Your Peace in My Heart, Keep Me Praising
Place Your Faith in My Heart, Keep Me Trusting
Hide Your Word in My Heart, Keep Me Learning.
Give me fuel in my engine, Keep me flyin' like a Christian.
Give me umption in my gumption, Let me function, function, function.
Give me hot sauce for my taco, let me witness in Morocco.

I found that Singspiration, A.Sevison copyright, but that might just be the arrangement & added verses.

Two UK wedding sites list it as a popular wedding hymn.

Anyone with an old children's hymnal around?

Subject: RE: Info re: 'Give me oil in my lamp'
From: GUEST,Liz the Squeak
Date: 22 Jul 01 - 02:33 AM

This works well if you know about makes of batteries...

Give me batteries for my torch keep me shining....
(rpt as required) Keep me shining til the break of day....
Ever Ready, Ever Ready, Ever Ready for the king of Kings....

LTS

Subject: RE: Info re: 'Give me oil in my lamp'
From: mousethief
Date: 22 Jul 01 - 12:01 AM

I know

Give me gas for my Ford, keep me truckin' for the Lord

and

Give me wax for my board, keep me surfin' for the Lord

and

Give me wax for my skis, keep me bombin' through the trees

and

Make me a fisher of men, keep me seeking seeking seeking

and

Give me joy in m y heart, keep me serving serving serving

and

Give me love in my heart, keep me serving serving serving

These verses I got from the (Episcopal) Archdiocese of Olympia's "A Pilgrim's Praise the Lord Songbook" (1979/1983/1988). It shows the song as "Public Domain."

Yohann Anderson's famous "Songs and Creations" songbook (the brown one with the funky line art on the cover) (1972/1978) has no publishing info whatsoever.

Alex

Subject: RE: Info re: 'Give me oil in my lamp'
From: pavane
Date: 21 Jul 01 - 05:26 PM

Just who is it that gets together and sings songs in Esperanto?

Subject: RE: Info re: 'Give me oil in my lamp'
From: Sorcha
Date: 21 Jul 01 - 04:57 PM

Can't help with provenance, but I used to play with a lady who made up her own as she went along. The only one I can remember is "Give me hot sauce for my taco."

Subject: Info re: 'Give me oil in my lamp'
From: Haruo
Date: 21 Jul 01 - 04:52 PM

I am getting the Esperanto version of this old church-camp campfire type song ready to post in my hymnal, and am trying to find out its provenance (composer? lyricist? dates? etc.) as well as what verses are known. What I did was translate the first English verse and chorus, which I have usually heard as

Give me oil in my lamp, keep it burning, burning, burning,
Give me oil in my lamp, I pray.
Give me oil in my lamp, keep it burning, burning, burning,
Keep it burning till the break of day.

Sing hosanna, sing hosanna,

Sing hosanna to the King of kings!

Sing hosanna, sing hosanna,

Sing hosanna to the King!

and then write four more verses in Esperanto (which I'm looking for; they're in my Jonah oratorio which I have misplaced). I've also heard the incipit "Put some oil in my lamp". There are a lot of other verses I've heard around campfires; the only other one I've seen in print is "Make me_a fisher of men, keep me seeking...", but the one that sticks out in my memory is

Give me umption in my gumption, help me function, function, function.

I see that Singspiration, Inc. claims a copyright (1951) and ascribes the text (and tune? not clear) to one "A. Sevison". Anybody out there know anything about this? Whether A. Sevison wrote words only or tune too; whether s/he wrote only the "Fisher of men" stanza or the "Give me oil" as well; whether the song predates 1951? Etc. etc. (I don't want to step on anybody's copyright, but I also don't want to roll over for corporations that think they own traditions.)

A provisional edition (first verse only, with MIDI) of my Esperanto version is here.

Much obliged for any information or leads.

Liland