Lyr Add: I Am the True Vine

Subject: I Am the True Vine
From: wysiwyg
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 12:28 AM

I AM THE TRUE VINE
Traditional Spiritual

CHO:
I am the true vine,
I am the true vine,
I am the true vine,
My Father is the husbandman.

I am in Him and He's in me,
My Father is the husbandman,
Every day He comforts me,
My Father is the husbandman.

I know my Lord has set me free,
My Father is the husbandman,
I'm in Him and He's in me,
My Father is the husbandman.

I know my Lord is kind and true,
My Father is the husbandman,
For He loves me and He loves you,
My Father is the husbandman.

SOURCE:
American Negro Songs, 230 Folk Songs and Spirituals, Religious and Secular. John W. Work, Dover Publications, Mineola, NY 1998. Orig. pub. Crown Publishers, NY, 1940. ISBN 0-486-40271-1.

Also appears in songbook, FOLK SONGS OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO.

SH
E-mailing tune to Joe Offer for inclusion in Mudcat MIDI pages (see QUICKLINKS).

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Am the True Vine
From: Stewie
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 01:49 AM

For the purposes of comparison, here is what Rev Gary Davis did with it:

I AM THE TRUE VINE

I am the true vine
I am the true vine
I am the true vine
My father is a husbandman

I am
I am the true vine
I am
My father is a husbandman

One of these mornings, won't be long

My father is
You're gonna call me and I'll be gone
My father is a husbandman
One of these days 'bout twelve o'clock
My father is a husbandman
This old world is gonna reel and rock
My father is a husbandman
Gotta rest still and study yourself
My father is a husbandman
God's gonna move this ark himself
My father is a husbandman
One of these mornings bright and fair
My father is a husbandman
Gonna hitch on my wings and try the air
My father is a husbandman
I plan to tell you what a hypocrite will do
My father is a husbandman
He'll talk about me and talk about you
My father is a husbandman

I am the true vine
I am the true vine
I am the true vine
My father is a husbandman

I am
I am
Oh!
My father is

Well I want to go to heaven and I want to go right
My father is a husbandman
Want to go to heaven all dressed in white
My father is
Heaven so high and I'm so low
My father is
Don't know whether I'll get to heaven but I know
My father is a husbandman
Sometimes I'm up, sometimes I'm down
My father is
Sometimes I'm almost level with the ground
My father is a husbandman

I am
Whoa!
Whoa!
My father is a husbandman

I am
I am
I am the true vine
Oooh!

Source: Frank Basile's transcription in booklet accompanying Shanachie box set Rev Gary Davis 'Demons and Angels: The Ultimate Collection' Shanachie 6117.

Note: This is a transcription of a 1960s recording. Davis had previously recorded the piece in 1935 with some different 'floaters'. Josh White recorded it in 1933 as 'My Father Is A Husbandman' and Eddie Head & Family recorded it in 1930 as 'Lord, I Am The True Vine'. The title is drawn from John 15:1 – 'I am the true vine and my father is the husbandman'.


--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Am the True Vine
From: wysiwyg
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 07:26 AM

Good, Stewie!

~S~

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Am the True Vine
From: Oversoul
Date: 05 Sep 01 - 12:02 AM

What a joy it has been to get the lyrics to this! Thank you both so much! I first heard this almost thirty years ago on the Yazoo LP reissue of Rev. Davis' early recordings. Thank you.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Am the True Vine
From: wysiwyg
Date: 05 Sep 01 - 12:33 AM

Dave, hi!

Do you want the tune? Let me know, can send MIDI.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Am the True Vine
From: WooBerry
Date: 23 Dec 05 - 12:55 PM

Did anyone post the midi to this song?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Am the True Vine
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 23 Dec 05 - 03:51 PM

"I Am the True Vine" comes from the New Testament Gospels, John 15:1, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-dresser":

from http://bible.cc/john/15-1.htm

"I am the true vine and my Father is the farmer.
I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman.
I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener.
I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman.
I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman.
I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman.
"I am the Vine- the True Vine, and my Father is the vine-dresser.
I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

With the title "I Am the True Vine," a composition of that name, composed by the Persian Christian composer and poet Bogoroditse Djevo, appears in the Arvo Pärt album (and sheet music), "I Am the True Vine."

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Am the True Vine
From: WooBerry
Date: 30 Mar 06 - 07:41 PM

I am still looking for a midi, or an mp3, or a citation of someone who has recorded it so I can get the tune.

Thanks!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Am the True Vine
From: wysiwyg
Date: 30 Mar 06 - 07:49 PM

I don't think I ever made the MIDI I offered above, but I'll look on my hard disk and see if it's hiding in there. If you PM me a snail-mail address I can xerox the page to send you, though.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Am the True Vine
From: wysiwyg
Date: 30 Mar 06 - 07:58 PM

I'll be damned-- I DID have it!

WooBerry, check your email. I'm also submitting it to Mudcat MIDIs tho I don't know if they are taking any at this time (tech issues).

~Susan

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Am the True Vine
From: MMario
Date: 03 Apr 06 - 02:03 PM

Trying to get an abc posted, so there is something re: tune - but double checking something with Wysiwyg first.

Subject: Tune Add: I AM THE TRUE VINE
From: MMario
Date: 03 Apr 06 - 04:25 PM

X:1
T:I AM THE TRUE VINE
C:Traditional Spiritual
Q:1/4=95
M:2/4
L:1/16
K:F
F2 F4A2|c2A2 F4|c2 c4_e2|c2A2 F4|F2 F4A2|c2A2 F4|
F2 F3 F C C|E E3 F2||
c2|c2 =B2 A2 F2|A2 A2 F4|A2 F3 F C C|E E3 F2 c2-|
c2 =B2 A2 F2|A2 A2 F4|A2 F3 F C C|E E3 F4|

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Am the True Vine
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 04 Apr 06 - 02:59 AM

I'll be damned-- I DID have it!

Susan, don't be a bad girl! Giving us such wonderful songs you should write: Praise the Lord - I DID have it!. It needs more than forgetting a tune for damnation!

Thanks
Wilfried

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Am the True Vine
From: wysiwyg
Date: 04 Apr 06 - 09:45 AM

You're perfectly right, Wilfried-- make that:

I'll be damned, praise the Lord! I did have it!

;~)

~S~

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Am the True Vine
From: GUEST,kakie
Date: 20 Nov 18 - 08:52 AM

I understand someone has a midi of I am the true vine?
Is there a link?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Am the True Vine
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 20 Nov 18 - 04:46 PM

Guest Kakie:

See above, or following.
The 'ABC' text can be converted to stave notation, or played as a Midi by copy/pasting it at this site: MandolinTab


X:1
T:I AM THE TRUE VINE
C:Traditional Spiritual
Q:1/4=95
M:2/4
L:1/16
K:F
F2 F4A2|c2A2 F4|c2 c4_e2|c2A2 F4|F2 F4A2|c2A2 F4|
F2 F3 F C C|E E3 F2||
c2|c2 =B2 A2 F2|A2 A2 F4|A2 F3 F C C|E E3 F2 c2-|
c2 =B2 A2 F2|A2 A2 F4|A2 F3 F C C|E E3 F4|

Cheers
Nigel