Lyr Add: Poor Pilgrim

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: POOR PILGRIM
From: Goose Gander
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 04:14 PM

Included on this CD Old Regular Baptists: Lined-Out Hymnody from Southeastern Kentucky

Also here, courtesy of Smithosian Global Sound . . .
I Am A Poor Pilgrim of Sorrow

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: POOR PILGRIM
From: Goose Gander
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 02:50 PM

A CITY CALLED HEAVEN

I am a poor pilgrim of sorrow
I'm lost in this wide world alone
No hope have I for tomorrow
I've started to make heaven my home

First verse of a spiritual sung by Marian Anderson in Chicago in 1941 (I believe), cited in an interview with Cyrus Colter. Writer Richard Wright was present at the performance, and he became very angry and was "glowering" according to Colter.

Source:
"Fought For It and Paid Taxes Too: Four Interviews with Cyrus Colter," Gilton Gregory Cross, Callahoo Vol. 14 No. 4 (Autumn 1991), p. 893

Subject: Lyr. Add: Tossed and Driven
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 01:57 PM

Thanks for the Roud references. Here is the one from Randolph, vol. 4.

Lyr. Add: TOSSED AND DRIVEN
(Randolph 610B, c. 1890)

1.
I am a poor pilgrim of sorrow,
I am left in this wide world to roam,
I have no hope of tomorrow,
I've started to make Heaven my home.
2.
Sometimes I'm so tossed an' driven,
Sometimes I know not where to roam,
I've heard of a city called Heaven,
I've started to make it my home.
3.
I've left my wife and dear children,
To preach wherever I'm called,
To work for my dear Savior,
He has promised to take me in.
4.
My mother has reached that bright city,
My father's still walkin' in sin,
My brothers and sisters won't own me,
Because I am tryin' to get in.
5.
The old ship is now fast approachin',
The captain is calling my name,
I'm lookin' for my dear Savior,
Who promised to take me in.

Coll. from Arkansas, 1930; The contributor, Mrs. Reed, says that her parents sang it in church about 1890.
Randolph, Vance, 1946-1950 reprinted 1980, "Ozark Folksongs," vol. 4, 610B, pp. 44-45. A partial score is given for version A, from Pineville, MO, c. 1895.

Reminds me of the stories of the wandering sky-pilots of the old West and South.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: POOR PILGRIM
From: Goose Gander
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 01:08 PM

Here are references from the Roud Index . . . .

POOR PILGRIM
Jackson, Down-East Spirituals (2nd edn., 1953) pp.70-72
"I am a poor pilgrim of sorrow . . . "

POOR PILGRIM OF SORROW
Beck, I.D. & Congregation / Rounder CD 1704 (`Southern Journey 4: Brethren We Meet Again')

TOSSED AND DRIVEN
Brown, North Carolina Folklore 3 (1952) p.676
"Father said to me when dying . . ."

PILGRIM OF SORROW
Gainer, Folk Songs from the West Virginia Hills pp.192-193
"I am a poor pilgrim of sorrow . . ."

POOR PILGRIM
Jackson, White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands pp.270-272
"I am a poor wayfaring stranger . . ."
(previous source: Dett, Religious Folk-Songs of the Negro

POOR PILGRIM OF SORROW
Mount Olivat Regular Baptist Church / New World NW 294 ('Gospel Ship')
"I am a poor pilgrim of sorrow . . ."

TOSSED AND DRIVEN
Randolph, Ozark Folk Songs 4 pp.43-45 (version a)
"Sometimes I'm tossed an' driven . . ."

TOSSED AND DRIVEN
Randolph, Ozark Folk Songs 4 pp.43-45 (version b)
"I am a poor pilgrim of sorrow . . ."

I INTEND TO MAKE HEAVEN MY HOME
Macon, Songs & Stories of Uncle Dave Macon (1938) No.8
"I've been thinking today of my old home . . ."

I STARTED TO MAKE HEAVEN MY HOME
Solomon, Honey in the Rock (1991) p.30
"Sometime I'm boasted, tosst, en driven . . ."

I STARTED TO MAKE HEAVEN MY HOME
Ruby Pickens Tartt Collection (Univ. West Alabama, Livingston) Series 9 Box 4 folder K-8 item 51
"Sometime I'm boasted, toasted en driven . . ."

POOR PILGRIM
Meade, Country Music Sources (2002) p.590

I AM A POOR PILGRIM OF SORROW
Williams, Mrs. Martha / Library of Congress recording 1024 A1

ROUD #5425

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: POOR PILGRIM
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 04 Feb 07 - 07:06 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: POOR PILGRIM
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Oct 03 - 01:19 AM

Yeah, but Da Boss (Dick G) wants 'em separate.
-Joe IOffer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: POOR PILGRIM
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Oct 03 - 12:52 PM

But these are all the same song, just variants.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: POOR PILGRIM
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Oct 03 - 03:34 AM

For the record, multiple songs in a single message make things very difficult for harvesters. Please post no more than one song per message, and put DTADD and the song title in the message title box. If you're starting a new thread on a song that's been posted somewhere else, please be sure to tell the number of the thread where the song was posted.
Thanks.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Lyr Add: CITY CALLED HEAVEN and PO' PILGRIM OF...
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 21 Oct 03 - 09:09 PM

At negrospirituals.com (Spirituals Workshop, Paris, France), this version is offered.

Lyr. Add: CITY CALLED HEAVEN

I am a poor pilgrim of sorrow
I'm tossed in this wide world alone
No hope I have for tomorrow
I've stared to heav'n my home.

Sometimes I'm tossed and driven, Lord,
Sometimes I don't know where to roam
I've heard of a city called heaven
I've started to make it my home.

My mother reached that pure glory
My father's still walkin' in sin
My brothers and sisters won't own me
Because I am tryin' to get in.

Source not given.

Jessye Norman also used the title "City Called Heaven."

Lyr. Add: CITY CALLED HEAVEN

(Spoken)
I am a poor pilgrim of sorrow
I've come to this great land alone
I've heard of a city called heaven
And I've started to make heaven my home.

Sometimes I'm tossed and driven
Sometimes I don't know where to roam
But I've heard of a cith called heaven
And I've started to make heaven my home.

My mother has reahed that pure glory
My father still walkin' in sin
My brothers and sisters don't own me
'Cause I'm tryin' to make it on in.

Sometimes I'm tossed and driven
Sometimes I don't know where to roam
But I've heard of a city called heaven
And I've started to make heaven my home.

Sometimes I'm tossed and driven
Sometimes I don't know where to roam
But I've heard of a city called heaven
And I've started to make heaven my home.

(Moanin')

From her Amazing Grace album, Phillips 432 546-2

Lyr. Add: I'm Going to make Heaven My Home

A many long year through this world I have roamed
Not thinking of the daylight to come
But now I have changed and I want the world to know
That I'm going to make Heaven my home.

Chorus
I'm going to make heaven my home, sweet home
I'm left in this world all alone
No mother or dad, I've lost all I had
And I'm going to make heaven my home.

The nights seem so lonely around the cabin home
No mother left to guide us along
But on that glorious day I'll take her by the hand
For I'm going to make heaven my home.

There's things in this old world that's so hard to understand
Why you have to lose the one that you love so
But it's wonderful to know when you leave this world below
That you're going to make heaven your home.

Source not given.
http://www.risknet.or.jp/~montoya/BG/I/Im_going_to_make_Heaven_my_home.html

Lyr. Add: PO' PILGRIM OF SORROW, or, City called heaven

I am a po' pilgrim of sorrow, I'm tossed in this wide world alone
No hope have I for tomorrow I started to make heaven my home
Sometimes I am storm-tossed an' driven
Sometimes I don't know where to roam
I heard of a Heaven called an' I started to make it my home.(?)

My mother has reached that pure glory,
My father is still walking in sin
My brothers and sisters won't own me
Because I'm tryin' to get in.

Dr Oral Moses (base baritone), Zion Baptist Church.
www.africanamericanspirituals.com/song5.htm

Subject: Lyr Add: POOR PILGRIM
From: masato sakurai
Date: 20 Oct 03 - 10:58 PM

From George Pullen Jackson, Down-East Spirituals And Others (1943; Da Capo, 1975, pp. 70-71; with music):

POOR PILGRIM

I am a poor pilgrim of sorrow,
Toss'd out in this wide world to roam.
I've heard of a city call'd heaven,
I'm striving to make it my home.

Sometimes I feel weak and weary,
Sometimes I know not where to roam,
But Jesus, my blesséd Redeemer,
Says: Pilgrim, I'll take you home.

My sisters nor brothers won't own me,
I'm out in this world alone.
I have no hopes of tomorrow,
I'm striving to reach a fair home.

Hark, hark at the message I hear,
One trouble is over my brain.
The old ship draws nearer and nearer,
Says: Pilgrim, I'll take you in.

My mother has reached the fair city,
My father still walks in his sin.
But Jesus, my blesséd Redeemer,
Says: Pilgrim, I'll take you in.

Jackson's note: "This song was recorded by Winston Wilkinson, October 31, 1935, in Grottoes, Virginia, as sung by R.H. Mace. As to its relationships, it seems to lie on middle ground between 'Banks of the Lea', of which it is tonally a variant and textually a parody, and a negro song from Virginia by the same title, 'Poor Pilgrim', found in Dett's collection. The 'Banks of the Lera' begins:

When first in this country a stranger,
Curiosity caused me to roam;
Over Europe I resolved to be a ranger,
When I left Philadelphia my home."

Subject: Lyr Add: POOR PILGRIM
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 20 Oct 03 - 07:44 PM

Lyr. Add: Poor Pilgrim (2)

I am a poor wayfaring stranger
I sometimes know not where to roam
I heard of a city called heaven
I'm striving to make it my home.

Sometimes I'm both tossed and driven,
I sometimes know not where to roam,
I heard of a ciy called heaven,
I'm striving to make it my home.

My friends and relations forsake me,
And troubles roll round me so high,
I thought of the kind voice of Jesus
Saying, "Poor pilgrim, I'm always nigh."

Sung by Mrs. Eva Evans, coll. by R. N. Dett, p. 169, "Religious Folk-Songs of the Negro, 1927 ed. (not in previous editions). Probably did not appear in Negro gospel until the 20th c.

The first verse taken from Poor Wayfaring Stranger.

Subject: Lyr Add: POOR PILGRIM
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 20 Oct 03 - 06:00 PM

Lyr. Add: Tossed and Driven

Miss Leone Duvall, MO, 1926 (Heard about 1895)

Sometimes I'm tossed and driven,
Sometimes I know not where to roam,
I've heard of a city called Heaven,
I've started to make it my home.

My mother has went before me,
My father's still walkin' in sin,
My brothers an' sisters won't own me,
Because I have tried to get in.

Lyr. Add: The Poor Pilgrim

I am a poor pilgrim of sorrow,
I am left in this wide world to roam,
I have no hope of tomorrow,
I've started to make Heaven my home.

Sometimes I'm so tossed an' driven,
Sometimes I know not where to roam,
I've heard of a city called heaven,
I've started to make it my home.

I've left my wife an' dear children
To preach wherever I'm called,
To work for my dear Savior,
He has promised to take me in.

My mother has reached that bright city,
My father's still walkin' in sin,
My brothers and sisters won't own me,
Because I am tryin' to get in.

The old ship is now fast approachin',
The captain is callin' my name,
I'm lookin' for my dear Savior,
Who promised to take me in.

Mrs. Allie Reed, Elkins, Arkansas, 1930. "Parents sang it in church about 1890".
Randolph, Ozark Folksongs, vol. 4, pp. 43-45, no. 610, "Tossed and Driven." Music given.

No thread has been started on this song. Versions occur in thread 42490, hymn stories?: Hymn Stories
It is both confused with and intermixed with, "The Lone Stranger," "Wayfaring Stranger," and "Trampin'," ("Traveling").

"Poor Pilgrim" appears in Dett, Religious Folk-songs of the Negro, and is considered by some to be a spiritual (so listed in the Cleveland index). Its frequency in white gospel, and parallels with "Wayfaring Stranger" suggest to me that its origin is in the white churches (Old Baptist, Sacred harp, old white songsters).

Starting a new thread, I hope, will not add to the confusion, but I believe a sort is possible.

See version posted by Kytrad in thread 63703, "Tryin' to Make Heaven My Home." Tryin' to Make Heaven