Something different in the poetry today...
I’m just a poor wayfaring stranger
Traveling thru this world of woe
Yet there’s no sickness, toil, or danger
In that bright world to which I go
I’m going there to see my Father
I’m going there no more to roam
I’m only going over Jordan
I’m only going over home
I know dark clouds will hang ‘round me,
I know my way is rough and steep
Yet beauteous fields lie just before me
Where God’s redeemed their virgils keep
I’m going there to see my mother
She said she’d meet me when I come
I'm just going over Jordan
I'm just going over home
I want to wear that crown of Glory,
when I get there to that bright land.
I want to shout down Satan's story
in concert with the blood-washed band.
I'm going there to see my brothers;
they said they'd meet me when I come.
I'm only goin' over Jordan.
I'm only goin' over home.
No attribution on this one. According to Blues historian Scott Ainsley, its origins go back to at least the 1700's...
7 comments:
I'm pretty sure I've heard this set to music in my church when I was growing up. Sounds familiar.
This was one of my favorite songs as a kid (not that I'm religious; it has a haunting melody). But the funny thing is, I never knew two of those verses.
wowi....this is awesome:)
God what a song. I adore it.
I grew up in serious deepwoods appalachia. The small WV town I knew back in the early 80s was not so different from the 1930s town in O'Brother Where Art thou? It was that secluded.
Music was a mainstay. This sort. I heard this song so many times. By so many different people. At family reunions. Wakes. Even Sunday dinners.
Brings back memories....
As a side...
Jack White sang one of the best versions of this I've ever heard.
Talented man.
You should have a listen to him if you haven't heard it already.
Hey all, and welcome Buffy!
Word is, this tune's spent most of the last 150 years as a white, mountain spiritual, but that it got its start in the mid-1700's as a black ring-shout. Whatever that is.
My mum's hill folk herself, and I too grew up with this song. In fact, it was originally going to be the title for my blog.
In fact...
I like the Eva Cassidy version. :)
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