I am a poor wayfaring stranger (Wytze Oostenbrug)

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•  Posted on 2024-05-06(Posted 2024-05-06)  CPDL #80522:         

Editor: Wytze Oostenbrug (submitted 2024-05-06).   Score information: A4, 8 pages, 377 kB   Copyright: CPDL

Edition notes: This is the 2nd of 5 english folksongs.

General Information

Title: I am a poor wayfaring stranger
Composer: Wytze Oostenbrug
Lyricist: Charlie D. Tillman^{create page}
Number of voices: 4vv   Voicing: SATB
Genre: Secular, Folksong

Language: English
Instruments: A cappella

First published: 2024
Description: Wayfaring Stranger, also known as "Poor Wayfaring Stranger", "I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger" or "Wayfaring Pilgrim” is an American folk and gospel song that probably originated in the early 19th century about a plaintive soul on a journey through life. As with most folk songs, there are many variations on the lyrics and many versions of this song have been published over time. According to the book The Makers of the Sacred Harp, by David Warren Steel and Richard H. Hulan, the lyrics were published in 1858 in Joseph Bever's "Christian Songster", a collection of popular hymns and spiritual songs of the time. The melody was composed by Johann Georg Ebeling and the lyrics were written in Germany in 1666 by Paul Gerhardt as "Ich bin ein Gast auf Erden, Und hab' hier keinen Stand". The song is based on Psalm 39:12 and Psalm 119:19. Both the lyrics and the melody are close to the modern English version. Jane Borthwick translated it in 1858 as "A Pilgrim and a stranger, I journey here below" and Miss Winkworth in 1863 as "A pilgrim here I wander, On earth have no abode". During and for several years after the American Civil War, the lyrics were known as the Libby Prison Hymn. This was because the words were written by a dying Union soldier who had been locked up in Libby Prison, a warehouse converted into a notorious prison in Richmond, Virginia, known for its unfavorable conditions and high mortality rate. It was believed that the dying soldier had written the song to comfort a disabled soldier. Folk singer Burt Ives named Ives's own radio program of traditional folk songs "The Wayfaring Stranger" in 1940, and later used it as the title of his autobiography.

External websites:

• https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayfaring_Stranger
• playing score and audio: https://youtu.be/PJ7KdRFG1Js

Original text and translations

English text

2. I am a poor wayfaring stranger
American Folk Song

1. I am a poor wayfaring stranger,
While traveling through this world of woe,
Yet there's no sickness, toil, nor 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.


2. l know dark clouds will gather round me,
I know my way is rough and steep;
Yet beauteous fields lie just before me,
Where God's redeemed their vigils keep.

I'm going there to see my mother,
She said she'd meet me when I come,
I'm only going over Jordan,
I'm only going over home.


3. I'll soon be freed from every trial,
My body sleep in the old church yard,
I'll drop the cross of self-denial,
And enter on my great reward,

I'm going there to see my class mates,
Who've gone before me one by one,
I'm only going over Jordan,
I'm only going over home.