Music

Sacred Harp: ‘Dublin’

Well, OK, technically it’s called ‘Lebanon’ in what Sacred Harp books have it (there’s also another ‘Lebanon,’ in the more widely circulated ones, so try not to get confused). It’s called ‘Dublin,’ number 13, in William Walker’s Southern Harmony, which is the book I have. Still others have it listed as ‘Coleshill‘ or simply ‘England.’ The lyrics are by Isaac Watts, and it’s very old. This rendition by Shenandoah Harmony.

Lord, what is man, poor feeble man!
Born of earth at first;
His life a shadow, light and vain,
Still hastening the dust.

O what is feeble, dying man?
Or any of his race,
That God should make it his concern
To visit him with grace.

That God who darts his lightnings,
Who shakes the worlds above,
And mountains tremble at his frown,
How wondrous is his love!

Sacred Harp 176b: ‘Blooming Youth’

Courtesy Dust to Digital:

In the bright season of thy youth, / In nature’s smiling bloom,
Ere age arrives, and trembling waits / It summons to the tomb.

Remember thy Creator, God; / For Him thy pow’rs employ;
Make Him thy fear, thy love, thy hope, / Thy portion and thy joy.

The Lord will safely guide thy course / O’er life’s uncertain seas.
And bring thee to the peaceful shore, / The heav’n prepared for thee.

Sacred Harp 312b: ‘Restoration’

You’ll recognize the words, maybe not the tune. I picked this video because a kid is leading it:

Come, Thou Fount of ev’ry blessing, / Tune my heart to sing Thy grace.
Streams of mercy, never ceasing, / Call for songs of loudest praise.

I will rise and go to Jesus, / He’ll embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior; / Oh there are ten thousand charms.

Teach me some melodious sonnet, / Sung by flaming tongues above;
Praise the mount — O fix me on it — / Mount of Thy redeeming love!

Sacred Harp 47b: ‘Idumea’

From the 1982 Holly Springs Sacred Harp Convention, filmed by Lomax and crew, much of which can be found here. The words are by Charles Wesley:

And am I born to die? / To lay this body down!
And must my trembling spirit fly / Into a world unknown?

A land of deepest shade, / Unpierced by human thought;
The dreary regions of the dead, / Where all things are forgot!

Soon as from earth I go, / What will become of me?
Eternal happiness or woe / Must then my portion be!

Waked by the trumpet sound, / I from my grave shall rise;
And see the Judge with glory crowned, / And see the flaming skies!

There are a lot of versions of this online, including from the “Cold Mountain” soundtrack, which somebody set to clips from Battlestar Galactica to pretty awesome effect. The one from the 2012 Irish convention is the loudest, but I already posted a video from it. Sufjan Stevens did a version on one of his Christmas albums.

Grayson and Whittier: ‘He is Coming to Us Dead’

Do not treat him harshly, boys / It contains our darling Jack
He went away as you boys are  / This way he’s coming back
He broke his poor old mother’s heart / Her fears have all come true
She said, it’s the way that he’d come back  / If he joined the boys in blue

A bit of down-home peacenikery from the famous fiddle-guitar duo. I love the jawing at the end — “a lotta them come back that way too!”

The collection of sides the pair recorded is online. Song by Gussie Lord Davis, 1899.

Sacred Harp 481: ‘Novakoski’

Come, we who love the Lord, / And let our joys be known; / Join in a song with sweet accord, / And thus surround the throne.

Let those refuse to sing / Who never knew our God; / But children of the heav’nly King / May speak their joys abroad.

Then let our songs abound, / And ev’ry tear be dry; / We’re marching through Immanuel’s ground / To fairer worlds on high.