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Poor Wayfaring Stranger
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An old time American folk hymn, done in an eerie quasi Celtic fiddle/cello style
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Liz Davis/Katie Davis
2006 FiddleSticks
Ampersand
Tue Jul 01, 2008
Country : Christian Country
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A total of 1 users rated on average:   4.0 stars
Charts position
» highest in charts:   # 140   (47,363 songs currently listed in Country)
» highest in sub-genre:   # 26   (5,981 songs currently listed in Country > Christian Country)
» today's position: # 1717 in Country
» today's position in sub-genre: # 275 in Christian Country
About the song

POOR WAYFARING STRANGER
Words: Bever's Christian Songster (1858); Music: American Traditional

The song text was first printed in a hymn collection called Bever's Christian Songster in 1858, but the author of the words is unknown.

The origin of the melody is similarly mysterious. The tune is thought to have originated as an African-American spiritual called "The Pilgrim's Song." Some sources attribute the tune to a preacher in Alabama named Rev. C.G. Keith, but just as many claim the tune is a traditional American spiritual. The hymn was included in early editions of the Sacred Harp.


Lyrics
LYRICS:
Poor Wayfaring Stranger
I am a poor wayfaring stranger
A-trav'ling through this land of woe.
And there's no sickness, toil or danger
In that bright world to which I go.

I'm going home to see my father (mother, sister, brother etc.)
I'm going there no more to roam;
I'm just a-going over Jordan
I'm just a-going over home.

I know dark clouds will gather 'round me
I know my way is steep and rough;
But beauteous fields lie just beyond me
Where souls redeemed their vigil keep.

I'm going there to meet my mother
She said she'd meet me when I come
I'm just a-going over Jordan
I'm just a-going over home.

I want to wear a crown of glory
When I get home to that bright land
I want to shout Salvation's story
In concert with that blood-washed band.

I'm going there to meet my Savior
To sing His praises forevermore
I'm only going over Jordan
I'm only going over home.