Blessed be the Name / Everlasting Arms

Here's a medley of tunes, one that Mississippi John Hurt played and another played in his alternating bass style. The first is "Blessed be the Name". MJH played lots of gospel songs and this was one of them. There's something mischievous going on in his rendition though, cause he uses the verse to go through a whole litany of people who could potentially be irritating. Anyway, here are the lyrics:

CHORUS
Blessed be the name, blessed be the name,
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be the name, blessed be the name,
Blessed be the name of the Lord

VERSE
If you don't like your preacher,
Don't carry his name abroad,
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Keep him in you bosom
And carry him home to God,
O blessed be the name of the Lord!



The second part of the tune is an old time hymn, "Everlasting Arms". I've known this one since I was a child (those Monday morning chapels in ACS get a lot of music into you ...) but I recently heard this again on Mike Seeger's indispensible album, Early Southern Guitar Sounds. Here's what Seeger says about the style of this tune:

On the first occasion I heard Elizabeth cotten play the guitar, she played a gospel song in square "church" style, then, without stopping, played the tune once again in her parlor ragtime style. I, too, play this song in those two variations.

Although Seeger describes the style as "parlor ragtime", I see lots of similarities to MJH's alternating bass technique. I tried to record it like Mike Seeger plays it, with a more straightforward version the first time round and then a more intricate version later, but things got jumbled up!