There is a Fountain

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted something here. I've been busy re-organizing limitlim.blogspot.com., trashing out ideas for my dissertation, and surviving on my own since Edna's back home. However, I've also wanted to post more Mississippi John Hurt stuff, and haven't really mastered some of the songs that I want to post up here. I'm ok playing them but it's the singing that's tricky. Anyway, in the spirit of posting up gospel music, here's one that I worked on a while back.

The hymn, "There is a Fountain Filled with Blood", has been something I've sung for as long as I could remember. I can't be sure when I first learned it, but it probably goes back to ACS Monday morning chapels as well. We sang this a lot in Church as well, during communion. It's always been a rather staid and solemn song - we're talking about the the blood of Christ here, so I suppose the reverence is warranted. (Aside, if you ever encounter 'Zounds' in Shakespeare, remember that it's a blaspheming curse that is a rendering of 'God's wounds'). Anyway, I've done a version that I'm quite happy with where I play parts of the melody and attempt to sing a harmonic part. MJH would do something like this - he'd let the guitar complete the melodic line, but normally wouldn't sing any other part over that. The hymn would be confortable in "G" for me but I've singing it much lower, in "E", so that I can't reach the lower parts of the melody and can let my guitar fill in the blanks. So I'm taking something from him and trying to work it into this old-time fingerstyle version of the hymn.



There is a fountain filled with blood
drawn from Emmanuel's veins;
and sinners plunged beneath that flood
lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains,
lose all their guilty stains;
and sinners plunged beneath that flood
lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day;
and there may I, though vile as he,
wash all my sins away.
Wash all my sins away,
wash all my sins away;
and there may I, though vile as he,
wash all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood
shall never lose its power
till all the ransomed church of God
be saved, to sin no more.
Be saved, to sin no more,
be saved, to sin no more;
till all the ransomed church of God
be saved, to sin no more.

E'er since, by faith, I saw the stream
thy flowing wounds supply,
redeeming love has been my theme,
and shall be till I die.
And shall be till I die,
and shall be till I die;
redeeming love has been my theme,
and shall be till I die.

Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save,
when this poor lisping, stammering tongue
lies silent in the grave.
Lies silent in the grave,
lies silent in the grave;
when this poor lisping, stammering tongue
lies silent in the grave.

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!

The Riddle Song

Here's a great song that I've been singing for about a year. I first heard a Doc Watson version of the song and then a wonderful duet which featured Joan Baez and Pete Seeger. The simplicity and the riddle, question, and answer structure of the song makes it really charming. I guess it's also somewhat appropriate for me since 1. we're now living in Cherry Abundant Michigan and 2. my life's work is wrapped up in stories that normally have endings ...



I gave my love a cherry, that had no stone
I gave my love a chicken, that had no bone
I told my love a story, that had no end
And I gave my love a baby, with no crying.

How can there be a cherry, that has no stone?
How can there be a chicken that has no bone?
How can there be a story that has no end?
How can there be a baby with no crying?

A cherry when it's blooming, it has no stone.
A chicken when it's pipping, it has no bone.
The story of my love, it has no end.
And a baby when it's sleeping, there's no crying.