The Wayfaring Stranger (song)

"The Wayfaring Stranger," also known as "Poor Wayfaring Stranger," is a well-known spiritual/folk song about a plaintive soul on the journey through life. The journey the singer speaks of is the trials and tribulations of life. Home is the final reward of reuniting with loved ones in Heaven in the afterlife. It became one of Burl Ives's signature songs, included on his 1944 album The Wayfaring Stranger. Ives used it as the title of his early 1940s CBS radio show and his 1948 autobiography. He became known as "The Wayfaring Stranger."

The song is often classified as a "white spiritual." The first known printing of it is in Ananias Davisson's Kentucky Harmony, or, A Choice Collection of Psalm Tunes, Hymns, and Anthems, in Three Parts.

Further information appears in the article on Charles Davis Tillman.

Lyrics

I am a poor wayfaring stranger
A-trav'ling through this world of woe.
But there's no sickness, toil or danger
In that bright world to which I go.
I'm going home to see my father
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 rough and steep;
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 bloodwashed band.
I'm going there to meet my Saviour
To sing His praises forevermore
I'm only going over Jordan
I'm only going over home.

Notable recordings

• Bill Monroe
• Bob Gibson and Bob Camp
• Burl Ives
• Dolly Parton
• Neko Case
• Duane Eddy
• Dusty Springfield on the 2007 DVD 'Live At The BBC'.
• Emmylou Harris
• Eva Cassidy
• Frankie Laine
• Gary Morris
• Jack White (from the soundtrack to the movie Cold Mountain)
• Jerry Garcia & David Grisman
• Jerry Reed
• Jo Stafford
• Joan Baez
• Johnny Cash
• Kristin Hersh (on the In Shock (EP))
• Leland Martin
• Michael Franti
• Pete Seeger
• Peter, Paul and Mary
• Roger McGuinn
• Ronnie Hawkins
• Tennessee Ernie Ford
• Tim Buckley
• Trace Adkins

Further reading

• John F. Garst, "'Poor Wayfaring Stranger'—Early Publications," The Hymn: [A Publication of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada], vol. 31, no. 2, 1980, pp. 97-101

External links

• Live Performance of Wayfaring Stranger by Tom Fox
• POOR WAYFARING STRANGER A traditional a cappella rendition by Almeda Riddle, recorded in Arkansas on August 21, 1957
• Video of Kristin Hersh performing 'Poor Wayfaring Stranger'