The Wayfaring Stranger (song)

"The Wayfaring Stranger" (aka "Poor Wayfaring Stranger" or "I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger"), Roud 3339, is a well-known American spiritual/folk song likely originating in the early 19th century about a plaintive soul on the journey through life. 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 New Christy Minstrels recorded their song: The Ballad of Julie Ann to this tune.

Use in classical music

Ernő Dohnányi used the tune (along with two other traditional American folktunes) in his final composition American Rhapsody (1953).

Lyrics

I'm just a poor wayfaring stranger
I'm traveling through this world of woe
Yet there's no sickness, toil nor danger
In that bright land to which I go
I'm going there to see my mother/father
I'm going there no more to roam
I'm only going over Jordan
I'm only going over home

I know dark clouds will gather 'round me
I know my way is rough and steep
Yet golden fields lie just before me
Where God's redeemed shall ever sleep
I'm going there to see my father/mother
S/he said he'd/she'd meet me when I come
I'm only going over Jordan
I'm only going over home

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

I'm going there to meet my Saviour
To sing his praise forever more
I'm just a going over Jordan
I'm just a going over home

Notable recordings

• 16 Horsepower
• Alison Krauss
• Andreas Scholl
• Annah Graefe
• Blanche
• Bill Monroe
• Blackberry Wood
• Bob Gibson and Bob Camp
• Burl Ives
• Charlie Haden (his own voice, on The Art of Song)
• Chris Thomas King on his album "Antebellum Postcards."
• Chasing June (2011 LP, "Under the Slate Grey Sky")
• David Eugene Edwards
• Dolly Parton
• Duane Eddy
• Dusty Springfield (on the 2007 DVD Live at the BBC)
• Ego Likeness
• Eliza Carthy and Norma Waterson
• Emmylou Harris (released as a single from her album Roses in the Snow, her version peaked at #7 on the U.S. country charts in 1980)
• Eric Bibb
• Esther Ofarim
• Eva Cassidy
• Frankie Laine
• Gary Morris
• Giant Sand
• Glenn Yarborough and The Limeliters
• Helen Merrill
• H.P. Lovecraft (band)
• Ila Auto
• Isaac Guillory
• Jack White (from the soundtrack to the movie Cold Mountain)
• Jamie Woon
• JD Sumner and the Stamps Quartet
• Jeremy Steig
• Jerry Garcia & David Grisman
• Jerry Reed
• Jo Stafford
• Joan Baez with Mimi Farina.
• John Stirratt
• Johnny Cash
• Joni Mitchell
• Kristin Hersh (on the "In Shock")
• Kristin Chenoweth
• Leland Martin
• Lisbeth Scott
• Lorie Line,"as a piano solo found on her website only"
• Maria McKee, (from the Songcatcher film soundtrack)
• Michael Franti
• Michael Parks, "Then Came Bronson", 1969
• Michael Todd
• Mormon Tabernacle Choir
• Natalie Merchant
• Neko Case
• Noel Pointer, "Phantazia", 1977
• Papa M
• Paul Robeson
• Pete Seeger
• Peter, Paul and Mary
• Poutníci
• Richard Shindell
• Roger McGuinn
• Ronnie Hawkins
• Selfmindead
• Sixpence None the Richer
• The Spizzwinks(?)
• Strawfoot
• Suzy Bogguss
• Tennessee Ernie Ford
• Tierney Sutton
• Tim Buckley
• Tony Rice
• Trace Adkins
• Trampled By Turtles
• von Trapp Children

See also

• Charles Davis Tillman: "I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger"

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

Preceded by "True Love Ways" by Mickey Gilley

RPM Country Tracks number-one single (Emmylou Harris version) August 23, 1980

Succeeded by "Love the World Away" by Kenny Rogers