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Last Updated
August 16, 2011



Tablature and Sound Files
 

A Prayer

The tune for "A Prayer" is called "Sweet Rivers" or "Sweet Rivers of Redeeming Love" as learned from a McLain Family Recording through Woody Padgett, my cohort in the Mill Run Dulcimer Band for so many years. We all loved the tune but never bothered to learn the lyrics which were very difficult to understand from the recording anyway so Woody used to play it just as an instrumental on the autoharp. I introduced the tune to Heidi several years ago and we filed it away for future use. In researching this, I found versions of the tune in both the Sacred Harp and Southern Harmony; however, neither of those tunes are the same as the one the McLain Family used. Jean Ritchie recorded the song in 1959 for Folkways and again in 1981 for June Appal using only the first verse from Southern Harmony. Almeda Riddle recorded the song in 1985 for Arkansas Traditions. Southern Harmony attributes the tune to William Moore and the lyrics to John Adam Granade (see below). In the meantime, Heidi loved the tune and she thought to find or write words that would fit the melody. She sifted through a couple hundred songs in the Cyberhymnal that had an 8-6-8-6 meter to see if something might be suitable. She found a poem by Matilda Edwards that she really liked and which fit the meter of "Sweet Rivers" ... so she combined the two to create what she calls "A Prayer". Any way you look at it, it's a beautiful melody and the Matilda Edwards lyrics really suit us. We hope you all like it too.

John and Heidi recorded "A Prayer" on their Winter's Turning album ... check it out at CD Baby.

 

 

Sweet Rivers of Redeeming Love
Tune: William Moore, 1825
Words: John Adam Granade, 1803
Meter: Common Meter Double (8,6,8,6,8,6,8,6)


Sweet rivers of redeeming love
Lie just before mine eye,
Had I the pinions of a dove
I'd to those rivers fly;
I'd rise superior to my pain,
With joy outstrip the wind,
I'd cross o'er Jordan's stormy waves,
And leave the world behind.

A few more days, or years at most,
My troubles will be o'er;
I hope to join the heav'nly host
On Canaan's happy shore.
My raptured soul shall drink and feast
In love's unbounded sea:
The glorious hope of endless rest
Is ravishing for me.

God Make My Life a Little Light
Words: Matilda B. B. Edwards
in Good Words, 1873, p. 393


God make my life a little light
Within the world to glow;
A little flame that burneth bright,
Wherever I may go.

Lord make my life a fragrant flower
that giveth joy to all
Content to bloom in native bower,
although the place be small

Lord make my life a soothing song
that comforteth the sad
That helpeth others to be strong
and makes the singer glad

Lord make my life a solid staff,
whereon the weak may rest
That so what health and strength I have,
may serve my neighbors best

Lord make my life a humble hymn
of tenderness and praise
Of faith that never waxeth dim,
in all His wondrous ways

 

Click Here for an Adobe Acrobat version of the Mountain Dulcimer TAB
Click Here for an Adobe Acrobat version of the Autoharp TAB.
Click Here for a
n MP-3 version of the basic tune.

More Tunes from the Doofus Archives in Adobe Acrobat and MIDI Formats

Mountain Dulcimer Autoharp MIDI/MP-3 Files

Rochester Schottishe
Avalon Quickstep
Still, Still
Victory Rag (C)
Victory Rag (D)
Mud Fence
Coleman's March
Roving on a Winter's NIght
Grand River Whiskey
My Country 'Tis of Thee
Grasshopper Sittin'
Sally in the Garden
Crann Ull
Row Your Boat
Rose in the Mountain
Winds through the Olive Trees
Ring Out the Old

Snowbird
Sally's Got Mud Between Her Toes
Brightest and Best
Jenny's Gone to Ohio
Only Remembered
Sunshine in the Shadows
Bye and Bye (Capo 4 in DAD)
Bye and Bye (AEA for Baritone)
The Coo Coo
Cradle Hymn
Lueget vo Berg
Sam and Daisy
Lady of the Lake

Pig Ankle Rag
Stream of Time
Who Broke the Lock
One More Is Just Enough
Cherry Tree Carol
Jubilation
In the Bleak Midwinter
Long Time Travelin'
Babe of Bethlehem
The Holly and the Ivy
The Huron Carol


Rochester Schottische
Avalon Quickstep
Still, Still
Victory Rag
Mud Fence
Coleman's March
Roving on a  Winter's Night
Grand River Whiskey
My Country "Tis of Thee
Grasshopper  Sittin'
Sally in the Garden
Crann Ull
Row Your Boat
Rose in the Mountain
Winds through the Olive Trees
Ring Out the Old
Snowbird

Sally's Got Mud Between Her Toes

Brightest and Best
Jenny's Gone to Ohio
Only Remembered
Sunshine in the Shadows
Bye and Bye
The Coo Coo
Cradle Hymn
Lueget vo Berg
Sam and Daisy
Lady of the Lake

Pig Ankle Rag
Stream of Time
Who Broke the Lock
One More Is Just Enough

Cherry Tree Carol
Jubilation
In the Bleak Midwinter
Long Time Travelin'
Babe of Bethlehem
The Holly and the Ivy
The Huron Carol


Rochester Schottische (AH)
Rochester Schottische (MD)
Avalon Quickstep
Still, Still
Victory Rag
Mud Fence
Coleman's March
Roving on a  Winter's Night
Grand River Whiskey
My Country 'Tis of Thee
Grasshopper Sittin'
Sally in the Garden
Crann Ull
Row Your Boat
Rose in the Mountain
Winds through the Olive Trees
Ring Out the Old
Snowbird
Sally's Got Mud Between Her Toes

Brightest and Best
Jenny's Gone to Ohio
Only Remembered
Sunshine in the Shadows
Bye and Bye
The Coo Coo
Cradle Hymn
Lueget vo Berg

Sam and Daisy
Lady of the Lake
Pig Ankle Rag
1

Pig Ankle Rag 2 (w/ boogie piano)
Stream of Time
Who Broke the Lock
One More Is Just Enough
Cherry Tree Carol
Jubilation

In the Bleak Midwinter
Long Time Travelin' (MP-3)
Babe of Bethlehem
The Holly and the Ivy
The Huron Carol



A Titanic Intellect in a World Full of Icebergs!