One of the songs I remember hearing my grandmother sing is the “Whippoorwill Song.” It can be found in The Star of Bethlehem: A Collection of Church-Tunes, Anthems, Choruses and Glees, originally compiled by J. H. Hall, J. H. Ruebush, and Aldine S. Kieffer and published by Ruebush, Kieffer & Co. in 1889. The entire book is available at Archive.org.
Since then, Star of Bethlehem has been revised and republished by John C. Rhodes and Joseph G. Beery of Dayton, Virginia, first in 1969 with reprints in 1973, 1978, and 1984. Other revisions, republications, and more recent reprints may be out there. Special thanks to my dad for the scans below.
The Star of Bethlehem
Whip-poor-will Music and Lyrics
Lyrics
I wan-der by the wood-y rill,
Where ev'ning shadows play,
And hear the song of the whip-poor-will,
As he sings his ev'ning lay.
Chorus
O list (whip-poor-will), his song (whip-poor-will)
It floats (whip-poor-will) along (whip-poor-will);
Now brave (whippoorwill), now gay (whippoorwill)
We hear (whippoorwill) his lay (whippoorwill).
Oh, soft he trills his ev'ning lay,
By breez-es born a-long,
A sad-den'd feel-ing up-on me comes,
As I hear his ev-'ning song.
Chorus
It calls to mind the old, old home,
So ma-ny miles a-way,
With long lost friends I have oft times heard;
As he sang his ev-'ning lay.
Chorus
Notes
Here are definitions of some slightly less familiar terms thanks to the Oxford English Dictionary:
- rill – A small stream; a brook.
- lay – A short lyric or narrative poem intended to be sung. Applied to the song of birds.
Performance
Listen to The Stoneman Family perform the Whip-poor-will Song in a bluegrass style.
CommentsOnToast