The Wayfaring Stranger (song)

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"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.^[1] It was 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.^[2]

[edit] Cover Versions

 Music sample:

"The Wayfaring Stranger"

From The Cold Mountain soundtrack. It was performed by Jack White for the film, in which he played the character Georgia

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• Kristin Hersh (on the In Shock (EP))
• Strawfoot
• Kristin Asbjørnsen
• Pete Seeger
• Bill Monroe
• Jo Stafford
• Frankie Laine
• Natalie Merchant
• Johnny Cash
• Jerry Garcia & David Grisman
• Peter, Paul and Mary
• Trace Adkins
• Emmylou Harris
• 16 Horsepower
• Neko Case
• Kristin Chenoweth
• Tim Buckley
• Michael Franti
• Jamie Woon
• Blanche
• Joan Baez
• H. P. Lovecraft
• Eva Cassidy
• Andreas Scholl
• The Spizzwinks(?)
• Papa M (under the title "Over Jordan")
• Tom Fox (singer-songwriter)
• Jack White
• The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
• Dusty Springfield on the 2007 DVD 'Live At The BBC'.
• Mac Davis in the episode of "Let's Keep Going" of 8 Simple Rules
• Dolly Parton
• The Silencers

[edit] References

1. ^ Digital Tradition Folk Music Database: link
2. ^ Herbert Haufrecht, ed., The Wayfarin' Stranger: A Collection of 21 Folk Songs and Ballads. New York: Leeds Music, 1945, p. 46; Library of Congress Catalogue, LCCN 79770668: link

[edit] 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

[edit] External links

Live Performance of Wayfaring Stranger - http://www.tomfox.net/stranger.html

A traditional a capella rendition by Almeda Riddle, recorded in Arkansas on August 21, 1957 - http://www.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/songs/riddlepoor1246.html

Video of Kristin Hersh performing 'Poor Wayfaring Stranger'

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