"The Wayfaring Stranger" (also known as "Poor Wayfaring Stranger", "I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger", or "Wayfaring Pilgrim"), Roud 3339, is a well-known American folk and gospel song likely originating in the early 19th century about a plaintive soul on the journey through life. As with most folk songs, many variations of the lyrics exist, and many singers have linked the song to times of hardship and notable experiences in their lives, such as the case with Burl Ives in his autobiography.
Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.
Contents
History
The origins of the song are unclear and it may have multiple influences. The likely use of coded language common in negro spirituals points to African American origins. For example, 'crossing the River Jordan' may refer to crossing the Ohio River on the journey north to freedom. In 1905 Black composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor included “I Am a Poor, Wayfaring Stranger” (under the title “Pilgrim’s Song”) in a set of piano arrangements of twenty-four melodies composed by African Americans. Some have speculated that the song is a descendant of the Scottish border ballad "The Dowie Dens of Yarrow", while others have speculated it came from the German hymn "Ich bin ein Gast auf Erden" ("A Pilgrim Here I Wander"). The latter was translated and printed in many English hymnals throughout the 19th century.
According to the book The Makers of the Sacred Harp, by David Warren Steel and Richard H. Hulan, the lyrics were published in 1858 in Joseph Bever's Christian Songster, which was a collection of popular hymns and spiritual songs of the time.
During and for several years after the American Civil War, the lyrics were known as the Libby Prison Hymn. This was because the words had been inscribed by a dying Union soldier incarcerated in Libby Prison, a warehouse converted to a notorious Confederate prison in Richmond, Virginia known for its adverse conditions and high death rate. It had been believed that the dying soldier had authored the song to comfort a disabled soldier, but this was not the case since it had been published several years before the Civil War in 1858, before Libby Prison was put into service (1862).
Notable versions
It became one of Burl Ives' 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.
Paul Robeson performed this song in his acclaimed 1945 and 1947 New York concerts. The son of a slave, Robeson performed the selection in a style reminiscent of the "Negro spirituals" of the 19th Century. The recording is featured with many other spirituals in the "Power and the Glory" collection.
It features on Pete Seeger's Frontier Ballads album, along with "The Wayfaring Stranger".
Tim Buckley performed the song live many times during his career, including during his 1968 live in London concert.
In 1969, the French singer Marie Laforêt recorded a ballad-style version of the song, accompanied on the charango by the Argentinian musician Jorge Milchberg.
Noel Pointer, an African-American jazz violinist, recorded it on his album Phantazia in 1977.
Jo Stafford features the song on her influential 1950 album American Folk Songs.
Joan Baez recorded the song in her David's Album from 1969.
Emmylou Harris covered the song on her 1980 album Roses in the Snow. Harris' version peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. It reached number 1 on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada.
A version by Eva Cassidy was released posthumously in 1998 on the album Songbird.
Charlie Haden sang this song to a string accompaniment by Alan Broadbent on the Quartet West album, The Art of the Song released in 1999 by PolyGram.