Hail, Columbia! by Joseph Hopkinson

Hail Columbia, happy land!
Hail, ye heroes, heav’n-born band,
Who fought and bled in freedom’s cause,
Who fought and bled in freedom’s cause,
And when the storm of war was gone
Enjoy’d the peace your valor won.
Let independence be our boast,
Ever mindful what it cost;
Ever grateful for the prize,
Let its altar reach the skies.

Chorus
Firm, united let us be,
Rallying round our liberty,
As a band of brothers joined,
Peace and safety we shall find.

Immortal patriots, rise once more,
Defend your rights, defend your shore!
Let no rude foe, with impious hand,
Let no rude foe, with impious hand,
Invade the shrine where sacred lies
Of toil and blood, the well-earned prize,
While off’ring peace, sincere and just,
In Heaven’s we place a manly trust,
That truth and justice will prevail,
And every scheme of bondage fail.

Chorus
Firm, united let us be,
Rallying round our liberty,
As a band of brothers joined,
Peace and safety we shall find.

Behold the chief who now commands,
Once more to serve his country stands.
The rock on which the storm will break,
The rock on which the storm will break,
But armed in virtue, firm, and true,
His hopes are fixed on Heav’n and you.
When hope was sinking in dismay,
When glooms obscured Columbia’s day,
His steady mind, from changes free,
Resolved on death or liberty.

Chorus
Firm, united let us be,
Rallying round our liberty,
As a band of brothers joined,
Peace and safety we shall find.

Sound, sound the trump of fame,
Let Washington’s great fame
Ring through the world with loud applause,
Ring through the world with loud applause,
Let ev’ry clime to freedom dear,
Listen with a joyful ear,
With equal skill, with God-like pow’r
He governs in the fearful hour
Of horrid war, or guides with ease
The happier time of honest peace.

Chorus
Firm, united let us be,
Rallying round our liberty,
As a band of brothers joined,
Peace and safety we shall find.

————————————————-

instrumental version (2:15) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU1reLFj_CY

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What The Heck! – a song poem by Dennis Allen Lange

—

I would like for all to know
That I love you, love you so.
Can the brightness of the sun
Be concealed from everyone?
Can the waters of the sea
Cease their rolling endlessly?

Chorus:
The world is watching – what the heck!
Wrap your arms around my neck.
Kiss me hard and kiss me long;
The world will sing for us a song.

Tilt your head; I see your eyes
Sparkling like the starry skies.
I fall through them and past your face
In-to your deepest inner space.
There, I’m lost, but also found.
‘Tis wonderful – in love, I’ve drowned.

Chorus:
The world is watching – what the heck!
Wrap your arms around my neck.
Kiss me hard and kiss me long;
The world will sing for us a song.

Lift your lips as mine draw near;
Hold me close and never fear.
I will dry your every tear
From your eyes that I hold dear.
And may we always be like this
Entwined as one and filled with bliss.

Chorus:
The world is watching – what the heck!
Wrap your arms around my neck.
Kiss me hard and kiss me long;
The world will sing for us a song.

—————————————————————-

© Dennis Allen Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2018.

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O Susanna by Stephen Foster

I came from Alabama
Wid my banjo on my knee,
I’m g’wan to Louisiana,
My true love for to see,
It rained all night the day I left,
The weather it was dry,
The sun so hot I frose to death;
Susanna don’t you cry.

Chorus:
Oh! Susanna, oh don’t you cry for me;
I’ve come from Alabama
Wid my banjo on my knee.

I jumped aboard de telegraph,
And trabbeled down de ribber,
De ‘lectric fluid magnified,
And killed five hundred nigger;
De bullgine buste, de horse run off,
I really thought I’d die;
I shut my eyes to hold my breath,
Susanna, don’t you cry.

Chorus:
Oh! Susanna, oh don’t you cry for me;
I’ve come from Alabama
Wid my banjo on my knee.

I had a dream de odder night,
When ebery t’ing was still;
I thought I saw Susanna,
A-coming down de hill.
The buckwheat cake was in her mouth,
The tear was in her eye,
Says I, “I’m coming from de South,
Susanna, dont you cry.”

Chorus:
Oh! Susanna, oh don’t you cry for me;
I’ve come from Alabama
Wid my banjo on my knee.

I soon will be in New Orleans,
And den I’ll look all round,
And when I find Susanna,
I’ll fall upon the ground.
But if I do not find her,
Dis darkie’ll surely die,
And when I’m dead and buried,
Susanna, don’t you cry.

Chorus:

Oh!  Susanna, oh don’t you cry for me;
I’ve come from Alabama
Wid my banjo on my knee.

 

______________________________________

sung by the 2nd South Carolina String band (2:49)

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My Heart Cried Tears – a song poem by Dennis Allen Lange

—

When I still cared and you did not,
Our loving past a fading dot,
I thought I’d die from all the pain.
With all now lost and naught to gain,
………..My heart cried tears.

Chorus:
They fell like raindrops from the sky;
They flowed like rivers rushing by,
And in their ocean I will die.

My heart still filled my veins with blood
But wet my cheeks with teary flood
For you were so much part of me
That parting was a surgery
………..My heart cried tears.

Chorus:
They fell like raindrops from the sky;
They flowed like rivers rushing by,
And in their ocean I will die.

The years we had were swept away
Without another single day
And I was empty as a net
That’s ripped to shreds by raw regret –
………..My heart cried tears.

Chorus:
They fell like raindrops from the sky;
They flowed like rivers rushing by,
And in their ocean I will die.

You never understood my pain;
You never asked that I explain.
You simply turned your back on me
And left me to my misery –
………..My heart cried tears.

Chorus:
They fell like raindrops from the sky;
They flowed like rivers rushing by,
And in their ocean I will die.

My heart still fills and pumps my blood,
But from my eyes pours forth its flood
Our love is like the rose that’s dry,
Is crushed, released to wind to fly.
………..My heart cries tears.

Chorus:
They fell like raindrops from the sky;
They flowed like rivers rushing by,
And in their ocean I will die.

———————————————————–

photo by Billy Frank Alexander at
http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/2dRW0jn/Broken+Heart

———————————————————–

© Dennis Allen Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2018.

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Recessional by Isaac Watts

O God, our Help in ages past,
Our Hope for years to come,
Our Shelter from the stormy blast,
And our Eternal Home! 

Before the hills in order stood
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same. 

A thousand ages in Thy sight,
Are like an evening gone:
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun. 

Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day. 

O God, our Help in ages past,
Our Hope for years to come,
Be Thou our Guard while life shall last,
And our Eternal Home.

——————————————-

Sung on Youtube (2:42) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-hN740J6qA

 

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Down Went McGinty by Joseph Flynn

Sunday morning just at nine,
Dan McGinty dressed so fine
Stood looking up at a very high stone wall,
When his friend, young Pat McCann,
Says, “I’ll bet five dollars, Dan
I could carry you to the top without a fall.”
So on his shoulders he took Dan,
To climb the ladder he began,
And soon commenced to reach up near the top;
When McGinty, cute old rogue,
To win the five he did let go
Never thinking just how far he’d have to drop.

Chorus:
Down went McGinty to the bottom of the wall
And tho’ he won the five, he was more dead than alive
Sure his ribs and nose and back were broke from getting such a fall
Dressed in his best suit of clothes.

From the hospital Mac went home,
When they fixed his broken bones,
To find he was the father of a child;
So to celebrate it right,
His friends he went to invite,
And soon he was drinking whiskey fast and wild;
Then he waddled down the street
In his Sunday suit so neat
Holding up his head as proud as John the Great;
But in the sidewalk was a hole,
To receive a ton of coal,
That McGinty never saw till just too late.

Chorus:
Down went McGinty to the bottom of the hole,
Then the driver of the cart gave the load of coal a start
And it took us half an hour to dig McGinty from the coal,
Dress’d in his best suit of clothes.

Now McGinty raved and swore,
About his clothes he felt so sore
And an oath he took he’d kill the man or die;
So he tightly grabbed his stick
And hit the driver a lick,
Then he raised a little shanty on his eye.
But two policemen saw the muss
And they soon joined in the fuss
Then they ran McGinty in for being drunk;
And the Judge says with a smile,
We will keep you for a while
In a cell to sleep upon a prison bunk.

Chorus:
Down went McGinty to the bottom of the jail,
Where his board would cost him nix, and he stay’d exactly six;
They were big long months he stopped, for no one went his bail
Dressed in his best suit of clothes.

Now McGinty thin and pale
One fine day got out of jail,
And with joy to see his boy was nearly wild;
To his house he quickly ran
To see his wife Bedaley Ann,
But she skipp’d away and took along the child.
Then he gave up in despair
And he madly pulled his hair
As he stood one day upon the river shore;
Knowing well he couldn’t swim,
He did foolishly jump in,
Although water he had never took before.

Chorus:
Down went McGinty to the bottom of the say*
And he must be very wet for they haven’t found him yet
But they say his ghost comes round the docks before the break of day,
Dressed in his best suit of clothes.

*sea

performed on YouTube (4:03) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFkta4CpHiE

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I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen by Thomas P. Westendorf

I’ll take you home again, Kathleen,
Across the ocean wild and wide,
To where your heart has ever been,
Since first you were my bonny bride.
The roses all have left your cheek,
I watched them fade away and die;
You voice is sad whene’re you speak,
And tears bedim your loving eyes.

Chorus:
Oh! I will take you back Kathleen,
To where your heart will feel no pain;
And when the fields are fresh and green,
I will take you to your home again.

I know you love me, Kathleen, dear.
Your heart was ever fond and true;
I always feel when you are near,
That life holds nothing dear but you.
The smiles that once you gave to me,
I scarcely ever see them now,
The many, many times I see
A darkening shadow on your brow.

Chorus:
Oh! I will take you back Kathleen,
To where your heart will feel no pain;
And when the fields are fresh and green,
I will take you to your home again.

To that dear home beyond the sea,
My Kathleen shall again return.
And when thy old friends welcome thee,
Thy loving heart will cease to yearn.
Where laughs the little silver stream,
Beside your mother’s humble cot.
And brightest rays of sunshine gleam,
To where your grief will be forgot.

Chorus:
Oh! I will take you back Kathleen,
To where your heart will feel no pain;
And when the fields are fresh and green,
I will take you to your home again.

——————————————–

sung by Daniel O’Donnell (4:01) –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogXOCvj0-hA

 

 

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Song by William Blake

Memory, hither come,
And tune your merry notes:
And, while upon the wind
Your music floats,
I’ll pore upon the stream
Where sighing lovers dream,
And fish for fancies as they pass
Within the watery glass. 

I’ll drink of the clear stream,
And hear the linnet’s song;
And there I’ll lie and dream
The day along:
And when night comes, I’ll go
To places fit for woe,
Walking along the darkened valley
With silent Melancholy.

 

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Tippecanoe And Tyler Too – anonymous

—

A song during William Henry Harrison’s presidential campaign
against incumbent Martin Van Buren:

What has caused this great commotion, motion,
…….Our country through?
…….It is the ball a-rolling on,
For Tippecanoe and Tyler too, Tippecanoe and Tyler too.
And with them we’ll beat little Van, Van, Van;
…….Van is a used-up man.

 

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I’ll Remember You, Love, In My Prayers – anonymous

When the curtains of night are pinned back by the stars,
…And the beautiful moon leaps the skies,
And the dewdrops of heaven are kissing the rose,
…It is then that my memory flies 

As if on the wings of some beautiful dove
…In haste with the message it bears
To bring you a kiss of affection and say:
…I’ll remember you, love, in my prayers. 

Go where you will, on land or on sea,
…I’ll share all your sorrows and cares;
And at night, when I kneel by my bedside to pray
…I’ll remember you, love, in my prayers. 

I have loved you too fondly to ever forget
…The love you have spoken to me;
And the kiss of affection still warm on my lips
…When you told me how true you would be. 

I know not if fortune be fickle or friend,
…Or if time on your memory wears;
I know that I love you wherever you roam,
…And remember you, love, in my prayers. 

When angels in heaven are guarding the good,
…As God has ordained them to do,
In answer to prayers I have offered to Him,
…I know there is one watching you. 

And may its bright spirit be with you through life
…To guide you up heaven’s bright stairs,
And meet with the one who has loved you so true
…And remembered you, love, in her prayers.

——————————————————–

Sung by Ann Breen (2:22)

 

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