The Wayfaring Stranger (song)

"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. [Digital Tradition Folk Music Database: [http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiWAYFARIN;ttWAYFARIN.html link] ] 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". [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: [http://catalog.loc.gov/ link] ]

Cover versions

* 16 Horsepower
* Trace Adkins
* Kristin Asbjørnsen
* Joan Baez
* Blackgrass
* Blanche
* Tim Buckley
* Neko Case
* Johnny Cash
* Eva Cassidy
* Kristin Chenoweth
* Mac Davis in the episode of "Let's Keep Going¢ of "8 Simple Rules"
* Enfield
* Tennessee Ernie Ford
* Tom Fox (singer-songwriter)
* Michael Franti
* Jerry Garcia & David Grisman
* Bob Gibson and Bob Camp
* Emmylou Harris
* Ronnie Hawkins
* Kristin Hersh (on the In Shock (EP))
* Frankie Laine
* H. P. Lovecraft
* Roger McGuinn
* Manchester Civic Band - Performed the Ernest Lubin arrangement in Fall 2008 ( [http://www.civicband.org/2008/08/25/band-notice-wayfaring-stranger/ Article] ).
* Leland Martin
* Natalie Merchant
* Bill Monroe
* The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
* Gary Morris
* Papa M (under the title "Over Jordan")
* Dolly Parton
* Peter, Paul and Mary
* Dany Placard - "J'm'en r'tourne" on the album "Rang de l'église" (Canada (QC), french translation and adaptation)
* Railroad Earth
* Andreas Scholl
* Pete Seeger
* The Silencers
* The Spizzwinks(?)
* Dusty Springfield on the 2007 DVD 'Live At The BBC'.
* Jo Stafford
* Strawfoot
* Jack White
* Jamie Woon (whose version was also remixed by Burial.)

References

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

External links

* [http://www.tomfox.net/stranger.html Live Performance of Wayfaring Stranger] by Tom Fox
* [http://www.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/songs/riddlepoor1246.html POOR WAYFARING STRANGER] A traditional a capella rendition by Almeda Riddle, recorded in Arkansas on August 21, 1957
* [http://www.gazebotree.com/uk2007/bristol/index.html Video of Kristin Hersh performing 'Poor Wayfaring Stranger']