I know that some of the folks who are on this forum are also involved in various types of music that is played in churches, so I thought that some of you might have some idea about how one might go about tracking down the tablature for a very old gospel song.
My mother has just had her 90th birthday, and she still likes to sing. The problem is that I have been unable to find the music for one of her favorite songs, so only a pianist who plays well by ear can accompany her on that song. So I promised I would find the music for her. To complicate matters, I do not know the title of the song, and can only search based on the first line of the song, which begins “There is a blessed anthem…”.
My family is rooted in the Appalachian American music tradition, so it possible that the music is in the old shaped-note notation that was sometimes used in this region. Nobody in our family can remember how mom and her sisters learned the song, but my guess is that it was learned from their older relatives, so the song could go back a hundred years or more. One other fact that might limit the field of search is that all of my immediate ancestors were either Baptist or Methodist.
Any ideas on how to track down this old piece of music would be greatly appreciated.
T
Here’s cyber hymnals T’s page.
But it’s listed by titles…it would help if you could get a few more syllables…
That is rough trying to get it just by the first few words.
Cyberhynnals
I’m guessing her being that old it’s a hymn.
This ones methodist:
Methodist hymns
This ones Baptist:
Baptist hymnals
The baptist one has samples of the songs so that might help after you listen to a hundred or so…to narrow it down.
You will at least know the names of the songs its NOT!
keep shinin’
jerm 
Well, I asked all of the ministers in our family, and none of them recognized it. Do you have more lyrics?
Jeremy - the links are very helpful. I was having a hard time finding web sites that looked even remotely useful.
Tom - I’ll get some more of the words of the song when I talk to mom tonight.
T
Glad to be of assistance.
If you could get someone to hum a few bars and post an MP3 or wma of the tuneage that would help too.
'Cause in the case that they have the opening lyrics wrong, you could at least try and match up the melody to a song that fits.
Doo doo doo a da da da, is all we want to hear from you! lol
keep shinin’
jerm
Hey, T, any more lyrics?
Thanks for not forgotting about this Tom. You are a champ. No new lyrics yet, Mom has been out of pocket for the last few days, and I haven’t had a chance to ask her. She certainly will be able to recall at least one verse of the song.
T
No problem, the many minister-musicians in my extended family are all rather curious, esp. the North Carolina ones. 
Ok Tom and Jeremy
Here are all of the words (1 verse) that mom can remember:
There is a blessed anthem
God put in me to stay.
This world know nothing like it,
It sweeter grows each day.
It rises o’re the mountain,
It’s deeper than the sea.
This holy, happy chorus,
Salvation put in me.
I don’t know what to call it,
Blessed beyond compare.
This chorus, Hallelujah,
Ringing in my soul.
No language ever spoken
Has to me my joy portrayed.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Sweet Heaven’s come to stay.
--------------
Despite some misgivings, I did a quick recording of the song as best I can remember it. Chords probably aren’t quite right, and I’m not really a singer, but you can get the idea. Go here and click on
[]My Soundclick Page and then click on the music page, and finally click on Blessed Anthem. Sorry to make you navigate so much, but for some reason I can’t get the stupid link to work right.
Perhaps this will help jog somebody’s childhood memories. Thanks again for helping to track this old tune down.
T
Well, at least part of my family is stumped. Emailed the others.
Have you tried NameThatHymn.com?
(kidding!)
http://www.namethathymn.com/hymn-ly…c&t=972
Well, you may have stumped the experts, t. Here’s one interesting tidbit from one of my most learned family members.
"I don’t know this hymn, but it follows a pattern based on the beats per line. In this case the pattern is: 7676 or 7676D. There aren’t many tunes that follow the first pattern, but the second has several. So, it’s hard to know which, if any that are in my hymnal, your friend is looking for…Anyway, you might want to refer your friend to any church hymnal he can get hold of. Somewhere near the back of each one, there’s a metrical index that will list the tunes that follow these patterns. Then it’s a process of elimination to find the one he’s looking for, if it’s in that hymnal."
So it might be an unrecorded local variant of some lesser known hymn, or - an interesting possibility - an entirely unrecorded local tradition, words and tune. Obviously the former is most likely.
Wow… what a wonderful reply. Please pass along my thanks to your erudite family. Now the search is starting to get interesting.
It would be kind of nice to revive an old hymn that is about to be lost. And it has been very kind of you to take time to help too.
There is an outside chance that the hymn was written by a great uncle of mine, Cephas Cruce, who wrote several pieces of music that are in some of the old hymnals. Mom has no recollection of how she learned the song or if she ever saw written music for it.
T
Cephas Cruce - now, that’s a name for a writer of hymns!
So, when you discover it’s one of his, and that there are others that haven’t been written down, you’ll need to publish the Collected Hymns of Cephas Cruce.
Hey I found this book that has a similarity to the words
"Ringing in my Soul" found in your lyrics.
It is gospel and it is Methodist, so I thought it might have relevance to the song at least it is a good historical reference to Methodist and Baptist gospel roots.
Methodist Gospel "Ringing in my Soul"
There is a huge list of Gospel song names as well, which may be a good avenue to explore since published hymns by that author are becoming a dead end, at least in the online arena.
keep shinin’
jerm
Thanks to you too Jerm. I saw the posting on NameThatHymn.com too. Highly appreciated.
Well, I guess that there are several clues to follow up on. I don’t live to far from the Smithsonian Institute which maintains an archive of recordings of old American folk music. If we can’t turn anything up on the internet in the next week or two, perhaps it would be worth a visit there, as I think this old song would be considered to be folk music. I assume that they are in contact with some world class experts on folk music, although Toms relatives sound as if they might be hard to beat in terms of familiarity with this type of music.
Anyway, thanks again for taking time to help.
T
| Quote (tspringer @ Dec. 03 2006,19:42) |
| Thanks to you too Jerm. I saw the posting on NameThatHymn.com too. Highly appreciated. Well, I guess that there are several clues to follow up on. I don’t live to far from the Smithsonian Institute which maintains an archive of recordings of old American folk music. If we can’t turn anything up on the internet in the next week or two, perhaps it would be worth a visit there, as I think this old song would be considered to be folk music. I assume that they are in contact with some world class experts on folk music, although Toms relatives sound as if they might be hard to beat in terms of familiarity with this type of music. Anyway, thanks again for taking time to help. T |
Cool,
Hey if your talking about the Smithsonian in Philly, there’s also a very interesting display currently there.
It’s a collection of anceint Jewish text, the largest of it’s kind in the world, with documents dating back to 600 B.C.,–it’s there till Jan. 1st.
I might go down and check it out myself.
Folk music heh? well there is one avenue of search at least I haven’t explored for this…
The evidence certianly is mounting with every post, it’s like a murder mystery and now, I can’t pull myself away!
I do hope it has a happy ending.
What the folk, I should have just asked Bob, Dylan that is.
…
keep shinin’
jerm