So very OT.
John Jacob Niles, the singer and collector of folk songs, said that he
based his "I Wonder As I Wander" on a line or two of haunting music that
he heard sung by a young girl in a small North Carolina town. He asked
her to sing the few notes over and over, paying her a few pennies each
time, until he had jotted it all down in his notebook. So close was the
finished song to its Appalachian inspiration that Niles is often cited
as arranger of the tune rather than its creator. The melody’s minor keg
[sic.]; minor intervals and unfinished cadences, as well as the poem s
questioning pensiveness, make this one of the most plaintive of carols.
1. I wonder as I wander out under the sky,
How Jesus the Savior did come for to die.
For poor on'ry people like you and like I...
I wonder as I wander out under the sky.
2. When Mary birthed Jesus 'twas in a cow's stall,
With wise men and farmers and shepherds and all.
But high from God's heaven a star's light did fall,
And the promise of ages it then did recall.
3. If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing,
A star in the sky, or a bird on the wing,
Or all of God's angels in heav'n for to sing,
He surely could have it, 'cause he was the King.
http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/i_wonder_as_i_wander.htm
Tom
MSMVP
Windows Shell/User