[Music]
Ye fleeting charms of earth, farewell,
Your springs of joy are dry;
My soul now seeks another home,
A brighter home on high.
I'm a long time trav'ling here below,
I'm a long time trav'ling away from home;
I'm a long time trav'ling here below
To lay this body down.
Farewell, my friends, whose tender care
Has long engaged my love;
Your fond embrace I now exchange
For better friends above.
Elder Edmund Dumas of Georgia is supposed to have made the tune. He
very likely was the first to record it, that is, for the 1859 edition
of the _Sacred Harp_. A variant is 'Converted Thief (A)' in this
collection. The negroes have caught the significant part of the chorus
in their song 'Lay This Body Down', _Slave Songs_, No. 26. One couplet
of this song is
And my soul an' your soul will meet in de day
When we lay dis body down.
No. 197
HAD I WINGS or ECSTACY, OSH 106