> Steeleye Span > Songs > Farther Along

Farther Along

[ Roud 18084 ; Ballad Index FSWB356B ; J.R. Baxter, W.B. Stevens]

Steeleye Span—Martin Carthy, Maddy Prior, Peter Knight, Tim Hart and Ashley Hutchings—sang the hymn Farther Along on a “Stuart Henry Show” BBC radio session on 4 February 1971. This recording was included on the bonus CD of the 2006 reissue of their album Please to See the King.

Lyrics

Steeleye Span sing Farther Along

Tempted and tried, we’re oft made to wonder
Why it should be thus all the day long,
While there are others living about us,
Never molested, though in the wrong.

Chorus (after each verse):
Farther along we’ll know all about it,
Farther along we’ll understand why;
Cheer up my brother, live in the sunshine,
We’ll understand it all by and by.

When death has come and taken our loved ones,
Leaving our home so lonesome and drear,
Then do we wonder why others prosper
Living so wicked year after year.

Often I wonder why I must journey
Over a road so rugged and steep;
While there are others living in comfort,
While with the lost I labor and weep.