> Waterson:Carthy > Songs > The Old Churchyard

The Old Churchyard

[ Roud 3386 ; Ballad Index R620 ; Mudcat 104465 ; trad.]

Almeda Riddle from Heber Springs, Arkansas, sang the beautiful hymn The Old Churchyard in 1972 on her Rounder album Ballads and Hymns From the Ozarks.

Sarah Gunning sang The Old Churchyard in Medford, MA, on 5 May 1974 to Mark Wilson. This recording was included in 2007 on the Musical Tradition anthology of folk songs of the Upper South, Meeting is a Pleasure Volume 3. Mark Wilson commented in the accompanying booklet:

This, I think, is one of Sarah’s loveliest performances and I imagine that I failed to include it on her Rounder LP only because we had just previously issued a fine performance by Almeda Riddle (a version which was apparently taken up by the British folk-rock movement, somewhat to my surprise). Almeda’s recorded version includes several lyric groupings that were not found in her book (A Singer and her Songs) nor heard here. Versions similar to Sarah’s can be found in G P Jackson, Down East Spirituals (from the Georgia Sacred Harp of 1869) and, from black tradition, Taylor, Plantation Melodies (1882).

Waterson:Carthy sang The Old Churchyard in 2002 on their fourth album, A Dark Light. This track was also included in 2003 on the Watersons anthology The Definitive Collection. Martin Carthy commented in the original album’s sleeve notes:

When, in 1976, The Watersons were invited to the Bicentennial celebrations on the Mall in Washington DC, we met various of our idols including a remarkable old-fashioned singer from Arkansas called Almeda Riddle, who insisted that people called her “Granny” and who always knew an extra verse to just about any song you could sing her—unless the singer was Walter Pardon who, of course and as was his wont, knew yet another. She sang The Old Churchyard and showed endless delight when we announced that we wanted to sing it.

Olivia Chaney sang The Old Churchyard in 2017 on Offa Rex’s CD The Queen of Hearts. She noted:

Waterson/Carthy—the great Norma Waterson (Martin Carthy’s wife) is part of a singing family in the north of England, in Hull. They were integral to the folk revival and specifically to unaccompanied and harmony singing. I’ve always loved this song via their recording of it, and used to sing it a cappella at gig when I’d begun delving back into traditional British song. I thought it would be fitting for this project as they learnt it from an American singer from Arkansas called Almeda Riddle (who also taught Norma a version of Wayfaring Stranger…). And so the tradition of the echoing back and forth between our cultures evolves and continues.

The Dovetail Trio sang The Old Churchyard on their 2019 CD Bold Champions. Rosie Hood noted:

This beautiful hymn also has its roots in America and was sung by Almeda Riddle of Heber Springs, Arkansas on her 1972 album Ballads and Hymns From the Ozarks. We had all heard the Waterson:Carthy recording of this song and I also learnt a version from Jefferson Hamer of The Murphy Beds.

Lady Maisery and Jimmy Aldridge & Sid Goldsmith sang The Old Churchyard on their 2019 winter album Awake, Arise. They noted:

A song that brings together the earthliness and comfort found in a grassy churchyard with the ground-shaking ascension to heaven that those sacred spaces represent. Originally a hymn that has since entered the oral folk singing tradition in America.

[It is] from the singing of Almeda Riddle of the Ozark Mountains region in Arkansas, with some lines from The Christian Psalmist by Silas W. Leonard and A.O. Fillmore, Louisville, Kentucky, 1854.

This video shows them at Downend Folk Club in Christ Church, Downend, on 21 December 2018:

More Maids sang The Old Churchyard, with a quite different last verse, on their 2021 CD Fourmaids. They noted:

Graveyards are generally perceived as lonely, sad places, and we all know the sorrow that the loss of a loved one may cause. This song shows a different way of looking at it.

Lyrics

Almeda Riddle sings The Old Churchyard

Oh come, come with me out to the old churchyard,
I so well know those paths through the soft green sward.
Friends slumber there that we want to regard;
We will trace out the names in the old churchyard.

Oh mourn not for them, their sorrows are o’er,
And why weep for those who will weep no more?
For sweet is that sleep, though cold and hard
Their pillows may be in the old churchyard.

I know that it’s vain when our friends depart
To breathe kind words to a broken heart;
And I know that the joy of life is marred
When we follow those friends to the old churchyard.

But were I at rest beneath yonder tree,
Oh, why would you weep, my friend, for me?
I’m so weary, so wayworn, why would you retard
That peace I seek in the old churchyard?

Waterson:Carthy sing The Old Churchyard

Come, come with me out to the old churchyard,
I so well know those paths ’neath the soft green sward.
Friends slumber in there that we want to regard;
We will trace out the names in the old churchyard.

Mourn not for them, their trials are o’er,
And why weep for those who will weep no more?
For sweet is that sleep, though cold and hard
Their pillows may be in the old churchyard.

I know that it’s vain when our friends depart
To breathe kind words to a broken heart;
And I know that the joy of life is marred
When we follow those friends to the old churchyard.

But were I at rest ’neath yonder tree,
Oh, why would you weep, my friends, for me?
I’m so weary, so wayworn, why would you retard
The peace I seek in the old churchyard?

Why weep for me, for I’m anxious to go
To that haven of rest where no tears ever flow;
And I fear not to enter that dark lonely tomb
Where our saviour has lain an’ he conquered the gloom.

𝄆 I rest in the hope that one bright day
Sunshine will burst through these prisons of clay,
And old Gabriel’s trumpet and the voice of the Lord
Will wake up the dead in the old churchyard. 𝄇

Lady Maisery and Jimmy Aldridge & Sid Goldsmith sing The Old Churchyard

Come, come with me, to the old churchyard,
I so well know those paths ’neath the soft green sward.
Friends slumber in there that we want to regard;
We will trace out their names in the old churchyard.

Mourn not for them, for their trials are o’er,
Oh why weep for those who will weep no more?
For sweet is their sleep, though cold and hard
Their pillows may be in the old churchyard.

I know it seems vain when our friends depart
To breathe kind words to a broken heart;
And I know that the joy of life is marred
When we follow lost friends to the old churchyard.

But were I at rest neath yonder tree,
Oh, why would you weep, my friends, for me?
I’m so weary, so wayworn, why would you retard
That peace I seek in the old churchyard?

Why weep for me, for I’m anxious to go
To that haven of rest where no tears ever flow;
And I fear not to enter that dark lonely ward
For soon I shall rise from the old churchyard.

𝄆 I rest in the hope that one bright day
Sunshine will burst through these prisons of clay,
And old Gabriel’s trumpet and the voice of the Lord
Will wake up the dead in the old churchyard. 𝄇

More Maids sing The Old Churchyard

Come, come with me out to the old churchyard,
I so well know those paths, neath the soft green sward.
Friends slumber in there that we want to regard;
We will trace out their names in the old churchyard.

Mourn not for them, their trials are o’er,
And why weep for those who will weep no more?
For sweet is that sleep, though cold and hard
Their pillows may be in the old churchyard.

I know that it’s vain when our friends depart
To breathe kind words to a broken heart;
And I know that the joy of life is marred
When we follow those friends to the old churchyard.

But were I at rest neath yonder tree,
O, why would you weep, my friends, for me?
I’m so weary, so wayworn, why would you retard
The peace I seek in the old churchyard?

Why weep for me, for I’m anxious to go
To that haven of rest where no tears ever flow;
And I fear not to enter that dark lonely tomb
Where Jesus has lain and conquered the gloom.

𝄆 I rest in hope that one bright day
Sunshine will burst through these prisons of clay,
And the sound of the trumpet and music so gay
Will end up all grief in the old churchyard. 𝄇