Restoration - Sacred Harp (Cooper #268t)
"Restoration" was my favorite church tune when I was a kid in Georgia in the 1950s. I didn't know it at the time, but it was the only minor-key tune in the core Southern Baptist hymnody. I just knew that it made me feel spooky and close to God when we sang it.
Song: http://ezfolk.com/audio/Flint-Hill/?song=19671
Lyrics: http://c1.ezfolk.com/bands/6882/song_lyrics_19671.php
I also posted the song here at FOTMD.
We sang "I Will Arise and Go to Jesus" to this tune on Sunday mornings(over slightly "majorized" piano chords) and then sang "Restoration" itself on Sunday afternoons at Sacred Harp, with the decidedlyminor and modal cast heard here.
"Restoration" is one of at least five shape note songs that include words from "Come Thy Fount of Every Blessing" written by Robert Robinson and published in 1758. "Come Thy Fount" is usually sung to the tune "Nettleton" in mainstream Christian music.
The chorus is the same as that used in "Come Ye Sinners" (also known as "I Will Arise and Go to Jesus"). Joseph Hart wrote the verses to "Come Ye Sinners" and published them in1759. The chorus is often credited to Hart, but as near as I can tell, it is of anonymous authorship.
The evidence is sparse, but my best guess is that Amariah (also known as Americk) Hall either wrote the tune or transcribed it from a traditional source in the early decades of the 19th century. Restoration is also sung to the Ionian tune "Beach Spring".
The tune is pentatonic, at least as I play it, omitting the second and sixth scale degrees. The missing sixth degree means that it's compatible with diatonic tunings intended for either the Aeolian or Dorian Modes.
I play it melody-drone style tuned EEA (E4 E4 A3) which starts a Dorian scale on the fourth fret of the melody (A) string. It's played here on a YAM strung with 0.010" strings straight across. The tempo here is 93, which is about where we used to sing it. I have heard it sung as fast as ~120.
Song: http://ezfolk.com/audio/Flint-Hill/?song=19671
Lyrics: http://c1.ezfolk.com/bands/6882/song_lyrics_19671.php
I also posted the song here at FOTMD.
We sang "I Will Arise and Go to Jesus" to this tune on Sunday mornings(over slightly "majorized" piano chords) and then sang "Restoration" itself on Sunday afternoons at Sacred Harp, with the decidedlyminor and modal cast heard here.
"Restoration" is one of at least five shape note songs that include words from "Come Thy Fount of Every Blessing" written by Robert Robinson and published in 1758. "Come Thy Fount" is usually sung to the tune "Nettleton" in mainstream Christian music.
The chorus is the same as that used in "Come Ye Sinners" (also known as "I Will Arise and Go to Jesus"). Joseph Hart wrote the verses to "Come Ye Sinners" and published them in1759. The chorus is often credited to Hart, but as near as I can tell, it is of anonymous authorship.
The evidence is sparse, but my best guess is that Amariah (also known as Americk) Hall either wrote the tune or transcribed it from a traditional source in the early decades of the 19th century. Restoration is also sung to the Ionian tune "Beach Spring".
The tune is pentatonic, at least as I play it, omitting the second and sixth scale degrees. The missing sixth degree means that it's compatible with diatonic tunings intended for either the Aeolian or Dorian Modes.
I play it melody-drone style tuned EEA (E4 E4 A3) which starts a Dorian scale on the fourth fret of the melody (A) string. It's played here on a YAM strung with 0.010" strings straight across. The tempo here is 93, which is about where we used to sing it. I have heard it sung as fast as ~120.