If We Have Earned the Right

DESCRIPTION: "If we have earned the right to eat this bread, Happy indeed are we, But if unmerited thou gives to us, May we more thankful be."
AUTHOR: W. H. Neidlinger (1863-1924) (Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs)
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (ChansonsDeNotreChalet); reportedly from the Kent County Song Book
KEYWORDS: food nonballad campsong
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 464, "If We Have Earned the Right" (notes only)
ChansonsDeNotreChalet, p. 5, "If We Have Earned the Right" (3 texts, English, French, and German; 1 tune)
NOTES [135 words]: Averill calls this the most popular song by W. H. Neidlinger, and in a way I suppose that is true, because it was the only one of his pieces which I could find in a modern scouting book. But the 61 citations Averill claims strikes me as excessive; I only found one reference that had it, and -- like most Neidlinger compositions -- I'd consider the text to be pretty awful. To give him his due, he set up a school for those with intellectual disabilities (so Averill; other sources say it was for "underachievers," which isn't the same thing), so his heart was in the right place. His brain, I think, was not so well located.
I would assume the German and French versions are by someone else, but no authors are listed in the books I've seen. ChansonsDeNotreChalet doesn't even list Neidlinger as the author. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: ACSF464E

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