House of the Lord, The

DESCRIPTION: "You may sing of the beauty of mountain and dale, Of the silvery stream-let and flowers of the vale, But the place most delightful this earth can afford Is the place of devotion, the house of the Lord." It is more beautiful than any weather or place
AUTHOR: William Hunter (source: hymnary.org)
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (The Brethren Hymnal)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MidwestFolklore, Mary O. Eddy, "Twenty Folk Hymns," Volume 3, Number 1 (Spring 1953), p. 42, "The House of the Lord" (1 excerpt, 1 tune)
NOTES [116 words]: Mary Eddy seems to have had a bit of a thing about William Hunter hymns; there are several in her MidwestFolklore article. But their place in hymnals seems to have been almost as tenuous as their hold in tradition. This one is the only one to show much sign of processing (folk or otherwise); the original first lines are in the description, but Eddy gives the first line as
You may sing of the beauty of mountain and glen
Which, notably, does not rhyme.
According to hymnary.org, at least four tunes have been used for this hymn.
The text is unquestionably pre-1850, but I had to use the 1901 Earliest Date because all the earlier sources I found seem to be inaccurately dated or attributed. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: MWF3042B

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography