Few More Marchings Weary, A

DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "O'er time's rapid river, Soon we'll rest forever, No more marchings weary, when we gather home." Verses: In a short while "with Christ we'll wear a crown ... And then away to Canaan's land"
AUTHOR: Words: Frances Jane (Fanny) Crosby (Van Alstyne) (1820?-1915) / Music: William Howard Doane (1832-1915) (source: Townsend)
EARLIEST DATE: 1882 (according to Townsend)
KEYWORDS: ritual nonballad religious Jesus
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
ADDITIONAL: Ira D. Sankey, Sacred Songs and Solos Twelve Hundred Hymns (London: Collins, n.d.), #512, ("A few more marchings weary") (1 text)
Mrs A. M. Townsend, The Baptist Standard Hymnal with Responsive Readings (Nashville: Sunday School Publishing Board National Baptist Convention, 1924), #578 p. 497, "A Few More Marchings Weary" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Rosa and Joseph Murray, "A Few More Days" (on USSeaIsland03)
NOTES [659 words]: Alternate lines in the verses are "Then we'll gather home."
The description follows Townsend. The Murrays have this song as a hymn sung at a funeral service in the graveyard; they sing only one verse, not in Townsend's text: It's a few more days setting of the sun And then we'll soon gather home, A few more days rising of the sun And then we'll soon gather home. - BS
According to Julian, pp. 1203-1204, and Reynolds, p. 291, Fanny Crosby, born 1823 in New York (EncycAmericanGospelMusic, p. 91, says 1820), lost her sight when she was less than two months old when a doctor overheated her inflamed eyes; she attended a school for the blind, and then taught there (starting in 1847, according to EncycAmericanGospelMusic, p. 91). In 1858, she married a blind musician, Alexander van Alstyne (her spelling; EncycAmericanGospelMusic says he spelled in "van Alsyteine"). They had one child, which died young, and according to EncycAmericanGospelMusic lived separate lives after that. (Which probably explains why she preferred to be known as Crosby, not van Alstyne.)
Julian says she had her first poem published in 1831, and her first book of poetry in 1844. JA number of her verses were set to music by George F. Root (who also taught at her school at this time), although (as of this writing) the only one of these to be in the Index is "Rosalie the Prairie Flower," and that only because it was the basis for a widespread parody.
As early as 1851, George F. Root had asked her to write the libretto for his first cantata, "The Flower Queen" -- the story of a gathering of flowers to choose a queen (Root, p. 12) This followed a conversion experience, which EncycAmericanGospelMusic, p. 91, dates to 1850.
In 1864, she published her first hymn, "We are going, we are going." Her big hit is probably "Near the Cross" ("Jesus, keep me near the cross"); also "Blessed Assurance." Her most popular secular piece (at least based on the list of her works cited in Granger's Index to Poetry) is probably "There's Music in the Air." Another once-popular piece is "Safe in the Arms of Jesus," which she wrote at the request of William Howard Doane, who set both that song and this. William J. Kirkpatrick also set a number of her pieces, according to EncycAmericanGospelMusic, p. 92.
EncycAmericanGospelMusic, p. 92, says that she considered herself a social worker, not an author, and lived a life of poverty, giving away the money she did not need. She became something of a hack writer, at one time banging out three texts per week, and using, according to Reynolds, more than two hundred pseudonyms.
Root, p. 12, says that "After the Civil War she became nationally famous for her books of poetry and her hymns; she is reputed to have written about 6,000 hymn texts, including the well-known 'Safe in the Arms of Jesus.'" (Julian gives the smaller but still amazing estimate of 2000 poems.)
Julian comments of her output that, despite their wide circulation, "they are, with few exceptions, very weak and poor, their simplicity and earnestness being their redeeming features. Their popularity is largely due to the melodies to which they are wedded." Certainly I don't find much in her work that is inspiring. But the Baptist Hymnal includes a dozen of her texts. I don't know if that says more about her or about Baptists. Despite Julian's and my opinions, EncycAmericanGospelMusic, p. 92, says that, "With the possible exceptions of Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley, Crosby has generally been represented by the largest number of hymns of any writer during the twentieth century in nonliturgical hymals.
For composer William Howard Doane, see the notes to "Precious Name (Take the Name of Jesus With You)." Of his two thousand-odd hymn tunes, EncycAmericanGospelMusic, p. 103, more than a thousand were composed for Fanny Crosby alone. I can't help but think that no other composing team has had so many songs be completely and utterly forgotten.... - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 6.5
File: RcAFMMWe

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

The Ballad Index Copyright 2024 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.