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Been a Long Time Traveling Here Below/288 White/Long Time Traveling Here Below
Traditional Shape-Note Gospel by William Walker 1835;
ARTIST: Grandpa Isom Ritchie's church congregation; 1967
SHEET MUSIC:
YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xYIsdYT30w
The Wailin' Jennys http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Voz1W-CLaw
CATEGORY: Traditional And Shape-Note Gospel;
DATE: Tune: Edmund Dumas, 1856 Words: Dobell’s New Selection, 1810
RECORDING INFO: Been a Long Time Traveling Here Below [Me III-D 31]
Rt - Long Time Travelling [Here Below] ; Ninety Fifth
Graham, Addie. Been a Long Time Traveling, June Appal JA 020, LP (1978), trk# 13
Lick Branch Community Church Congregation. I'm On My Journey Home; Vocal Styles & Resources in Folk Music, New World NW 223, LP (1978), trk# B.06 [1967ca]
Ritchie, Jean. Saturday Night and Sunday Too, Riverside RLP 12-620, LP (1956), trk# B.01
Frank Proffitt Folk-Legacy. Frank Proffitt - Memorial Album - C-36.
A Day with Grandpa Isom, an unnumbered LP produced by the Lick Branch Community Center (rereleased on New World Records)
OTHER NAMES: "Long Time Traveling Here Below" "Trav'ling Here Below"
SOURCES: New World Records Liner notes; Sacred Harp (288 White)
NOTES: "Been a Long Time Traveling Here Below" is from Grandpa Isom Ritchie's church congregation recording circa 1967 in Lick Branch (near Ary), Kentucky, for the Lick Branch Community Center (Originally issued on A Day with Grandpa Isom, an unnumbered LP produced by the Lick Branch Community Center, now on New World Records).
The folk hymn commonly titled "Long Time Traveling Here Below" is found in the 1991 Sacred Harp (Tune: Edmund Dumas, 1856 Words: Dobell’s New Selection, 1810) under the title "288 White"
Liner Notes: Singing by the entire church congregation has been the most visible form of larger-ensemble singing in rural music. Such singing is a unique form of participatory worship, and the surging mixture of different voice textures and styles has influenced formal composers as diverse as Charles Ives, Henry Cowell, and Virgil Thomson. Congregational singing, however, is done less and less in Protestant churches today; as churches grow and prosper, choirs, song directors, and 'special numbers' (some with taped background music) are eclipsing such singing, except in the smaller backwoods churches.
Grandpa Isom Ritchie was not known in his community as a preacher but rather as a good storyteller, song leader, and singer of old ballads as well as sacred songs. Here he is heard 'lining out' a hymn to his fellow worshippers. In lining out the leader sings or chants each line of the song before the congregation sings it.
The practice dates from when poor backwoods churches lacked songbooks and the preacher or song leader was expected to remind the singers of each line of the song. There are some obvious changes of meter and accent between Grandpa Isom's lining and the congregation's response, and in one case (the end of stanza 1) the congregation does not sing the same phrase Grandpa Isom lines out. The congregation is loosely coordinated (in contrast to the selections by the Southland Ladies Quartette [Track 17] and the Stamps-Baxter School of Music [Track 20]), and the members generally sing in unison; the style is tense andmelismatic.
Ritchie was related to the famous Jean Ritchie family of eastern Kentucky and lived near Hazard (Perry County) in the mountains of that part of the state. (More examples of hymn lining and congregational singing, recorded in the same area, can be found on New World Records 80294-2, The Gospel Ship). Grandpa Ritchie died soon after making this recording.
A variant of the first stanza of "Been a Long Time Traveling Here Below" can be heard in "I'm a Long Time Traveling Away from Home" on New World Records NW 245, Oh My Little Darling. The second stanza of the present hymn is Isaac Watts's "Ninety-Fifth" and can be found in The Social Harp (1855), a classic collection of Sacred Harp songs.
Sacred Harp: 288 White: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xYIsdYT30w
Tune: Edmund Dumas, 1856; Words: Dobell’s New Selection, 1810
Meter: Common Meter (8,6,8,6)
Ye fleeting charms of earth farewell,
Your springs of joy are dry;
My soul seeks another home.
A brighter world on high.
Chorus: I’m a long time trav’ling here below,
I’m a long time trav’ling away from home,
I’m a long time trav’ling here below,
To lay this body down.
Farewell, my friends, whose tender care
Has long engaged my love;
Your fond embrace I now exchange
For better friends above.
(Chorus)
Jean Ritchie: The Old Regular Baptists in the Little Zion Church, (or, "Mom's Church," as our family called it) Jeff, Kentucky, two miles down the road from Viper, have always sung this song; we were raised on it. The words to all the Old Regulars' hymns are in their books,- THE SWEET SONGSTER, and THE THOMAS HYMNNAL were the main ones.But the tunes only existed in folks' heads, and often were interchangeable according to the meter given at the top of the page- e.g. "Long meter," "Common meter," "6s and 8s," etc. Only the songleader had a book, and he picked the tune and sang the first verse alone (sometimes whilst the preacher was still going strong, as a way of calming him down and getting him to think of stopping). Then, he "lined out" the second line, and folks joined in and continued to the end of song.
"Been a long time traveling" was just a four-line chorus that could be added to any song wherein the meter would work. As for the melody, though, that is almost impossible to write down, as everyone is allowed to decorate the song any way he/she feels like. Mom called that, "relishing the notes, and savoring the tune," meaning one should hold onto a note for awhile, getting the best out of it before letting go. Dad talked about, "shiverin up, and shakin down," on the notes, especially at the ends of lines. So you can see how hard it would be to write that down, by today's music rules! You just have to hear it sung... Frank Proffit played it on the guitar, I seem to remember, and so it came out the basic tune, with a definite beat- all the decorations left out. Great, the way he did it, but a different song.
An approximation of the "Old Regular" way of singing is on a few tracks of the Juneappal album, "Sweet Rivers." I have been trying to get them to make a CD of it, but they're afraid it won't make back the cost of doing so."
Long Time Traveling Notes- Mudcat
In the Sacred Harp the melody is in the tenor line. In the Sacred Harp it's known as White from the album Rivers of Delight. In the past few years many of us who sing Sacred Harp have been branching out into some of the other old tune books, early gospel and the type of singing that Jean describes. Many of the families that have kept the Sacred Harp tradition alive come from the Primitive Baptist churches that sing from word only books.
The Sacred Harp Resource Guide has a called Lined-Out Hymnody and Psalmody that gives information about a number of similar recordings. The source for the words in Sacred Harp is listed as: Dobell's New Selection, 1810. Which must be this words only book: Dobell, John. A new selection of 700 evangelical hymns for private, family, and public worship ... intended as a supplement to Dr. Watt's Psalms and hymns. Morristown, Peter A. Johnson, 1810. By the 1825 edition it was 800 hymns.
LONG TIME TRAVELIN'- from Mudcat
Chorus:
I'm a long time travelin' here below,
I'm a long time travelin' away from my home.
I'm a long time travelin' here below,
Gonna lay this ole' body down.
1. Ye fleeting charms of earth farewell
Your springs of joy are dry
My soul now seeks another home
A brighter world on high
2. When I can read my titles clear
To my mansions in the sky
I'll bid farewell to every fear
And I'll wipe my weepin' eye.
3. Farewell my friends whose tender care
has long engaged my love
Your fond embrace I now exchange
For better friends above.
Long Time Traveller (Traditional) The Wailin' Jennys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Voz1W-CLaw
Ye fleeting charms of earth
Farewell, your springs of joy are dry
My soul now seeks another home
A brighter world on high
I'm a long time travelling here below
I'm a long time travelling away from home
I'm a long time travelling here below
To lay this body down
Farewell kind friends whose tender care
Has long engaged my love
Your fond embrace I now exchange
For better friends above
I'm a long time travelling here below
I'm a long time travelling away from home
I'm a long time travelling here below
To lay this body down
LONG TIME TRAVELIN'- Traditional
Fran taught us this song, and he doesn't remember where he learned it. The words are the same as Anne Hills' version, but Valerie changed the last line, which originally talked about exchanging our earthly friends for "better" friends above. They couldn't be better above, so she changed it to "other."
CHORUS:
I'm a long time travelin' here below,
I'm a long time travelin' away from my home.
I'm a long time travelin' here below,
Gonna lay this ole' body down.
Ye fleeting charms of earth farewell
Your springs of joy are dry
My soul now seeks another home
A brighter world on high
REPEAT CHORUS
When I can read my titles clear
To my mansions in the sky
I'll bid farewell to every fear
And I'll wipe my weepin' eye.
REPEAT CHORUS
Farewell my friends whose tender care
Has long engaged my love
Your fond embrace I now exchange
For other friends above.
REPEAT CHORUS
BEEN A LONG TIME TRAVELING HERE BELOW- Grandpa Isom Ritchie's church congregation 1969
Been a long time traveling here below,
Been a long time traveling here below,
Been a long time traveling away from home,
(To lay my armory [armor] down)
To lay my body down.
When I can read my title clear
To mansions in the skies,
I'll bid farewell to every fear
And wipe my weeping eyes.
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