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Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Public Domain hymn; Words by Robert Robinson, 1758; Tune Traditional
ARTIST: from Christian Harmony Singers in 1928
SHEET MUSIC:
CATEGORY: Traditional and Public Domain Gospel
DATE: 1758
RECORDING INFO: Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing [Me III-D 29] - Robinson, Robert (Rev.)/Traditional
Rt - I Will Arise
At - Olney
Sm - Nettleton ; Hyfrydol
Mf - John Henry [the Steel Driving Man]
Chapple, Joseph Mitchell / Heart Songs, Chappell, Bk (1909), p506
Johnson, Charles (ed) / One Hundred & One Famous Hymns, Hallberg, Bk (1982), p 67
Diller, Dwight. Harvest. W. VA. Mountain Music, Yew Pine Mtn YP IX3, CD (1997), trk# 19 [1992]
Riddle, Almeda. How Firm a Foundation & Other Traditional Hymns, Arkansas Traditions 003, LP (1985), trk# A.01 [1982ca]
Rogers, Sally. Dulcimer Players News, DPN, Ser, 17/4, p 9(1991)
Rogers, Sally; and Claudia Schmidt. Closing the Distance, Flying Fish FF 425, LP (1987), trk# a.04a
Ross County Farmers. Farmer's Frolic, Marimac 9013, Cas (1987), trk# 8 [1986/10/11] (Come Thy Fount)
Simmons Family. Stone County Dulcimer, Dancing Doll DLP 112, LP (197?), trk# 1.08 (Come Thy Fount)
Simmons Family. Simmons, Tommy (ed.) / Simmons Family, Simmons, Sof (1974), p17 (Come Thy Fount)
OTHER NAMES: "Come Thy Fount"
RELATED TO: "Ten Thousand Charms"
SOURCES: Folk Index; Meade
NOTES: "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" is a public domain hymn with words by Robert Robinson in 1758 and the music is Nettleton, Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second, by John Wyeth, 1813. Meade lists the tune as the Welsh traditional tune "Hyfrydol" Fredrick Chopin music- 1835. Early recording include Dye's Sacred Harp Singers in 1928 (titled "Olney") and Christian Harmony Singers in 1928.
From Hymn Stories 1906: This hymn of Rev. Robert Robinson was almost always heard in the tune of “Nettleton,” composed by John Wyeth, about 1812. The more 330/ 284 wavy melody of “Sicily” (or “Sicilian Hymn”) sometimes carried the verses, but never with the same sympathetic unction. The sing-song movement and accent of old “Nettleton” made it the country favorite.
Robert Robinson, born in Norfolk, Eng., Sept. 27, 1735, was a poor boy, left fatherless at eight years of age, and apprenticed to a barber, but was converted by the preaching of Whitefield and studied till he obtained a good education, and was ordained to the Methodist ministry. He is supposed to have written his well-known hymn in 1758. A certain unsteadiness of mind, however, caused him to revise his religious beliefs too often for his spiritual health or enjoyment, and after preaching as a Methodist, a Baptist, and an Independent, he finally became a Socinian. On a stage-coach journey, when a lady fellow-passenger began singing “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” to relieve the monotony of the ride, he said to her, “Madam, I am the unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago; and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, if I could feel as I felt then.”
Robinson died June 9, 1790.
John Wyeth was born in Cambridge, Mass., 1792, and died at Harrisburg, Pa., 1858. He was a musician and publisher, and issued a Music Book, Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music.
The melody of this hymn has been used for the ballad John Henry. A bluegrass type version has been recorded by Martha Scanlan titled "Ten Thousand Charms" that combines both the "Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing" and "Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy" songs.
TEN THOUSAND CHARMS- Martha Scanlan (First stanza from "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing," second from "Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy")
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Sing me some melodious sonnet (song?),
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
Songs of Thy redeeming love.
I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior,
O there are ten thousand charms.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Traveling far from the throne of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior,
O there are ten thousand charms.
COME, THOU FOUNT OF EVERY BLESSING- John Wyeth (1770-1858) Words: Robert Robinson, 1758; appeared in his A Collection of Hymns Used by the Church of Christ in Angel Alley, Bishopgate, 1759. Music: Nettleton, Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second, by John Wyeth, 1813.
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.
Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.
O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.
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