| "I Wonder as I Wander" |
| Words and Music by John Jacob Niles |
| John Jacob Niles, the singer and collector of folk songs, said that he based his "I Wonder As I Wander" on a line or two of haunting music that he heard sung by a young girl in a small North Carolina town. He asked her to sing the few notes over and over, paying her for a few pennies each time, until he had jotted it all down in his notebook. So close was the finished song to its Appalachian inspiration that Niles is often cited as arranger of the tune rather than its creator. The melody's minor key, minor intervals and unfinshed cadences, as well as the poem's questioning pensivenss, make this one of the most plaintive of carols. ( text copied from....The Reader's Digest Merry Christmas Songbook) |
| I Wonder as I Wander I wonder as I wander out under the sky How Jesus the Savior did come for to die. For poor on'ry people like you and like I I wonder as I wander out under the sky When Mary birthed Jesus, 'twas in a cow's stall, With wise men and farmers and shepherds and all. But high from God's heaven a star's light did fall, And the promise of ages it then did recall If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing, A star in the sky or a bird on the wing. Or all of God's angels in heav'n for to sing, He surely could have it, 'cause He was the King. I wonder as I wander out under the sky How Jesus the Savior did come for to die. For poor on'ry people like you and like I I wonder as I wander out under the sky |
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