X: 1
T: Simple Gifts
C: Joseph Bracken Jr. 1848
S: MS from Mary Hazzard of the New Lebanon (New Hampshire) Shaker community
Z: 2005 John Chambers <jc@trillian.mit.edu>
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
F:http://www.john-chambers.us/~jc/music/abc/song/Simple_Gifts_Song_C.abc
K: C
G2 G2 |c2 cd ec ef | g2 gg e2 dc | d2 d2 d2 d2 | de dB G2 G2 |
w:'Tis the gift to be sim-ple, 'tis the gift to be free, 'tis the gift to come down where we ought to be, and
cB cd e2 dd | e2 f2 g3 g | d2 de d2 cc | d2 cB c4 ||
w:when we find our-selves in the place just right, 'twill be in the val-ley of love and de-light.
g4 e3 d | ef ed c3 d | e2 ef g2 e2 | d2 de d3 G |
w:When true sim-pli-ci-ty is gain'd, to bow and to bend we shan't be a-sham'd, to
c4 c3 d | e2 ef g2 gg | d2 d2 e2 ed | c2 c2 c4 |]
w:turn, turn will be our de-light, till by turn-ing, turn-ing we come round right.
SIMPLE GIFTS. AKA – “Lord of the Dance.” AKA and see "Lord_of_the_Dance," "Shaker_Hymn," "'Tis a gift to be simple." American, Hymn Tune (also used as a contra march) (whole time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. A hymn under this title credited to Shaker Elder Joseph Brackett of Alfred (today Sabbathday Lake), Maine, in 1848, however, the tune itself has origins in Europe. In Scandanavia the ‘A’ part is a traditional schottish and in Sweden it's called “Johan paa Snippen.” There are also Finnish, Danish, Dutch and French variants. Brackett wanted a simple hymn with an easy to learn tune for religious worship that would extol the virtues of the simple life, and he claimed the tune came to him as a ‘divine inspiration’.
With new words written in 1963 and tune adapted by the English songwriter and poet Sydney Carter, "Lord of the Dance” became a popular modern religious song using the metaphor of dance for the ministry of Jesus.
Additional notes
Printed sources : - Miller & Perron (New England Fiddler’s Repertoire), 1983; No. 168 (appears as “Simple Gifts”).
Recorded sources : - Rounder 0078, "Early Shaker Spirituals."
