Annotation:Jordan is a Hard Road to Travel
X:1 T:Jordan is a Hard Road M:C L:1/8 R:Contra Dance Tune B:Elias Howe – Musician’s Omnibus No. 1 (1862, p. 47) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G d2|g>gg>g f2d2|g>gg>g fd|g>fg>f g>ba>g|fd z4d2| (g>f)g>e g2d2|(e>d)e>c d2B2|c>Bc>c A2 d>c BG z4 D2|| G>FG>A B>cd>B|c>Bc>e> d3B|G>FG>A B>cd>B|cA z4d2| G>FA>A B>cd>B| c>Bc>e g3g|f>dd>d d2 d>e|d>BA>B G2:|]
JORDAN IS (AM) A HARD ROAD TO TRAVEL. AKA and see "Kingdom Coming," "T'Other Side of Jordan," "Other Side of Jordan." American, March, Reel and Polka. USA, Va. G Major (Christeson, Ford, Silberberg): C Major (Miller & Perron). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Silberberg): AABB (Christeson, Ford, Miller & Perron). The title is from the words of minstrel Dan Emmett's [1] song. Bayard (1981) prints two tunes ("It Thundered In the East" and an untitled hornpipe; Nos. 88 & 89, p. 54) that strongly resemble this song. He thinks they all may have been descended from some older traditional tune. The parts are reversed from each other in Ira Ford's (Traditional Music in America) and A.F. Hopkins (American Veteran Fifer) versions. Its inclusion in American Veteran Fifer (as it was used as a march) is somewhat ironic as composer Dan Emmett was also a Union Army fifer, and co-wrote one of the core Civil War musicians' tutors (Bruce & Emmett's Tutor). Emmett composed this piece for the minstrel stage, but did not include it as one of his marches in his own fife tutor. See also "Jawbone" in Krassen, 1973.
Emmett's song was parodied by the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger, John Reuben Thompson, in 1863, in a version titled "Richmond is a Hard Road to Travel," referencing the Confederate capitol of Richmond, Virginia.
Would you like to hear my song? I'm afraid it's rather long
Of the famous "On to Richmond" double trouble,
Of the half-a-dozen trips and half-a-dozen slips And the very latest bursting of the bubble.
'Tis pretty hard to sing and like a round, round rings 'Tis a dreadful knotty puzzle to unravel;
Though all the papers swore, when we touched Virginia's shore
That Richmond was a hard road to travel.
Then pull off your coat and roll up your sleeve,
Richmond is a hard road to travel
Then pull off your coat and roll up your sleeve
Richmond is a hard road to travel, I believe.
