10th December
I Wonder as I Wander
American Folk Carol
This lovely melody and some of the words appear to have been collected in 1933 in Appalachia, North Carolina by John Jacob Niles (1892 – 1980). He recounts:
A girl had stepped out to the edge of the little platform attached to the automobile. She began to sing. Her clothes were unbelievable (sic) dirty and ragged, and she, too, was unwashed.
Her ash-blond hair hung down in long skeins. … But, best of all, she was beautiful, and in her untutored way, she could sing. She smiled as she sang, smiled rather sadly, and sang only a single line of a song. (1)
Apparently Niles paid this young itinerant evangelist a quarter for every time she sang and she sang seven fragments (you could say that he bought the basis of the Carol!) To these fragments he added more music and lyrics to form the carol which is extremely popular in the US today.
There have been many subsequent versions of this including even by Benjamin Britten and Luciano Berio (which I have played). I have used the melody but set my own harmonies in this version for solo harp.
We especially think of our very good friends in North Carolina for this one!
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
Recorded on David Concert Harp
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Wonder_as_I_Wander
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jacob_Niles
https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/
Hymns_and_Carols/i_wonder_as_i_wander.htm