Hard Times Come Again No More
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Hard Times Come Again No More" is an American folk song written by Stephen C. Foster as early as 1859. The song begins with "Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears while we all sup sorrow with the poor." The singer describes sad people suffering from poverty, and begs, "Hard times, come again no more." According to Robert B. Waltz, it is the most popular Foster song with folk revival singers and wasn't especially popular at the time it was written. Sigmund Spaeth regards it as an "adequate potboiler."[1]
Contents |
[edit] Lyrics
- Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears,
- While we all sup sorrow with the poor;
- There's a song that will linger forever in our ears;
- Oh Hard times come again no more.
- Tis the song, the sigh of the weary,
- Hard Times, hard times, come again no more
- Many days you have lingered around my cabin door;
- Oh hard times come again no more.
- While we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay,
- There are frail forms fainting at the door;
- Though their voices are silent, their pleading looks will say
- Oh hard times come again no more.
- There's a pale drooping maiden who toils her life away,
- With a worn heart whose better days are o'er:
- Though her voice would be merry, 'tis sighing all the day,
- Oh hard times come again no more.
- Tis a sigh that is wafted across the troubled wave,
- Tis a wail that is heard upon the shore
- Tis a dirge that is murmured around the lowly grave
- Oh hard times come again no more.
[edit] Recordings
- L. M. Hilton, "Hard Times Come Again No More (Mormon version)" (on Mormon Folk Songs, 1952)
- Bob Dylan, "Hard Times" (on Good as I Been to You, 1992)
- Emmylou Harris also sings 'Hard Times Come Again No More' on her 1992 At the Ryman album.
- James Taylor, Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Mark O'Connor, "Hard Times Come Again No More" (on Appalachian Journey, 2000)
- Johnny Cash, "Hard Times" (on Unearthed, Volume Three, 2003)
- Mirah with the Black Cat Orchestra, "Hard Times" (on To All We Stretch The Open Arm, 2004)
- Nanci Griffith, on "Other Voices, Too (A Trip Back to Bountiful)"
- Renée Fleming (Haunted Heart, 2005)
James Taylor and Eastmountainsouth also have recorded the song. Jennifer Warnes, "Hard Times Come Again No More" on her (Arista 4127) 1979 "Shot Through The Heart" album.
[edit] Songs with the same tune
- "Hard Crackers, Come Again No More" (cf. Spaeth[1])
[edit] Further reading
- "The Digital Tradition", HRDTIMES*
- Roud #2659
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- "Hard Times Come Again No More" lyrics and score at a Digital Tradition mirror site
- "Hard Times Come Again No More" at the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library
