"Hard times come again no more" (Stephen Foster)

Stephen Foster wrote "Hard Times Come Again No More" in 1859, on the cusp of the Civil War.

(I have a wonderful recording of Thomas Hampson singing this, with Jay Mason and Molly Ungar)


I've been thinking about the song today, dismayed as I am by Mike Huckabee's strong showing in the Iowa Caucuses; and angered by the negative reaction on the part of my "white liberal friends" to Barack Obama's "win" in Iowa.

(One said that he was certain Mr. Obama will be assassinated; another said that he has to "pay his dues" (whatever that means) and she related that a white democratic friend of hers has said that Mr. Obama "scares her" [Because he is a big black man?])

Prime Minister Harold Wilson of Great Britain famously said that "a week is a long time in politics", and we shall see what happens in New Hampshire next week.

But whatever the outcomes, the U.S.A. is at the edge of a recession (if we are not already there), and hard times will come again. Especially for the poor.





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.

Comments

  1. As things stand, my vote is with Barack Obama. I've liked him since I heard him speak at the 2004 convention, and always find him to be intelligent and articulate. I agree with almost everything he says, and he seems more genuine (if that can be said of a politician!) than any of the others. I'd like to think we've come far enough for color not to be an issue, but perhaps my naivete gets the better of me.

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