I learned this song from Vince and Kathy DeFrancis in Denver in 1966. It can be found in SING OUT!, Vol. 7, No. 1, 1957. (ET) Pete Seeger helped to make this song fairly well-known in the folk-revival. He learned it from Doris Plenn, who had it from her North Carolina family. Mrs. Plenn now makes her home here in Sharon, Connecticut, where Folk-Legacy also lives. (SP) Ann Muir: lead Ed Trickett: tenor Gordon Bok: bass
My life flows on in endless song
Above earth's lamentation.
I hear the real, though far off hymn
That hails a new creation.
Above the tumult and the strife,
I hear its music ringing;
It sounds an echo in my soul.
How can I keep from singing?
What though the tempest loudly roars,
I hear the truth, it liveth.
What though the darkness round me close,
Songs in the nights it giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that rock I'm clinging.
Since love is lord of Heaven and earth,
How can I keep from singing?
When tyrants tremble, sick with fear,
And hear their death-knell ringing,
When friends rejoice both far and near,
How can I keep from singing?
In prison cell and dungeon vile
Our thoughts to them are winging.
When friends by shame are undefiled,
How can I keep from singing?
-- repeat first verse