No. 90 Mount Watson, Ol 272
Heptatonic dorian, mode 2 A + B (I II 3 IV V VI 7)
Death shall not destroy my comfort,
Christ shall guide me thro’ the gloom;
Down he’ll send some heav’nly convoy,
To escort my spirit home.
Chorus
O hallelujah! how I love my Savior,
O hallelujah! that I do;
O hallelujah! how I love my Savior!
Mourners, you may love him too.
Jordan’s stream shall not o’erflow me,
While my Savior’s by my side;
Canaan, Canaan lies before me!
Soon I’ll cross the swelling tide.
O hallelujah etc.
See the happy spirits waiting,
On the banks beyond the stream!
Sweet responses still repeating,
“Jesus! Jesus!” is their theme.
O hallelujah etc.
William Hauser, compiler of the Olive Leaf, informs us that “this tune [is] called after Rev. John H. Watson, whom, in my youth [in the 1820’s], I used to hear sing [it]”. It is a variant of the beautiful traditional secular ballad ‘The Poor Little Fisherman Girl’ or ‘Green Willow’.