No. 97 Davisson’s Retirement, Knh 117
Pentatonic, mode 4 (I II — IV V — 7)
Jesus, and shall it ever be
A mortal man asham’d of thee,
Asham’d of thee whom angels praise,
Whose glories shine through endless days.
Ashamed of Jesus! sooner far
Let evening blush to own a star;
He sheds the beams of light divine
O’er this benighted soul of mine.
Ashamed of Jesus! just as soon
Let midnight be ashamed of noon:
’Tis midnight with my soul till he,
Bright morning star, bid darkness flee.
The poem is by Joseph Grigg (b. 1720). Ananias Davisson of the Valley of Virginia named and claimed the tune in his Kentucky Harmony (1815). Annabel Morris Buchanan has found a tune with the title ‘Retirement’ in a manuscript tune book which she judges to be from the eighteenth century. No text accompanies the tune, and no source is given. It follows:
A comparison of the two tunes indicates rather plainly that Davisson wrote the tune down from oral tradition, and that his noting was indicative of the manner in which it was actually sung.