No. 145 Remember Sinful Youth or Solemn Thought, Soh 29
Pentatonic, mode 2 (I — 3 IV V — 7)
Remember, sinful youth, you must die, you must die,
Remember, sinful youth, you must die;
Remember, sinful youth, who hate the way of truth
And in your pleasures boast, you must die, you must die;
And in your pleasures boast, you must die.
Uncertain are your days here below, here below,
Uncertain are your days here below,
Uncertain are your days, for God hath many ways
To bring you to your graves here below, here below,
To bring you to your graves here below.
The God that built the sky, great I AM, great I AM,
The God that built the sky, great I AM,
The God that built the sky, hath said, (and cannot lie),
Impenitents shall die, and be damn’d, and be damn’d,
Impenitents shall die, and be damn’d.
And, O my friends, don’t you, I entreat, I entreat,
And, O my friends, don’t you, I entreat,
And, O my friends, don’t you your carnal mirth pursue,
Your guilty souls undo, I entreat, I entreat,
Your guilty souls undo, I entreat.
Unto the Saviour flee, ’scape for life! ’scape for life!
Unto the Saviour flee, ’scape for life!
Unto the Saviour flee, lest death eternal be
Your final destiny, ’scape for life! ’scape for life!
Your final destiny, ’scape for life!
The mood of the poem indicates a considerable age for it. That the song as a whole was decidedly among the stock of orally transmitted ones is indicated by the many claimants to its authorship. Such claimants in the southern books are F. Price, William Caldwell, James Carrell and Ananias Davisson. Found also, UH 56, KNH 108, HH 225, SKH 66, CHH 361. The stanzaic form is that of ‘Captain Kidd’ in this collection. In his Christian Harmony, William Walker adds the note that “I learned it [the tune] from my dear mother (who now sings in heaven) when I was only three years old,—the first tune I ever learned.” That was in 1812. That the song was even older, however, is shown by its appearance in Ingalls’ Christian Harmony of 1805, p. 39.