No. 69 Tribulation, Moh 46
Hexatonic, mode 2 A (I II 3 IV V — 7)
Death, ’tis a melancholy day
To those that have no God,
When the poor soul is forc’d away
To seek her last abode.
In vain to heaven she lifts her eyes;
But guilt, a heavy chain,
Still drags her downward from the skies
To darkness, fire and pain.
Awake and mourn, ye heirs of hell,
Let stubborn sinners fear;
You must be driv’n from earth and dwell
Alone forever there.
See how the pit gapes wide for you,
And flashes in your face;
And thou, my soul, look downward too,
And sing recov’ring grace.
The text has been attributed to Watts. Recent hymnals have been purged of this doleful ditty and of all other songs which make hellfire too realistic. The tune was attributed to Chapin in some books and to Davisson in others. Davisson claims it in his Kentucky Harmony (1815). It is practically identical with ‘Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard’, Sharp, i., 182, a tune which Sharp heard in Greenwood, Albemarle County, Virginia, Davisson’s own territory and near where he is buried. An early variant which is practically identical with both the Sharp and the Davisson tunes is in Motherwell, Supplement, No. 30, associated with ‘The Bonnie Mermaid’ text. Found also, KYH 43, SOH 119, UH 37, KNH 38, OSH 29, HH 55.