The Wayfaring Stranger (song)

"The Wayfaring Stranger" (a.k.a. "Poor Wayfaring Stranger" or "I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger"), Roud 3339, is a well-known American folk and gospel song likely originating in the early 19th century about a plaintive soul on the journey through life. As with most folk songs, many variations of the lyrics exist.

Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.

I'm just a poor wayfaring stranger
Traveling through this world of woe
Yet there's no sickness, toil nor danger
In that fair land to which I go
I'm going there to see my MOTHER
I'm going there no more to roam
I am just going o'er Jordan
I am just going o'er home

I know dark clouds will gather o'er me
I know my way is rough and steep
But golden fields lie just before me
Where the redeemed shall ever sleep
I'm going home to see my mother
She said she'd meet me when I come
I'm only going over Jordan
I'm only going over home

I know dark clouds will gather 'round me
I know my way is rough and steep
Yet beauteous fields lie out before me
Where God's redeemed, their vigils keep
I'm going there to see my mother
She said she'd meet me when I come
I'm just a-going over Jordan
I'm just a-going over home
I'm just a poor wayfaring stranger
I'm just a-going over home

Roy Harris arranged it as the second of his American Ballads (1946).

Ernő Dohnányi used the tune (along with two other traditional American folktunes) in his final composition American Rhapsody (1953).

George Crumb used the song twice in his composition Unto The Hills — American Songbook III (2002). The 8-song cycle opens and closes with arrangements of the song for singer, percussion quartet and amplified piano.

American composer Joseph F. Harkins used the tune as the "old" theme in his Rhapsody on Themes Old and New (2015). The solo trombone serves as a vocalist "singing" the tune throughout the work.

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Wikipedia