Bible Songs — Miscellaneous

O sometimes the shadows are deep

No. 1207
Tune THE ROCK THAT IS HIGHER.
Words E. Johnson.
Music W. G. Fischer.
Key A-flat major
Singing key A♭ major
Time 4/4
3 stanzas

Words

O sometimes the shadows are deep,And rough seems the path to the goal;And sorrows, how often they sweepLike tempests down over the soul!

Chorus.

O, then to the Rock let me fly, let me fly,—To the Rock that is higher than I;is higher than I;O, then to the Rock let me fly, let me fly,—To the Rock that is higher than I.

O sometimes how long seems the day,And sometimes how heavy my feet;But toiling in life's dusty way,The Rock's blessed shadow, how sweet!

O near to the Rock let me keep,Or blessings or sorrows prevail;Or climbing the mountain way steep,Or walking the shadowy vale.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: hymn number «1207» (large, left), title «THE ROCK THAT IS HIGHER.» centred (condensed capitals with larger initials); under it, centred in two lines, the epigraph «"From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the Rock that is higher than I."—Ps. 61: 2.»; «E. JOHNSON.» at the left and «W. G. FISCHER.» at the right (capitals and small capitals); no meter, no reference line and no running head are printed. The three stanzas are interlinear, «1.»–«3.» before the lines of system 1; the chorus, headed «CHORUS.», is printed once in systems 3–5 and is sung after every stanza. In system 4 a second, lower line «is high - er than I;» is printed under the chorus line: it is the echo of the alto, tenor and bass, who sing «is higher than I;» while the soprano holds «I;» (it starts under the last eighth of «than»); it is given below in its place, indented. «By permission.» is printed under the music, above the page number «425». The print sets a thin space before «;», «:» and «!» («goal ;», «overwhelmed ;», «61 : 2», «soul !», «sweet !»); it is closed up here. Apostrophes and quotation marks are written straight («life's», «Rock's»). Words divided under the notes are joined («sor-rows», «oft - en», «tem-pests», «o - ver», «toil - ing», «dust - y», «bless-ed», «shad-ow», «climb-ing», «mount-ain», «walk - ing», «shad - ow - y», «bless - ings», «pre-vail», «heav-y», «high - er» → «sorrows», «often», «tempests», «over», «toiling», «dusty», «blessed», «shadow», «climbing», «mountain», «walking», «shadowy», «blessings», «prevail», «heavy», «higher»); each stanza is set in its four verse lines (the print runs two verse lines on one staff line). Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's.