Bible Songs — Temperance Songs

Water, Pure Water

Water, pure water, that sparkles so bright,

No. 1378
Tune WATER, PURE WATER.
Words F. E. Belden.
Music D. S. Hakes.
Key A major
Singing key G♭ major
Time 6/8 (stanza), 4/4 (chorus)
3 stanzas

Words

Water, pure water, that sparkles so bright,Beautiful, fresh and free!Falling from heaven like jewels of light,Falling for you and me;Fresh from the bountiful Giver of all,Nothing so pure can be (can be);This is the song of the showers that fallOver the lake and lea (over the lea):

Chorus.

Drink water, pure water,Drink water, pure water,Drink, drink, drink, drink,Drink, drink, drink, drink,Drink, drink, drink, drink, drink,Drink pure water.

Water, pure water, for young and for old,Poured by the hand divine;Give me pure water so healthful and cold,Fill up this cup of mine;Sweet is the breath of the blossoming spring,Kissed by the silver rain (silver rain);Gay is the song that the little birds singOver the hill and plain (over the plain):

Water, pure water, yes this is the song,This is the theme for you;This is the drink for the youthful and strong,Pure as the morning dew.This is the gift from our Father's own hand,In every land 't is found (it is found);This is the song of the temperance bandEchoed the world around (all around):

About this hymn

As printed As printed: hymn number «1378» (large, left), title «WATER, PURE WATER.» centred (condensed display face, capitals and small capitals, «Water, Pure Water.»); under it, on one line, the epigraph «"He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."—Matt. 5 :45» (old-style figures); on the next line «F. E. BELDEN.» at the left (words) and «D. S. HAKES.» at the right (music), capitals and small capitals. No meter, no tune name other than the title, no reference line. All three stanzas are interlinear, numbered «1.»–«3.», between the staves of systems 1–4 of PDF 587 (printed p. 586); each printed line of words carries two verse lines; they are given here one verse line per line. At the end of the lines of systems 3 and 4 an ECHO of the last words is printed in small condensed type and in parentheses — sung by tenor and bass while soprano and alto hold their note; it is given here inside the line, where the print has it, as whole words («(sil-ver rain)» → «(silver rain)», «(o-ver the lea)» → «(over the lea)», «(all a-round)» → «(all around)»; stanza 2's echo prints «over» unbroken). «CHORUS.» (bold capitals) stands over system 5; the chorus words are printed once, between the staves of system 5 and of the top system of PDF 588 (printed p. 587, under the running title «WATER, PURE WATER.—Concluded.»), set under whichever voice sings each word: the first «Drink» is the bass's alone (the other voices rest under a fermata); in «Drink, drink, drink,» + «drink,» (system 5, the last «drink,» on a second row) the word passes from soprano to tenor to alto to bass; on p. 587 the bass has its own row under the bass staff, given below the chorus. The comma after the third «drink» of p. 586 has only a thin tail in this scan (read as a comma). Stanza 3 sets «andstrong,» closed up (two words here) and «'t is» with a space, as printed. Under system 5, centred: «Copyrighted 1880, by J. E. White.», then the folio «586». The print sets a thin space before «!», «;» and «:» («free !», «vine ;», «Matt. 5 :45»); it is closed up here; quotes and apostrophes are written straight. Spelling and punctuation are the print's.