Going Home

lyrics by william arms fisher, music by antonin dvorak

Going Home Lyrics

 

Goin' home. Goin' home. I'm a-goin' home. 
Quiet-like some still day, I'm just goin' home. 
It's not far, just close by, through an open door. 
Work all done, cares laid by, goin' to roam no more; 
Mother's there 'xpecting me, father's waiting, too, 
Lots of folks gathered there, all the friends I knew. 

Morning star lights the way, restless dream all done. 
Shadows gone, break of day, real life just begun. 
There's no break, there's no end, just a-living on; 
Wide awake, with a smile, going on and on. 
Going home. Going home, I'm just going home. 
It's not far, just close by, through an open door.

 

 

Going Home Guitar Chords

 

A          E     A     E

Goin home, going home, I'm just going home,

A           E          A    E              A

Quiet-like, some still day, I'm just going home.

D             A          D              A    D

It's not far, just close by, through an open door,

D              A          D            A    D

Work all done, cares laid by, going to roam no more;

A              E         A   E

Mother's there 'xpecting me, Father's waiting too;

A             E        A      E

Lots of folks gathered there, all the friends I knew.


Scripture References

  • Hebrews 11:13-16 - All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country-a heavenly one.

The Story

 

William Arms Fisher was a pupil of famed composer Antonin Dvorak, studying under Dvorak in New York City. A native of Prague, in 1893, Dvorak composed his most famous symphony, the Symphony No. 9 in E Minor "From the New World". It was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and was an homage to the United States, which had just passed its 100th anniversary of being a country.

 

Contrary to popular belief, Dvorak did not base the symphony on any existing folk songs. Rather, he wrote original themes based on what he'd heard of Native American and African American music in the United States. The symphony was met with immediate success at its premier on December 16, 1893 at Carnegie Hall.

 

In a newspaper interview, for the New York Herald in 1893, Dvorak challenged American composers to look at their own country's rich heritage of native music to draw their inspiration from. His full quote: "in the Negro melodies of America I discover all that is needed for a great and noble school of music. They are pathétic, tender, passionate, melancholy, solemn, religious, bold, merry, gay or what you will. It is music that suits itself to any mood or purpose. There is nothing in the whole range of composition that cannot be supplied with themes from this source. The American musician understands these tunes and they move sentiment in him."

 

William Arms Fisher took up the challenge, starting by penning words to the Largo melody of the second movement of Dvorak's symphony. He also published a volume of called "Seventy Negro Spirituals" in 1926. Today, many people assume that the tune was always an African American spiritual that was adapted to the symphony, but in fact the opposite is true in this case.

 

The work has gained popularity, and has been played at state funerals from President Franklin Roosevelt's funeral to President Gerald Ford's.

 

 

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