Vital Sparks: “O Come, Come Away” is gone away

Vital Sparks: “O Come, Come Away” is gone away

One of the hallmarks of The Sacred Harp is that it does not shy away from many unpleasantries in life. Death, of course, is a major theme, and so is sin, temptation, and failure. Since 1850, The Sacred Harp has acknowledged the reality that alcohol is often a ravaging influence on individuals and their families. It has included the temperance song, 334 O COME AWAY:

O come, come away,
From labor now reposing,
Our jubilee has set us free—
O come, come away!
Come, hail the day that celebrates
The ransom of th’inebriates
From all that does intoxicate,
O come, come away!

We welcome you here!
With heart and hand wide open,
Ye gallant sons of temperance—
We welcome you here!
Heav’n’s blessings on your plans, we pray!
Ye come our sinking friends to save,
And rescue from a drunkard’s grave;
We welcome you here! 

We welcome you here!
Ye who with taste perverted
Have seized the cup, and drank it up—
We welcome you here!
Come, join us in our holy aim,
The poor besotted to reclaim,
The broken heart to cheer again;
O come, sign the pledge!

This language is old fashioned: we don’t call people “inebriates” or “drunkards” or “besotted” any more or consider any taste “perverted” except for some sexual tastes. These are funny words to our modern, sophisticated ears, as is, perhaps, the whole temperance movement of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The first printings of this poem in The Sacred Harp included two more verses [1]:

We welcome you here!
Ye who your vows have broken,
Falling before the tempter's power,—
We welcome you here!
Ye who have sold yourselves for naught,
Take back the priceless boon you bought,
O take a sober, second thought,
And try, try again!

We welcome you here!
Ye maids and matrons lovely,
Whose charms, we yield, must win the field,—
We welcome you here!
Ye who have hearts to feel for wo,
Wide as the streams of sorrow flow.
O frown on the deadly foe,
But smile on the sons!

These additional words were fit “in the corner” of the song, but they highlight that alcohol was seen primarily as a male problem, but which affected both them as well as the “maids and matrons lovely” and their woeful hearts.

And so, this song has been mostly sung in jest, especially for those who have the secret knowledge that the tune to which we sing these words come from a German drinking song, Krambambuli. Those of us who are either alcoholics or have friends or family members who are alcoholics sometimes wince at the jesting as much as at the antiquated language. So, I guess I am glad that the song is being left out of the 2025 edition of The Sacred Harp.

This column doesn’t describe tunes much; we mostly focus on texts. But I find it interesting that Krambambuli was probably not the direct source of this temperance song. That is, I don’t think it was a conscious decision to convert this song from a drinking song to an anti-drinking song. The 1850 edition of The Sacred Harp got this tune, according to Makers of The Sacred Harp from The Hesperian Harp of 1848. But the thing is, The Hesperian Harp uses different words:

O come, come away!
The Sabbath morn is passing;
Let’s hasten to the Sabbath school;
O come, come away!
The Sabbath bells are rising clear,
The joyous peals salute my ear,
I love their voice to hear;
O come, come away!

This is a Sabbath song, not an anti-drinking song. So, where did the text come from? We will see there are many versions, and the story is interesting, I think.

The original text has nothing to do with temperance, or Sabbath school. It was published in 1842 (so, just eight years before its publication in The Sacred Harp). The author was William E. Hickson, a British writer who wrote mainly educational works, including instruction in singing. He was most famous for his book The Singing Master, but in his book Part Singing he published a song “Come, come away.” The book received a very favorable review in The Westminster Review. This is not surprising, because Hickson owned The Westminster Review. In the Review, the sheet music for “Come, come away is printed,” and the tune is described as “a German air.” In fact, the reviewer specifically cites Krambambuli:

In “Come, come away,” some of our readers will recognize the celebrated air of 'Crambambuli,' sung by all German students; the new words, however, relate not, as in the original, to an intoxicating liquor, but to a social reunion.

Part Singing was written to encourage people of all types of people to sing in informal social situations on the model of what was happening in Germany:

All the world has heard of the Bürschen choral songs of the German universities, but what most interests us in that land of music are the musical family reunions which the tourist sometimes meets with, where father and son, brother and sister, friend and neighbour, pass a long winter's evening cheerfully together, with no other resource, and wanting no better, than conversation and singing in parts.

And the original words are such a call to the “social joys” of gathering in good cheer and singing:

Oh, come, come away,
From labor now reposing,
Let busy care a while forbear,
Oh, come, come away.
Come, come our social joys renew,
And there, where Trust and Friendship grew,
Let true hearts welcome you,
Oh, come, come away.

From toil, and the cares
On which the day is closing,
The hour of eve brings sweet reprieve,
Oh, come, come away:
Oh, come where love will smile on thee,
And round its hearth will gladness be,
And time fly merrily;
Oh, come, come away.

While sweet Philomel
The weary traveller cheering
With evening songs her note prolongs,
Oh, come, come away.
In answering songs of sympathy
We'll sing in tuneful harmony
Of Hope, Joy, Liberty.
Oh, come, come away.

The bright day is gone,
The moon and stars appearing,
With silver light illume the night,
Oh, come, come away.
Come, join your prayers with ours, address
Kind heaven our peaceful home to bless
With Health, Hope, Happiness,
Oh, come,  come, away.

This poem shares with the 1850 Sacred Harp poem its rhythmic structure, the repeated “come, come away” structure, and its first two lines. At a kind of deep level, it’s a call to join a social band, with the Sacred Harp calling alcoholics to a band of temperance. Hickson’s poem is very general, though. Of course, they also share the catchy Krambambuli tune.

This tune and this poem proved popular, and the text was adapted into all kinds of service. Hickson’s poem was often published unchanged, as well. I think the tune quickly lost its association with its use as a German drinking song (until, as Armin Hadamer points out, English translations of the original German versions came about in the 1870s [2]. Makers of The Sacred Harp attributes the anti-drinking text to Stowe’s Melodies for the Temperance Band of 1856. But this cannot be the case, since the version in The Sacred Harp appears earlier, in 1850. But the text in Melodies is interesting [3], In the text below, I have bolded text that the Melodies text shares with The Sacred Harp, and italicized text that it shares with Part Singing.

Oh, come, come away,
From labor now reposing,
Let busy care awhile forbear,
Oh, come, come away.
Come, come our social joys renew,
And here, where trust and friendship grow,
Let true hearts welcome you,
Oh, come, come away.

From toil and cares
On which the day is closing,
The hour of eve brings sweet repose,
Oh, come come away.
Oh, come where love will smile on thee,
And round the hearth will gladness be,
And time fly merrily,
Oh, come, come away.

The bright day is gone,
The moon and stars appearing,
With silver light, illume the night,
Oh, come, come away.
We’ll join the grateful songs of praise,
To him who crowns our peaceful days,
And health, and hope, and peace convey,
Oh, come, come away.

Come sign the pledge,
The sight is truly cheering,
We’ll raise our song, its notes prolong,
Oh come sign the pledge.
We sing the praise of Temperance,
We’re pledged to Total Abstinence
From all that can intoxicate,
Oh come sign the pledge.

The first two lines are shared in all three texts (and, these lines are often retained in other versions, too). But it is interesting that the last two lines are shared between The Sacred Harp and Melodies. There must be an earlier version; Robert Vaughn has discovered an 1847 text which is identical to the Melodies text, and this is a possible source for The Sacred Harp’s last two lines [4]. It’s possible that the differences in The Sacred Harp are original to it, but it seems also likely there is another source out there we haven’t come across. As an exercise, try writing a version of “O come, come away” on almost any topic; I think you’ll find it an easy enough task.

Certainly, as noted, the structure of Hickson’s text and the tune was put to lots of uses: For example, it was used for James G. Blaine’s run for president in 1884:

Away to the polls
Ye sons of free Columbia,
Com join the song that rolls along,
‘Tis Blaine—he’s the man!
He’s earnest and he’s able, too,
He’s able, honest, tried and true,
His color’s the “red, white, and blue,”
Yes, Blaine—he’s the man!

Around 1847, the Adventists used it to sing of the second coming of Jesus [5]:

O, come, come away!
For time's career is closing;
Let worldly care henceforth forbear;
O, come, come away!
Come, come! our holy joys renew,
Where love and heavenly friendship grew;
The Spirit welcomes you!
O, come, come away.

The Latter-day Saints, around 1841, had a song with a similar, but not identical structure and tune [6]:

The time is far spent--there is little remaining
To publish glad tidings by sea and by land;
Then hasten, ye heralds! go forward proclaiming–
Repent for the kingdom of heaven's at hand.

And in 1852, Joshua Simpson, a free-born Black man, used this tune for an anti-slavery song. It’s really quite an interesting one: it’s presented as a dialog between Queen Victoria and American enslaved Blacks, who encourages them to relocate to Canada, where they will receive the protection of the British government and a free life [7] [8].

O Come! Come away,
My sable sons & daughters,
Why linger there
In the dark despair?
O come! O come away!
On Eria’s northern banks I stand,
With open arms, and stretched out hands;
From tyrant Columbia’s land
O come! Come away!

Like the tune to 162 PLENARY, this is a tune that has been put to lots of service: political campaigns, temperance campaigns, anti-slavery campaigns, religious and social campaigns. In the 19th century, you could use this tune to express serious and heart-felt sentiments. In the 21st, this is not quite as true: we are a bit too familiar with it as a drinking song, perhaps.

Footnotes and References

[1] 1860 Sacred Harp

[2] Hadamer, Armin. O Come, Come Away: Temperance, shape notes, and patriotism. Lied und populäre Kultur / Song and Popular Culture, 2000, 45. Jahrg. (2000),

pp. 109-120.

[3] Stowe, Phineas. Melodies for the Temperance Band: A Collection of Hymns and Songs, Designed for Temperance Meetings, Social Gatherings, &c., Nathaniel Noyes, Temperance Depository. 1856

[4] Vaughn, Robert. Songs Before Unknown: a Companion to The Sacred Harp, Revised Cooper Edition, 2012, 2015. Hollow Square Books.

[5] Addition to the Supplement to the Millennial Harp, Boston, circa 1846. Karen Willard brought this to my attention.

[6] Smith, Emma, A collection of sacred hymns, for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Nauvoo, Illinois, 1841. https://archive.org/details/collectionofsacr01smit/page/138 Wade Kotter brought this to my attention.

[7] “Queen Victoria conversing with her slave children”. The complete text can be found at https://cuny.manifoldapp.org/read/original-anti-slavery-songs/section/52937b97-ca6d-417e-8d21-15f96e6a2e5e
[8] More information about Johua Simpson can be found in the article, “The musical expression of anti-slavery sentiment in Ohio,” by Carol Bishop Myers in The Sonneck Society for American Music Bulletin, Vol. XVIII, No 1, Spring 1992.