Dry Bones / I Saw the Light from Heaven

[ Roud 17922 ; Ballad Index RcISTLFH ; Mudcat 50144 ; trad.]

Bascom Lamar Lunsford recorded Dry Bones on 6 February 1928 on Ashland, Kentucky for the B-side of his 1929 78 rpm 10" Shellac record Brunswick 314. He also sang it on Harry Smith’s 1952 Anthology of American Folk Music Volume Two: Social Music on the Folkways label. Roswell Rudd with Sonic Youth sang Dry Bones on producer Hal Willner’s 2006 tribute CD and DVD, The Harry Smith Project. The Folkways anthology’s booklet noted:

Bascom Lamar Lunsford (1882-1973), known as “The Minstrel of the Appalachians”, was a banjo player, fiddler, country lawyer, and an avid collector of Appalachian folk songs. He was from South Turkey Creek near Leicester, North Carolina, and travelled extensively around the area collecting and memorising songs from his neighbours. In 1928 Lunsford founded the Mountain Dance and Folk Sang Festival in Asheville. He was involved with it for the rest of his life.

Lunsford also composed a number of songs, including the well-known Old Mountain Dew. He had a great memory for songs and recorded frequently. In 1949, he recorded his “Memory Collection” for the Library of Congress. Before each song he enthusiastically told its history and the identity of the individual he collected it from. He recorded 350 songs for the library, Twice before he had recorded over 300 songs for other collectors. His first recordings were done an wax cylinders in 1922 and 1925. Lunsford lived to be 91, and he could be found at his festival every year until his death. He said he first heard Dry Bones from a travelling Black preacher named Romney, who came through his area.

Judy Cook sang Dry Bones on her 2000 album Far From the Lowlands. She noted on her website:

Lisa Neustadt is a wonderful singer of rousing gospel songs, she rarely gets down to this area anymore, but I am lucky enough to see her at some of the New England song gatherings. She sings Dry Bones often, and I found myself singing the chorus a lot in the car. I finally got the words to the verses from the singing of Bascomb Lamar Lunsford on the Folkways Harry Smith collection.—I hope you are all ready for a good chorus song!

This is Dry Bones, a wonderful gospel that I got from Lisa Neustadt and the singing of Bascom Lamar Lunsford (Minstrel of the Appalachians). Lunsford did lots of collecting and singing in the southern mountains. He learned Dry Bones from a travelling preacher and recorded it in 1928. It gives you, not only a great chorus opportunity, but five different Bible stories in very condensed format.

This video shows Judy and Dennis Cook singing Dry Bones at The Bridge Folk Club in Newcastle upon Tyne on 3 April 2023:

Lyrics

Bascom Lamar Lunsford sings Dry Bones

Old Enoch he lived to be three-hundred and sixty-five
When the Lord came and took him back to heaven alive.

Chorus:
I saw, I saw the light from heaven a-shinin’ all around
I saw the light come shining; I saw the light come down

O when Paul prayed in prison, them prison walls fell down.
The prison keeper shouted, “Redeeming love I’ve found!”

When Moses saw that-a burning bush, he walked it ’round and ’round,
And then the Lord said to Moses, “You’s treadin’ holy ground.”

Dry bones in that valley got up and took a little walk.
The deaf could hear and the dumb could talk.

Adam and Eve in the garden under that sycamore tree –
Eve said to Adam, “O Satan am a-temptin’ me.”

Judy Cook sings Dry Bones

Enoch lived to be three-hundred and sixty-five
And then the Lord came down and took him up to heaven alive.

Chorus:
I saw, I saw the light from heaven come shining all around.
I saw the light come shining; I saw the light come down.

Paul bound in prison, and those prison walls come down
And then the prison keeper shouted, “Redeeming Love I’ve found!”

When Moses saw the burning bush he walked it round and round.
And then the Lord said, “Moses, you’re treading on holy ground.”

Dry bones in the valley got up and took a little walk.
And then the deaf could hear, and the dumb in the valley could talk.

Adam and Eve in the garden underneath a sycamore tree –
And then Eve said, “Adam, Old Satan is a-tempting me.”