Will the Circle Be Unbroken
Source: Both versions of the song can be found in
"Rise Up Singing", edited by Peter Blood and Annie Patterson
(published by Sing Out).
Thanks to Meg Broome, Linda Gardner, and Jane Schuler
for posting the two versions of this song to the WAGGGS-L Mailing
List!
Traditional
- I was standing by my window on a cold & cloudy day
- When I saw the hearse come rolling for to carry my mother
away
Chorus:
- Will the circle be unbroken by & by, Lord, by &
by?
- There's a better home a-waiting in the sky, Lord, in
the sky
- Lord, I told that undertaker 'Undertaker, please drive
slow
- For this body you're a-hauling, Lord, I hate to see her
go'
-
I followed close behind her, tried to hold up & be brave
- But I could not hide my sorrow when they laid her in
the grave
-
Went back home, Lord, my home was lonesome, 'cause my mother,
she was gone
- All my brothers, sisters cryin', what a home, so sad
and lone
-
One by one the seats were emptied, one by one, they went
away
- Now that family, they are parted, Will they meet again
someday?
New Version
(by Cathy Winter, Betsy Rose & Marcia
Taylor)
Chorus:
- Will the circle be unbroken, by & by Lord by &
by
- There's a better way to live now, we can have it if we
try
- I was singing with my sisters, I was singing with my
friends
- And we all can sing together, 'cause the circle never
ends
-
I was born down in the valley where the sun refused to shine
- But I'm climbing up to the highland, gonna make that
mountain mine!