Hard Times Come Again No More

Here's a song for these hard times.

"Hard Times Come Again No More" was written by Stephen Foster in 1854.

Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears,
While we all sup sorrow with the poor;
There's a song that will linger forever in our ears;
Oh Hard times come again no more.

Chorus:

Tis the song, the sigh of the weary,
Hard Times, hard times, come again no more
Many days you have lingered around my cabin door;
Oh hard times come again no more.

While we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay,
There are frail forms fainting at the door;
Though their voices are silent, their pleading looks will say
Oh hard times come again no more.

(Chorus)

There's a pale drooping maiden who toils her life away,
With a worn heart whose better days are o'er:
Though her voice would be merry, 'tis sighing all the day,
Oh hard times come again no more.

(Chorus)

Tis a sigh that is wafted across the troubled wave,
Tis a wail that is heard upon the shore
Tis a dirge that is murmured around the lowly grave
Oh hard times come again no more.

(Chorus)

There are some notable recordings, some I have heard or have copies of.
• Jennifer Warnes • Mary Black • Kate McGarrigle and family • Bob Dylan • Emmylou Harris • Nanci Griffith • James Taylor (with Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Mark O'Connor) • Johnny Cash • Mavis Staples • Willie Nelson • Eastmountainsouth • Thomas Hampson • Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

There's numerous videos on youtube too. Here are my picks:

1.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YrfLnlrquo&feature=related
2. Bob Dylan at Willie Nelson's 60th in 1993.

This blog extends sympathies to all those affected by the Japan earthquake, the latest rainfloods in Brazil, and the other disasters around the world in recent times.
May your voices soon be merry.