Old Gospel Songs

I've written before, in a previous blog, about how I hear music almost constantly.  Lately, an old gospel tune has been running around in my brain. I have been trying to find a full set of the lyrics on the internet, but have had no success.

The tune is one of those that my Dad and Mom often sang as a duet.  When I was a kid, they were always singing together - whether they were working around the house, or driving in the car, or simply sitting on the front porch.  Of course they often sang as a duet in Church, too.  As I grew older, my memory tells me that the frequency of those duets began to decline.  I don't know why.

The decline was accompanied, however by the continually increasing  stress in my parents' lives.  I suspect that it's hard to express joy through song, when you're in the midst of sickness, pain, and financial hardship.  Some of my most precious memories, however, come from the days when I heard them sing.

Anyway, the old song I have rattling around in my head is one I know as "Home of the Soul"  I don't know if that's its real title, but that's how I know it.  I found only one vague reference to it on the internet, saying that it had been sung in the '50s and '60s by an obscure group called the Molehill Singers.  The person making the report quoted just enough of the actual lyrics to let me positively identify the song.  I can only remember two verses and the chorus, and here they are:

If, for the prize we have str-i-iven,
After our labors are o'er,
Rest to our souls will be gi-i-ven,
On the eternal shore...

(chorus)

Yes, a sweet rest is remaining,
For the true children of God,
Where there will be no complaining,
Never a chastening rod...

(chorus)

Now, there are two very different stanzas to the chorus, and they are sung in counterpoint rather than sequentially. It's one of the features that makes the song stand out in my memory:

Chorus (lead)

Ho-o-o-ome of the so-o-oul!
Blessed Ki-i-i-ingdom of li-i-i-ight!
Free-ee-ee--ee from all ca-a-a-are,
And where fa-a-a-alleth no ni-i-i-ight
O-o-o-oft in the sto-o-o-rm
We are lo-o-o-onging for thee!
Beautiful home of the ransomed beside the cry-stal sea!

Chorus (counterpoint)

Home of the soul! Beautiful home!
There we shall rest! Never to roam!
Free from all care! Happy and bright!
Jesus is there! He is the li-ight!
Oft in the storm, lonely are we!
Crying for home! Longing for thee!
Beautiful home of the ransomed beside the cry-stal sea!

That's all I can remember of it, and the written word can't do it justice.  You've just got to hear it sung properly in order to understand the impact that the song can have.

Anyway, if any of you knows more of the lyrics, or knows where I can find them, please let me know?

Mariner