How can I keep from singing

Ironically enough, given its title, an instrumental version of a 19th century hymn. I’ve been playing it a lot since I started playing serious slide guitar again. When I play it live, I sometimes go into ‘Twelve Gates to the City’, but more often I go into something far less spiritual. :) I should probably spend some more time on the recording – there’s more extraneous noise on this version than I like – but it’s going in the right direction.

Mastered:

Backup:

The hymn has its own Wikipedia page, including the first published lyrics and the verse added by Doris Plenn and sung by Pete Seeger. In fact, I first heard it on Seeger’s I Can See a New Day album, a compilation of live recordings released in 1964. The music is credited to Robert Lowrey, as published in his ‘Bright Jewels for the Sunday School’, published in 1869, but the source of the original lyrics is uncertain. The lyrics (apart from Plenn’s) included in the Wikipedia page are apparently as published in the New York Observer in 1868 under the title Always Rejoicing and attributed to ‘Pauline T.’

Earlier versions:

And another

David Harley

Let me lie easy (Harley)

Re-remaster:

Remaster backup:

Guitar, multitracked vocals, synth. All me…

I’ve actually written this song three times, though the tune has survived every iteration. The first version of the words disappeared during the break up with an ex-girlfriend in the mid-70s, the second with my first ex-wife. I have an ex-rated musical career.

Words & Music by David Harley: copyright 1975, all rights reserved.

I don’t want to hear that the show must go on
I know that the world keeps on turning
But how can you ask me to rise with the lark
With this pain in my heart still burning?

Let me lie easy, let me lie late
Let me lie low, let the world wait
Let me lie easy, let me lie lie late
Please let me sleep till it’s over

The sheep’s in the meadow, the cow’s in the corn
The dogs call in vain for their master
Just give me a while to untangle my threads
And Little Boy Blue will come after

The summer’s near gone and the year’s on the wane
The harvest stands ripened and wasting
Just give me an hour to unscramble my head
And I promise I’ll not keep you waiting

And, for completeness, this is a very early version I found fairly recently, but I probably won’t sing it this way again (if I ever did).

Let me lie easy, let me lie late
Let me lie low, let the world wait
Let me lie still just this once in my life
Please let me sleep till it’s over

The sheep’s in the meadow, the cow’s in the corn
The world’s upside down without warning
Just lend me the night to unscramble my head
And I’ll sort it all out in the morning

Crows in the stubble, a gull on the wing
A shout through the misty distance
Just lend me a moment to bind up my wrists
And appear to reward your persistence