"Going Home" words by William Arms Fisher

Going home, going home. I am just going home.

Quiet like some still day. I'm just going home.

It's not far, just close by. Through an open door.

Work all done, cares laid by. Going to fear no more.

 

Mother's there expecting me. Father's waiting too.

Lots of folks gathered there. All the friends I knew.

 

Nothing’s lost, all is gain. No more fret, no more pain.

No more stumbling on the way. No more longing for the day.

Going to roam no more.

 

Morning star lights the way. Restless dreams all done. 

Shadows gone, break of day. Real life has begun. 

There's no break, there's no end. Just a living on. 

Wide awake, with a smile. Going on and on. 

Going home, going home. I'm just going home. 

It's not far, just near by. Through an open door.

I am going home.

Sung by Sissel Kyrkjebo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ_2Xbvb0rQ

William Arms Fisher was a pupil of famed composer Antonin Dvorak, studying under Dvorak in New York City. A native of Prague, in 1893, Dvorak composed his most famous symphony, the Symphony No. 9 in E Minor "From the New World". It was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and was an homage to the United States, which had just passed its 100th anniversary of being a country.

 

Contrary to popular belief, Dvorak did not base the symphony on any existing folk songs. Rather, he wrote original themes based on what he'd heard of Native American and African American music in the United States. The symphony was met with immediate success at its premier on December 16, 1893 at Carnegie Hall.

 

William Arms Fisher took up the challenge, starting by penning words to the Largo melody of the second movement of Dvorak's symphony. He also published a volume of called "Seventy Negro Spirituals" in 1926. Today, many people assume that the tune was always an African American spiritual that was adapted to the symphony, but in fact the opposite is true.