[This paper was written for the Hymns and Christian Tradition class at Capital University, where I am seeking a minor degree in religion.]
NOTES
NOTES
Hymn: “The Unclouded Day”
Tune Analyzed: UNCLOUDED DAY
Author: Josiah Kelly Alwood (1880)
Composer: Josiah
Kelly Alwood (1880) (THE UNCLOUDED DAY) (THE UNCLOUDED DAY)
Topic(s):
Hope, heaven
LITERARY STRUCTURE
Meter: irregular
Poetic Feet: trochaic
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB/AABA
Poetic Devices and Figures
of Speech: metaphor
THOUGHT CONTENT
Scripture:
Genesis 2:9 (tree of life)
Revelation
21 (tears / death / city of gold)
Revelation
22 (tree of life)
Direction: Narrative
Summary by Stanza:
1.) Ambiguous
“they” tell the singer of a place that’s farther away than the skies where
there are no troubles.
2.) “They” tell the singer that this
place is where the tree of life is.
3.) “They” speak of a “King” (God) and
that the singer will be in awe of this “King.”
4.) The “King’s” smile will erase
sorrows and tears.
MUSICAL CHARACTARISTICS
Melodic Movement: The melody is very stoic, or in blocks after first. The chorus loosens up and flows more.
Tessitura: low
Range: D4 to E5
Meter: 4/4
Rhythm: Dotted eighth notes, sixteenth notes, quarter
notes, and dotted half note, ties. This
hymn has a gospel swing feel to it.
Harmony: The alto line follows the soprano line pretty closely,
only veering no further than m6. The
tenor line is very strict and grouped in blocks of the same note, with hardly
any flow. The bass line flows a little
bit more during the verses than the tenor line, going from G close to middle C
to G on the bottom of the staff. The
bass line in the chorus is very strict and blocky.
Suitability of text to tune: This sounds like stereotypical “country church” hymn with
a swing feeling to it. The text, which
talks about a place “beyond the skies,” is very down-home and has a “poor folk”
feeling.
USAGE
Appropriate Occasions for
Usage: time
of mourning or sadness, when needing uplifting; remembrance, reminiscing
Place in Worship Service: any,
Age Group: any
Methods of Presentation: choir, solo singer, a cappella with no set
rhythm,
TEXT
1.) O they tell me of a home far beyond the skies
O they tell me of a home far away
O they tell me of a home where no storm clouds
rise
O they tell me of an unclouded day
CHORUS.) O the land of the cloudless day
O the land of an unclouded sky;
O they tell me of a home where no storm
clouds rise
O they tell me of an unclouded day
2.) O they tell me of a home where my friends have gone
O they tell me of that land far away
Where the tree of life in eternal bloom
Sheds its fragrance thru/thro’/through the
unclouded day
3.) O they tell me of the King in His beauty there
And they tell me that mine eyes shall behold
Where He sits on the throne that is whiter
than snow
In the city that is made of gold. [1]
4.) O they tell me that He smiles on His children there
And His smile drives their sorrows all away
And the tell me that no tears ever come again
In that lovely land of unclouded day
ANALYSIS OF TEXT
The
Reverend Josiah Kelly Alwood (Jul.
15, 1828-Jan. 13, 1909) was a
carpenter who became an American pastor in the Northern Ohio Conference of the
Church of the United Brethren of Christ (“Rev. Olin Good Alwood”). Not much is known about his ancestors or
descendants, although his son, the Reverend Olin Good Alwood became an
accomplished composer himself. The
senior Alwood enrolled in Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio to further his
music education, nearly 25 years after being ordained a minister in 1859 ("J.K. Alwood Life and
Ministry.")
In
the February 26, 1896 edition of “The Christian Conservator,” Reverend Alwood explained
how he came to write his hymn, “The Unclouded Day.” He wrote,
“It
was a balmy night in August 1879, when returning from a debate in Spring Hill,
Ohio, to my home in Morene, Michigan, about 1 o’clock a.m. I saw a beautiful rainbow…against a dense
black nimbus cloud. The sky was
perfectly clear except this dark cloud…To awake and look abroad and remember
the night was to be filled with sweet melody.
A while at the organ brought forth a piece of music now known as “The
Unclouded Day.” A day and a half was bestowed on the melody and four stanzas.”
(“Alwood, J.K., DD”)
The
first stanza starts out like this: “O,
they tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise.” The hymn references a “they” several
times, but never explicitly state who “they” are, (or is). From careful analysis throughout the text, I
have come to three possible “theys.” The
first “they” could be the people in a generalized church when they express
their faith in Christ. The second “they”
could be people in scripture, where the roots of Alwood’s faith are
rooted. Finally, “they” could refer to
all Christians all over the world as they express their faith in Christ. The next word, “home,” means a dwelling
place. In this hymn, “home” means
“heaven” or “eternal life.” “Beyond the skies” is a phrase used to
describe the location of heaven. In
Sunday school when I was a child, I always had the belief that heaven was way
up in the sky. This hymn deals a lot
with clouds. This reference to clouds is
important because the United States government started keeping track of weather
patterns in the mid 19th century, just before “The Unclouded Day”
was written (The National Weather Service).
Alwood uses clouds to symbolize the covering of light or darkness, and
grey, dreary, and sad feelings. Alwood’s
text states that this place is “…where no
storm clouds rise.” He’s stating
that there is no sadness, darkness, or dreary feelings in heaven.
“O they tell me of a home where my friends have
gone,” is in the second verse. The
word “friends” is only directed toward a certain group of friends: the
Christian ones. Jesus said, as
referenced in John 14:16, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me.” Only those
who have faith in Christ will inherit eternal life with Christ. The “tree of life” referenced in this verse
refers to eternal life, and is the same tree of life referenced in Genesis
2:9. “In the middle of the
garden [of Eden was] the tree of life...” “Eternal bloom” refers to time. The tree of life will bloom for
eternity. The tree of life will also
spread its “fragrance [through] the
unclouded day,” meaning that it will be there in heaven.
The term “king” is very
important to me, as I mainly view Jesus as my King and Savior. A king is someone who has a higher authority
over others. The third verse states that
this King is, “…in his beauty
there.” This means the King is at
his highest rein. “And they tell me that mine eyes shall behold / where he sits on the
throne that is whiter than snow…” This
is one long phrase for this song. Most
of this hymn is chopped up into small bits and pieces, but a large portion of
the third verse is this one phrase. This
phrase basically states that when God, (the King), is sitting on his glorious
throne, I will be in awe of his majesty.
This verse also states that heaven is “made of gold.” Revelation 21 has two references to heaven as
being a “city of gold,” (verses 18 and 21).
The
fourth and final verse involves children.
“O they tell me that he smiles on
his children there…” The hymn states that God is proud of, (he smiles on), his children who
are with him in heaven. (We can infer
that God is not too proud of those not with him in heaven). Since God created the ability for man and
woman to create children together, we are all creations of God. God created our parents, and God created
us. God’s smile drives away the sorrows
of those in heaven, as stated in the next line, “And his smile drives their sorrows away / And they tell me that no
tears ever come again.” God will
wipe away the tears and sorrows. The
latter of the two lines comes directly from Revelation 21:4, “He will wipe every tear from
their eyes.” The former line is a rewording of the latter
line.
I think many hymns out
there sound a certain way because of where they are sung, and what
denominations mainly sing them. “The
Unclouded Day” is a very rare hymn, and very difficult to find. In fact, only five hymnals that I have direct
access includes it. Only one of my
personal hymnals, Heavenly Highway Hymns,
includes it. In 1971, the Johnny Cash
Show played at Royal Albert Hall in London, England. Someone in the audience smuggled in a tape
recorder, and recorded the entire show.
This tape has circulated throughout bootleg communities recently. On the tape, Johnny Cash does a feature that
he did during this short stint on his television show called “Ride This
Train.” In this segment, he described,
in song, the way his family and he sang while picking cotton in Arkansas, and
how they were happy and thankful with what little they had back during the
Great Depression. Anita Carter of the
Carter Family sang “The Unclouded Day.”
She only sang the chorus, and without accompaniment or a set rhythm, as
to mimic what Cash experienced when picking cotton. Cash then went into another folk hymn called,
“A Beautiful Day,” (also known as “No
Setting Sun,” and “Life’s Evening Sun Is Sinking Low”). I believe hymns like “A Beautiful Day” and
“The Unclouded Day” sound rural
because they are very simple and easy to sing.
They include lyrics and images that reflect everyday life for those in
poor rural areas who have to work all their life to live in a small, rundown, shotgun
shack, (a shotgun shack is a building with three rooms lined up, and where
there are no barriers between the front and back doors, thus someone can shoot
a gun in the front door, and not hit anything has the bullet travels out the
back door, hence the term “shotgun shack”).
TUNE
The
tune is an original one composed by Reverend Alwood to go along with the
text. Since there were only five hymnals
in my direct access that included this hymn, the tune analysis will be short. In four out of the five hymnals, the rhythm
follows a swing feel utilizing alternating dotted eighth notes and sixteenth
notes. The first line of each verse
starts on two D notes, builds up, peaks in the middle of the phrase, and comes
back down to end on a D. In the second
line, the melody leaps up from two D notes a perfect 4th interval to
G. After six G notes, it leaps up a
major 3rd to two B notes. The
third line is a repeat of the first line with a fermata at the end. The forth line starts on a fermata D, jumps
up to an E, and then comes back down to a G.
The chorus does the same as the forth line of the verse, repeats it
again minus the last three notes, (B, B, A), and then repeats the forth line of
the verse again.
In
Heavenly Highway Hymns and the All-American Church Hymnal, the editors
decided to put the text of the last line of the chorus under the bass staff of
the last line of the verse, (they decided to us a D.S. al Fine). I assume they did this to save space on the
page. The African American Heritage Hymnal, the Baptist Hymnal, and the United
Brethren Hymnal all completely write out the chorus, with no D.S. al
Fine.
The
African American Heritage Hymnal is
interesting because the arranger, Valarie A. Foster, decided to change the rhythm
slightly. Instead of alternating dotted
eighth and sixteen notes, they decided to use straight eighth notes. She also changed the melody slightly. Instead of staying on the G during the words,
“O they tell me of a home…” she
decided to raise the pitch on the word “home” to a B. The rhythm on the word “home” is also
syncopated, coming in on the “and of beat 2.”
The same rhythm is repeated in the second line. Also in the second line, the last three notes
are changed from B, B, D to D, D, D. In
the first line of the chorus on the words, “…cloudless day…” the melody is changed from G, B, G, to three G
notes. Overall, I find this hymn is very
easy to sing because of its strict pattern of pitches.
Figure 2: Hymnals Sourced
 |
| Click to enlarge. |
WORKS CITED
Alwood, J. K., DD. "A Rainbow At Midnight and A Song In
The Morning." Christian Conservator n.d.: n. pag. Huntington.edu.
Web. 19 Mar. 2013. <http://www.huntington.edu/uploadedFiles/UBHC/Publications/Conservator/18960226.pdf#p age=12>.
"Evolution of The National Weather Service (Timeline)-
Public Affairs Office- Public Affairs - NOAA's National
Weather Service." The National Weather Service. National Weather
Service, n.d. Web. 22 Mar.
2013.
"J.K. Alwood Life and Ministry." Rootsweb.
Learning Centers at Ancestry.com, n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2013. <http://freepages.family.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~alwoodtree/The_Alwood_Family_Tree/JK_life. html>.
"Search for Sheet Music." Online Sheet Music.
Onlinesheetmusic.com, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2013. <http://www.onlinesheetmusic.com/the-unclouded-day-p290252.aspx>.
Smith, Helen, and Theron Smith. "Rev Josiah Kelly
"J.K." Alwood." Find A Grave - Millions of Cemetery Records and Online Memorials.
N.p., 24 Nov. 2010. Web. 19 Mar. 2013. <http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr>.
Smith, Helen, and Theron Smith. "Rev Olin Good
Alwood." Find A Grave - Millions of Cemetery Records and Online Memorials. N.p., 23 Apr.
2010. Web. 19 Mar. 2013. <http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr>.
"The Unclouded Day." Hymnary.org. The Hymn
Society of the United States and Canada, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2013.
<http://www.hymnary.org/text/o_they_tell_me_of_a_home_far_beyond_the_>.
"The Unclouded Day." The Unclouded Day.
N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2013.
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