Hold Fast To The Right: A Song History

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The words "Hold fast to the right" open the refrain of "The Mother's Goodbye," a hymn text in which a mother gives parting counsel to a son leaving home to look for work.[1] The Cyber Hymnal credits the text to Fanny Crosby, dates it to 1878, and sets it to a tune by William H. Doane.[1] Early printings differ on authorship, however: Golden Songs of Glory (1906) gives the words as "Anon." with a tune by James D. Vaughan, while Favorite Solos (1908) pairs Vaughan's tune with a credit to Fanny J. Crosby.[2][3]

Etching of a young man in a plumed hat taking leave of his parents at their door

Abraham Bosse, The Prodigal Son: The Prodigal Bidding His Parents Farewell, etching, 1635. A son taking leave of his parents, shown for the song's parting; it has no connection to the song.

The Carter Family recorded "Hold Fast To The Right" for Decca in New York on June 17, 1937, and the master (matrix 62282) was issued on Decca 5494.[4] Songs under the same title also turn up in field recordings: one by Boyd Hoskins and Mrs. Boyd Hoskins, made at Horse Creek in Clay County, Kentucky, on October 9, 1937, is in the Alan and Elizabeth Lomax Kentucky collection, and the AFS card for Sarah Ogan Gunning and Jim Garland's January 1938 recording at Pineville, Kentucky, identifies their piece as "Mother's Goodbye."[5][6] The Max Hunter Folk Song Collection at Missouri State University holds a version sung by Ollie Gilbert, listed under Mountain View, Arkansas, and dated October 26, 1971.[7]

Elwood Donnelly includes it, in DAD tuning, in Such Singing You Will Hear, his 92-page collection of 35 Carter Family songs with notes for mountain dulcimer, backup and voice.[8]

Our book that contains the song "Hold Fast To The Right"

Sources

  1. Hymnary.org (The Cyber Hymnal #4334): "The Mother's Goodbye".
  2. Hymnary.org: "The Mother's Good-bye," Golden Songs of Glory (1906), No. 10.
  3. Hymnary.org: "The Mother's Good-Bye," Favorite Solos (1908), No. 88.
  4. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Decca matrix 62282. Hold fast to the right / Carter Family".
  5. Alan Lomax Kentucky Recordings: "Hold Fast To the Right" (Boyd Hoskins, 1937).
  6. Alan Lomax Kentucky Recordings: "Hold Fast To the Right" (Sarah Ogan Gunning and Jim Garland, 1938).
  7. Max Hunter Folk Song Collection, Missouri State University: "Hold Fast to the Right".
  8. Elwood Donnelly: "Such Singing You Will Hear: 35 Songs Of The Carter Family".
  9. Image: Abraham Bosse, The Prodigal Son: The Prodigal Bidding His Parents Farewell, etching, 1635. The Cleveland Museum of Art.

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