15 Song Lines That are Not in the First Verse

You have probably seen the man in the street shows where the person with the microphone asks someone to sing a supposedly well known song or recite a supposedly well known poem. The results are humorous. Many songs have more than the usually best known first verse, Here is a quiz, sampling of lines from well known songs, not taken from the first verse. See how many you can identify without looking at the answers.

1. When we’ve been there ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun,
2. And from each black accursed mouth, The cannon thundered in the south
3. On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep, Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
4. The village lads and lassies say, With roses they will strew the way
5. But greater still the calm assurance, This child can face uncertain days.
6. No refuge could save the hireling and slave, From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
7. The Lord has promis’d good to me, His word my hope secures;
8. I have read a fiery Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel;
9. Son of God, love’s pure light, Radiant beams from thy holy face,
10. So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of wrong His slave,
11. Could my zeal no respite know, Could my tears forever flow
12. We the great and small, Stand on a star, And blaze a trail of desire
13. Well, it was Gatlinburg in mid-July, And I just hit town and my throat was dry,
14. And lay it down before I’m beat and to another give my seat
15. And the reason is clear, It’s because you are here

Answers

1) Although many think it is in the well known hymn, “Amazing Grace” it is not in one of the original six verses. The additional verse appears in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin Its origin is murky but it is generally credited to John P. Rees (1828-1900). and is usually seen as verse four after the original first three. Rarely are the original verses four through six sung.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’ve first begun.

2) From Longfellows 1864 poem, “I heard the Bells on Christmas Day” This song was written during The War of the Rebellion. It was performed in 1864 in a church Longfellow attended and was done little till it was set to a new tune in the 1950’s. It talks of peace on earth and laments “for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good well to men.” It ends with the lines, “The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, of peace on earth, good will to men.” In the war torn country Longfellow pens these two very black verses about the war which I have never heard performed. The phrases “from each black accursed mouth” and “The hearth-stones of a continent” are works of word-smith, painting nearly unequaled pictures of the time.