This haunting tune was collected in Murphy, Cherokee County, in the state of North Carolina, and was arranged and harmonized by songwriter, balladeer, and ethnomusicologist John Jacob Niles (1892 - 1980). It was first published in 1934 in his Songs of the Hill-Folk: Twelve Ballads from Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina. Niles' own performances of this tune have become legendary, and many variations of this tune have been made by other folk singers. The melody was also set by the Italian avant-garde composer Luciano Berio as No. 2 of his Folk Songs (1964) written for the extraordinary vocalist Cathy Berberian.

The unusual melody reveals the influence of a pure modal heritage, possibly of New World settlers from the British Isles. In a plaintive 6/8 time, the Aeolian-mode tune opens with an arpeggio (in A minor: E, A, E, A, C, B, A) that then arcs downward (G, E, C, D..."under the sky") with the final tone in the middle of the mode. This is repeated with the last four notes coming to a full cadence (C, B, A, A). The next next phrase begins in the same way but the last four notes are again varied (C, B, A, G). The last phrase employs the largest intervals (E, A, E, A, C, E) climbing up to the dominant E note; it then descends to a plagal ending (A, C, A, E, D).

Niles harmonizes the first two lines with basic minor key chords (A minor, D minor, E dominant seventh). At the end of the third phrase, he adds a false modulating chord (A seventh), and immediately returns to A minor for the last phrase. He beautifully harmonizes the high E note with a D minor ninth chord, and the final cadence is harmonized with an A minor and a final F major sixth, which leaves the music unresolved (to our contemporary ears) and suspended in the air.

The tune has been employed for newly composed words (and minor re-harmonizations) by several different singers, but the traditional verses (arranged here with the strong accent at the beginning of the line) are:



(1) I

wonder as I wander, out

under the sky, How

Jesus, the Savior, did

come for to die. For

poor, orn'ry people like

you and like I, I

wonder as I wander, Out

under the sky.



(2) When

Mary birthed Jesus, 'twas

in a cow's stall, With

wisemen and farmers and

shepherds and all. But

high from the heavens a

star's light did fall, And the

promise of ages It

then did recall.



(3) If

Jesus had wanted for

any wee thing, A

star in the sky or a

bird on the wing, Or

all of God's angels in

heaven for to sing, He

surely could have had it, 'cause

he was the King.



(4) [Repeat the first verse]

© "Blue" Gene Tyranny, Rovi