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Am I Born to Die?

from Am I Born to Die? by The Ghosts of Johnson City

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This dark reflection on the impermanence of life is attributed to prolific English poet Charles Wesley (1707-1788) and appears in Wesley’s 1763 hymnary “Hymns for Children”. The tune made its way to the New World both as a folk and liturgical hymn. The Ghosts of Johnson City have recorded this piece with the lyrics in full.

While they may exist in private collections, we are not aware of any other modern public recordings of this hymn expressing the complete original.

lyrics

And am I born to die?

To lay this body down?

And must my trembling spirit fly

Into a world unknown?



A land of deepest shade,

Unpierced by human thought,

The dreary regions of the dead,

Where all things are forgot



Soon as from earth I go,

What will become of me?

Eternal happiness or woe

Must then my portion be



Waked by the trumpet’s sound,

I from my grave shall rise,

And see the Judge, with glory crowned,

And see the flaming skies!



How shall I leave my tomb?

With triumph or regret?

A fearful or a joyful doom,

A curse or blessing met?



Will angel bands convey

Their brother to the bar?

Or devils drag my soul away,

To meet its sentence there?



Who can resolve the doubt

That tears my anxious breast?

Shall I be with the damned cast out,

Or numbered with the blest?



I must from God be driven,

Or with my Savior dwell;

By His command in Heaven,

Or else—depart to Hell



And am I born to die?

To lay this body down?

And must my trembling spirit fly

Into a world unknown?

credits

from Am I Born to Die?, released October 20, 2015

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The Ghosts of Johnson City Portland, Maine

Based in Maine with musical roots in Appalachia and the Deep South, The Ghosts of Johnson City present simple and soulful versions of old mountain music, Civil War songs, coal-mining melodies, disaster chronicles, haunting murder ballads and tunes of love and loss in times of poverty. ... more

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