Dives and Lazarus (I), Lyric Variant 01
 


Citation

“Dives and Lazarus (I), Lyric Variant 01,” Appalachian State University Libraries Digital Collections, accessed December 22, 2024, https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/items/show/31468.


Comments

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Title

Dives and Lazarus (I), Lyric Variant 01

Description

This item is part of the I. G. Greer Folksong Collection which consists of more than 300 individual song titles and their variants as collected by Isaac Garfield Greer (1881-1967) from informants, primarily in Ashe, Wilkes and Watauga counties. The collection includes manuscripts, typescript transcriptions produced by Dr. Greer’s clerical staff, and handwritten musical notations. Songs range from traditional Child Ballads, traditional English and Scottish ballads as well as their American variants, to 19th century popular music to musical compositions of local origin.

Subject

Ballads, English
Poverty--Songs and music
Heaven--Songs and music
Hell--Songs and music
Avarice--Songs and music

Alternative Title

Lazarus, The Moon Shines Bright, Diverus and Lazarus, Lazarus and Dives

Publisher

W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Appalachian State University

Contributor

Greer, I. G. (Isaac Garfield), 1881-1967

Format

PDF

Language

English

Type

Text

Spatial Coverage

Transcription

The Rich Man and Lazarus

There was a man in ancient times,
The scriptures doth inform us,
Whose pomp and grandeur and whose crimes
Were great and very numerous.
This rich man fared sumptuously each day,
And was dressed in purple fine linen,
He ate and drank, but scorned to pray,
And spent his day in sinning.

A poor man lay at the rich man’s gate,
To help himself unable,
And there he lay to humbly wait
For the crumbs from his rich table.
But not one crumb would this happy cure (epicure)
Ever aye pretend to send him,
The dogs took pity and licked his sores,
More ready to befriend him.

This poor man died at the rich man’s gate,
Where angel bands attended,
Straightway to Abraham’s bosom flown,
Where all his sorrows ended.
This rich man died and was buried, too,
But O his dreadful station,
With Abraham and Lazarus both in view
He landed in damnation.

He cried, "O Father Abraham,
Send Lazarus with cold water,
For I’m tormented in these flames
With these inhuman tortures.
Says Abraham: "Son, remember well,
You once did God inherit,
But now at last your doom’s in hell
Because you would not cherish.

Informant

I. G. Greer

Associated Date

1915

Scholarly Classification

Child, 56 Brown, Older Ballads - Mostly British - 54 Sharp, 84

File name

113_DivesAndLazarus_I_Lyric_01