An 1855 compassionate tribute to the poor and oppressed.
words and music by Stephen C. Foster
From The Stephen Foster Song Book: “Here Foster refrains from nostalgia and heavy sentimentality: he is meditation on a real and present concern. The poem has sincerity and touches of real pathos. There is a striking moment in the chorus when the poet changes from observer to participant and directly addresses “hard times” in the first person.”
From Morrison Foster (Stephen’s older brother): “When Stephen was a child, my father had a mulatto bound girl named Olivia Pise, the illegitimate daughter of a West Indian Frenchman, who taught dancing to the upper circles of Pittsburgh society early in the nineteenth century. “Lieve,” as she was called, was a devout Christian and a member of a church of shouting colored people. the little boy was fond of their singing and boisterous devotions. She was permitted to often take Stephen to church with her . . . . A number of strains heard there, and which, he said to me, were too good to be lost, have been preserved by him, short scraps of which were incorporated in two of his songs, “Hard Times Come Again No More” and “Oh, Boys, Carry Me ‘Long.””
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by Werner Tomaschewski:
Lyrics
- Let us pause in life’s pleasures
And count its many tears
While we all sup sorrow with the poor
There’s a song that will linger
Forever in our ears
Oh! hard times, come again no more
Chorus
’Tis the song, the sigh of the weary
Hard times, hard times
Come again no more
Many days you have lingered
Around my cabin door
Oh! hard times, come again no more
- While we seek mirth and beauty
And music light and gay
There are frail forms fainting at the door
Though their voices are silent
Their pleading looks will say
Oh! hard times, come again no more - There’s a pale drooping maiden
Who toils her life away
With a worn heart whose better days are o’er
Though her voice would be merry
’Tis sighing all the day
Oh! hard times come again no more - ’Tis a sigh that is wafted
Across the troubled wave
’Tis a wail that is heard upon the shore
’Tis a dirge that is murmured
Around the lowly grave
Oh! hard times, come again no more
Sung here by Fred Feild: