Shall We Gather at the River?
"Shall We Gather at the River?" (or simply "At the River") is a traditional Christian hymn, written by American poet and gospel music composer Robert Lowry (1826–1899). It was written in 1864.
An arrangement is included in Aaron Copland's Old American Songs. An arrangement was also composed by Charles Ives.
Its tune name is Hanson Place.
The song was often employed in Western soundtracks, particularly those of director John Ford (being one of his favourite hymns) and it features in many of Ford's most famous films. The melody is played parodically in Stagecoach, in the early scene is which Claire Trevor's character Dallas (a prostitute) is run out of town. It also appears in Ford's Three Godfathers, My Darling Clementine, The Searchers and in Tobacco Road, and in Sam Peckinpah's Major Dundee and The Wild Bunch where it was employed as ironic counterpoint during an onscreen massacre; it was similarly put to use in such dark, late-period Westerns as Hang 'Em High.[1] It features prominently in David Lean's Hobson's Choice and Richard Brooks's Elmer Gantry. Part of the hymn was sung in the Academy Award winning movie Trip to Bountiful (1985). The hymn is a primary musical theme for schlock film Tromeo and Juliet, credited on the soundtrack as Yes, We'll Gather at the River.[2]
"Shall We Gather at the River?" was also sung at the funeral of American Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas.
- In Japan, the tune is adopted in 1937 to a popular enka song Tobacco Ya no Musume (タバコやの娘). This enka song was soon parodied into juvenile song about the testicles of the tanuki (たんたんたぬき), which goes, "Tan-tan-tanuki's testicles: there isn't any wind, but [they still go] swing swing swing". The parodied version of the song remain popular among Japanese children and adults to this day.
- In Sweden, the 1876 hymn to the same melody O, hur saligt att få vandra ("O, how blessed it is to walk") became one of the most popular songs of the widespread Swedish revivalist movement. A drinking song to the same melody, Jag har aldrig vart på snusen, partly mocking the religious message of the Swedish original, is one of the most popular drinking songs at Swedish universities.
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