Wayfaring Stranger

Lyrics: Traditional
Music: Traditional

Played by Jerry Garcia with David Crosby, Paul Kantner et al during the PERRO sessions in 1971. It was also introduced by Warren Haynes with Phil Lesh and Friends in 2021.

Some circulating tapes of the PERRO version refer to it as a Crosby song called "Over Jordan", but it is in fact a traditional song recorded by a wide range of singers including Burl Ives, Joan Baez, Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brothers, Emmylou Harris etc

The circulating version from the PERRO tapes contains just the first verse and the chorus:

I am a poor wayfaring stranger
Travelling through this world of woe
There's no sickness, toil or danger
In that bright land to which I go

Chorus
Yes I'm going over Jordan
Just going, no more to roam
Only going over Jordan
Just a-going to my home

I am a poor wayfaring stranger
Travelling through this world of woe
There's no sickness, toil or danger
In that bright land to which I go

Chorus
I'm going there to see my father
I'm going there no more to roam
I'm just a-going over Jordan
I'm only going over home

I know dark clouds will gather round me
I know my road is rough and steep
But beauteous fields lie out before me
Where all the saints their vigils keep

I'm going there to see my brother
[?] evening go back home
I'm just a-going over Jordan
One last time over home

I want to wear a crown of glory
When I get home to that bright land
I want to shout Salvation's story
In concert with that blood-washed band

I'll soon be free from earthly trials
This body rests in the orchard's yard
I'll drop this cross of self-denial
And go singing home to God