Hard Times Come Again no More
SATB a cappella

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This arrangement of the classic Stephen Foster song has some jazz-influenced harmonies, and I wrote it with the intention of finding a middle ground between the newly re-popularized pop/a-cappella genre and more traditional choral music. The song, first published in 1854, was popular during the American Civil War, and speaks to the heart of the human condition in a way that is no less timely now than it was a century and a half ago.



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.
Chorus

'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.
Chorus




for information on obtaining sheet music, please contact me at WalkerWilliamsMusic@gmail.com