'Come Out the Wilderness'

Megan Buchanan and Tony Norris of Flagstaff, Ariz., singing "Come Out the Wilderness" in a version Tony learned from an old black man with whom he worked some 40 years ago in Eastern Kentucky. Posted on an old-time Appalachian music YouTube channel by two-finger banjo player Fred Coon of West Virginia (now by way of Phoenix):


Other versions on YouTube by Jessy Dixon; Bishop Samuel Kelsey's congregation of Temple Church of God in Christ in Washington, D.C.; Saint Matthew's First Baptist Church in Laurel, Del.); Jehovah-Jireh Ministries of Alexander City, Ala.; and a Southern gospel version by Terry Blackwood, Lauren Talley and Kim Hopper.

Lyrics below taken from an "emerging umc 2" liturgy posted by the Center for Worship Resourcing, General Board of Discipleship, United Methodist Church

Musicians transition to another song. Leader 2 prompts the people. One sings the questions solo. Another leads the body's response.

One:
Tell me, how did you feel when you come out the wilderness
come out the wilderness, come out the wilderness?
Tell me, how did you feel when you come out the wilderness
leanin' on the Lord?

Another and all:
Well, I felt like cryin' when I come out the wilderness
come out the wilderness, come out the wilderness
Well, I felt like cryin' when I come out the wilderness
leanin' on the Lord.

One:
Did you tell anybody when you come out the wilderness?
come out the wilderness, come out the wilderness?
Did you tell anybody when you come out the wilderness,
leanin' on the Lord?

Another and all:
Yes, I told everybody when I come out the wilderness
come out the wilderness, come out the wilderness.
Yes, I told everybody when I come out the wilderness
leanin' on the Lord.

One:
Tell me, how did you feel when you come out the wilderness
come out the wilderness, come out the wilderness?
Tell me, how did you feel when you come out the wilderness
leanin' on the Lord?

Another and all:
Well, I felt like prayin' when I come out the wilderness
come out the wilderness, come out the wilderness.
Well, I felt like prayin' when I come out the wilderness
leanin' on the Lord.

One:
Tell me, how did you feel when you come out the wilderness
come out the wilderness, come out the wilderness?
Tell me, how did you feel when you come out the wilderness
leanin' on the Lord?

Another and all:
Well, I felt like shoutin' when I come out the wilderness
come out the wilderness, come out the wilderness.
Well I felt like shoutin' when I come out the wilderness
leanin' on the Lord.

Leader 1: Come out the wilderness.

All: We come, leaning on the Lord.

Copyright 2009 The General Board of Discipleship. These resources are offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Commercial Use 3.0 License. They may be freely copied, adapted and posted by any means, but not sold, provided reference to this license is included and credit given for the original materials to the General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church.

Discussion of the hymn and its provenance on the emergingumc blog at http://emergingumc.blogspot.com/ ... apparently the hymn, set to a different melody, is No. 416 in the United Methodist hymnal. The Methodist version is by an African American musicologist named William Farley Smith.