Sunday, October 2, 2016

Bringing in the Sheep

Bringing in the Sheaves:
The Harvest, 1882

Bringing in the Sheep:
Shepherdess Bringing in Sheep, 1886

These two paintings by Camille Pissarro perfectly illustrate the confusion I experienced as a small child whenever my grandmother sang the old hymn "Bringing in the Sheaves" -- or as I heard it: "bringing in the sheep." An understandable mix-up, don't you think, amidst all the Sunday School imagery of sheep and shepherds!

Bringing in the Sheaves
Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness,
Sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve;
Waiting for the harvest, and the time of reaping,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

Chorus:
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves;
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

Sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadows,
Fearing neither clouds nor winter’s chilling breeze;
By and by the harvest, and the labor ended,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. (Chorus)

Going forth with weeping, sowing for the Master,
Tho' the loss sustained our spirit often grieves;
When our weeping’s over, He will bid us welcome,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. (Chorus)


Lyrics & music by Knowles Shaw ~ 1874
Alternate tune by George Minor ~ 1880

Apparently, I'm not the only one
who thought this was a song about sheep!

4 comments:

  1. Ha, funny.
    As i get older at the ripe age of 69, i have no trouble laughing at myself.
    Today that song came up and i sang "bringing in the sheep".
    My wife set me straight that it was "Sheaves".
    I didnt believe her at first, but goes to show you CAN teach an old dog new tricks!
    I've been singing it wrong for 60 some years!

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    Replies
    1. Haha, that's very odd. I am also a 69 year old man. I thought sheep and sang sheep my entire life...until today. I was watching a rerun of Little House on the prairie and had on the closed caption. Sheaves? Well what do ya know???

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    2. Thanks "unknown" & "johnnyok"!

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