Ode to Friendship

[audity]

I'm not sure where this song comes from. I think the text started out as a late 18th century English Ode. An article in JSTOR attributes it to "Bidwell," that's all I got. Anyways, the text crossed the water and got a really nice tune attached to it in New England and a really crappy tune attached to it in the south. The New England version seems to have gradually accumulated some religious verses along the way, to the point where the Presbyterians just replaced the word "friendship" with "Jesus." No joke.

So, what I've done here is combined the secular southern text with the vastly superior northern tune:

Ode to Friendship

Friendship to every willing mind
Opens a heavenly treasure
There may the sons of sorrow find
Sources of real pleasure
See what employment men pursue
Then you will own my words are true
Friendship alone unfolds to view
Sources of real pleasure

Poor are the joys that fools esteem
Fading and transitory
Mirth is as fleeting as a dream
Or a delusive story
Luxury leaves a sting behind
Wounding the body and the mind
Only in friendship can we find
Sources of real pleasure

Learning that boasting glittering thing
Is but just worth possessing
Riches forever on the wing
Scarce can be called a blessing
Fame like a shadow flies away
Titles and dignity decay
Nothing but friendship can display
Joys that are freed from trouble

I think that's just the sweetest thing.