Golden Thread by Pete Seeger - arr. Peter Amidon

Peter Amidon's piano/SATB arrangement of Pete Seeger's "Oh, Had I a Golden Thread" the Guilford (VT) Community Church UCC Choir, Arthur Davis soloist, with Peter Amidon on piano. Pete Seeger wrote the song in 1958 and later said "A rather gentle song came to me as I was fooling around on the guitar…. Years later I realized that I had rewritten the melody of ‘Nearer My God to Thee.." This arrangement is available on Peter's online choral sheet music download store - amidonchoralmu.... •• www.peteseeger... •• amidonchoralmu... •• Lyrics below
Oh, Had I a Golden Thread
by Pete Seeger
Had I a golden thread,
And needle so fine:
I’d weave a magic strand
Of rainbow design,
Of rainbow design
In it I’d weave the bravery
Of a women giving birth.
I’d weave the innocence
Of children of this earth,
Children of this earth.
Far o’er the waters
I’d stretch my magic band
To every human being,
So they would understand,
So they would understand.
Tell my brothers and my sisters
Of my rainbow design.
Bind up this sorry world
With heart and hand and mind,
Heart and hand and mind.
* *
Here are lyrics to the song (some of which are not included in the above Amidon arrangement) as they appeared in the liner notes of Pete Seeger’s 1960 Folkways album “Rainbow Quest”:
Oh, had I a golden thread,
And needle so fine.
I’d weave a magic strand,
Of rainbow design.
Of rainbow design.
In it I would weave the bravery,
Of women giving birth.
And in it I would weave the innocence
Of children over all the earth.
Children of our earth.
In it I would weave the restlessness
Of men going ever forth.
Through heat of blistering desert sands,
And blizzards of the North.
Through the frozen North.
Far over the waters,
I’d reach my magic band,
Through foreign cities,
To every single land.
To every land.
Show my brothers and my sisters,
My rainbow design.
Bind up this sorry world,
With hand and heart and mind.
Hand and heart and mind.
Far over the waters,
I’d reach my magic band.
To every human being,
So they would understand.
So they would understand.

[@pastor-tom-sims]

You have taken one of the most heart-full songs of the last century and interjected your hearts and souls into it with simplicity, beautify, and grace. From your heart to my heart, the song made its journey, gathering memories and colors. Your golden thread has woven me a rainbow of joy.