“The Master of the Sheepfold”
Description
Cho.: "The Master guards the sheepfold bin/Comes and calls, is my sheep brung in?/And he's calling...for them all to be gathering in." The Master calls the sheep; the shepherd says some are lost, but the rest will come. The Master goes out and gathers
Long description
Cho.: "The Master guards the sheepfold bin/Comes and calls, is my sheep brung in?/And he's calling, calling...for them all to be gathering in" The Master calls the sheep; the shepherd answers that some are wan, weathered, lost or good-for-nothing, but the rest will come. The Master goes out on the wind and rain path, lets down the bars to the sheepfold, and gently calls the sheep to come in; they do
Notes
Please pardon a personal remark: this song is unlike any other I've heard in the emotional effect it creates from a spare lyric; the only comparison, I think, is with Blind Willie Johnson. - PJS
Although Art Thieme comments that the song, "means different things to different folks," there is little doubt that it comes from the New Testament images of Jesus and the sheep, e.g. John 10:7-16, especiallay v. 14: "I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me." Compare also the parable of the lost sheep (Matt. 18:12f., etc.). - RBW
Recordings
- Art Thieme, "The Master of the Sheepfold" (on Thieme04) (on Thieme06)
References
- DT, SHEEPFOL
- BI, DTsheepf