Written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora
O: Bon Jovi 1989 Mercury
From Wikipedia
"Lay Your Hands on Me" is a song written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora and recorded by the American rock band Bon Jovi. It was released in 1989 as the fourth single from the band's 1988 album New Jersey. It peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the band's fourth single from New Jersey to chart in the Top 10 and it also charted at #20 on the Mainstream rock charts.
Dolly Parton changed the text a little bit and made a gospelsong out of it for her 2012 album "Blue Smoke".
DESCRIPTION: The singer, "Old Tom Moore from the
Bummer's Shore," a relic of the California gold rush of 1849, recalls the
various characters that he encountered "in the days of old when we dug up
the gold"
AUTHOR: Charles Bensell ("Charley Rhoades") ?
EARLIEST DATE: 1874 (The Great Emerson's New Popular
Songster)
KEYWORDS: gold mining drink death moniker
HISTORICAL REFERENCES: 1849 - Beginning of the California gold rush
From Kloosterman.be
Well, “The days of 49″one does sound like a classic Dylan song … even though
it’s a cover. Dylan, utilizing his good old wheezy-vocals, gives it a great
song that sounds confident and bold. Also, it is entertaining! (You can’t
forget about that!) Good melody, performing, and everything. This is a strong
case against people who think Bob Dylan was washed-up at this point of his
career.
According to Professor William L. Alderson of Reed College [ Days of '49,
Reprise," Northwest Folklore I (1965): 5—101, the first appearance of this
song in print was in The Great New Popular Songster (San Francisco, 1872) where
it was described as "sung with great success by [Billy] Emerson’s
Minstrels at the Alhambra Theatre in San Francisco.” Professor Alderson says, “In
the Lomax edited anthology Folk Song U.S.A., that work employs a tune collected
by Frank Warner from Yankee John Galusha, but of that text only a ‘portion,’
determinably rather small, came from that source” [Galusha].
Alderson (who happens to be wrong in his assumption, since Yankee John sang
us five verses and the chorus)* was arguing against the song’s being a folk
song since he had found it only in fragmentary texts, or in printed texts
similar to that printed in the book noted above. Yankee John’s version,
however, like all his songs, he had learned through oral transmission.
Of course he could have learned it from someone who had a printed source.
Professor Alderson says the original song probably was written by banjo artist
Charles Bensell (stage name: Charley Rhoades) who died in June 1877. It is
“certainly a minstrel song par excellence.” It was published in many songsters
of the seventies and eighties, including, we are sure, “Old Put’s Golden
Songster” in its later editions. “The Days of Forty-Nine” was one of many songs
that came out of the Gold Rush days when on Long Island, for instance, not a
boat was left that was capable of sailing to Panama or around the Horn. Though
it began as a stage song, we think it was kept alive by communities that saw their
sons strike out for the West to seek their fortunes, and then saw them come
home, often, broke and broken.
Old Tom Moore is an example of the returning forty-niner, the disillusioned
seeker of that elusive pot of gold. That we found this version of the song in
upper New York State shows that the composer told a tale that was real to his
hearers. Folk Songs of the Catskills (Cazden II) has a similar and longer
version of the song given to the editors by George Edwards. Cazden’s notes
further explore the song’s history and transmission.
I think this song doesn't belong in the Originals. It are all different songs. Only the title is the same. It is even difficult to find a few of the same song. A lot of Soldiers prayers on the net.
