Annotation:Hicks' Farewell

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 HICKS FAREWELL. AKA and see "Preacher's Farewell," "Minister's Last Goodbye." Old-Time, Air. From fiddler Gaither Carleton (North Carolina) and his son-in-law, Doc Watson. The melody is claimed by William Walker in the hymnody Southern Harmony (1835), while the poem/song was written by Reverend B. Hicks, a Baptist minister of South Carolina, who was born in Spartanburg County in 1798. Hicks was a revival preacher, signer and composer of songs, and, in his youth, had been a fiddler. It is staid that he had the habit of twitching his head and keeping time with the music, and although the fiddling fell by the wayside, his habit remained with him into the pulpit. When in Tennessee, Hicks was struck by a fever, and while confined he wrote the verses, to be sent to his wife.  Source for notated version:  Printed sources:  Recorded sources: Smithsonian/Folkways SF 40029/30, Doc Watson & Gaither Carlton - "Original Folkways Recordings of Doc watson and Clarence Ashley" (1994. Originally recorded 1962).  See also listing at: Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources

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