O Come Freedom

SATB a cappella
Duration: 2.5 Minutes
Text: Traditional Shaker
Year: 2024

Commissioned by The Capitol Hill Chorale
Premiered by The Capitol Hill Chorale and Washington Revels, Washington, DC, June 1, 2024

Publisher: Siegfried Publishing

To order or request a perusal copy:
Siegfried Publishing

 
 

  • O Come Freedom is a free adaptation of three Shaker songs, all of which were transcribed from “A Record of Spiritual Songs,” a manuscript by Russel Haskell housed in the Music Division of the Library of Congress. The three songs adapted here are: “O come freedom,” an unattributed song (c. 1840); “I love freedom,” a song from Enfield, Connecticut (1840); and “Freedom, freedom, pretty pretty way,” a song from Sabbathday Lake, Maine (1846).

  • Refrain
    O come freedom, O come pretty freedom; fill my soul with life and liberty.

    O I want one drop of freedom; O I thirst for freedom pretty freedom.
    Refrain

    I love freedom, I love pretty freedom; I feel thankful for my privilege.
    Refrain

    Freedom, freedom, pretty pretty way; I’ll gather gather to it every day.
    Refrain

    O come freedom, O come pretty freedom; fill my soul with life and liberty.