Abide with Me

Abide with Me
Album	Isopanisad Radio Hour
Released	2000
Artist	the Mountain Goats
Length	2:31
Next Track	"Born Ready"

Abide with Me is a hymn written by Henry Francis Lyte and sung to "Eventide" by William Henry Monk. A version by the Mountain Goats is the first song on the EP Isopanisad Radio Hour.

Lyrics

Abide with me, fast falls the even tide
The darkness deepens, Lord with me abide
When other helpers fail and comforts flee
Help of the helpless, Lord abide with me

Swift to its close, ebbs out life's little day
Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away
Change and decay in all around I see
O thou who changest not, abide with me

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song

• "In case Mountan [sic] Goats fans are curious let me share a hymnal connection between my father, his mother, and my work here...his mother, Minnie Darnielle, had a stroke when I was 12 or so. In the wake of this he began stories of her life with me. He related to me that, when he'd been a child, much of his musical education had been his mother, at the ironing board, singing hymns. One of these was "Abide With Me," which I did a version of on an EP sometime in the late 90s, and which, when I am struggling in my life, I've occasionally played live in the years following. No one has to share my view of the Divine about this, but, for me, in the moment of Song from generation to generation to generation, I feel the Spirit of the Lord. This for me is a liturgical function: the continuity, the gift of sharing across distances. Fast falls the eventide" ([1,] [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8])

Live Shows this Song Was Played at

• 2007-09-27 - Rex Theatre - Pittsburgh, PA
• 2008-03-20 - First Unitarian Church - Philadelphia, PA
• 2009-03-20 - Attucks Theatre - Norfolk, VA
• 2009-03-24 - Pearl Street - Northampton, MA
• 2009-04-04 - Earlham College - Richmond, IN
• 2023-11-24 - The Rialto Theatre - Raleigh, NC