The Cyber Hymnal ‎#6532

6532. Tell Me the Old, Old Story

1. Tell me the old, old story of unseen things above,
Of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love.
Tell me the story simply, as to a little child,
For I am weak and weary, and helpless and defiled.

Refrain
Tell me the old, old story, tell me the old, old story,
Tell me the old, old story, of Jesus and His love.

2. Tell me the story slowly, that I may take it in,
That wonderful redemption, God’s remedy for sin.
Tell me the story often, for I forget so soon;
The early dew of morning has passed away at noon. [Refrain]

3. Tell me the story softly, with earnest tones and grave;
Remember I’m the sinner whom Jesus came to save.
Tell me the story always, if you would really be,
In any time of trouble, a comforter to me. [Refrain]

4. Tell me the same old story when you have cause to fear
That this world’s empty glory is costing me too dear.
Yes, and when that world’s glory is dawning on my soul,
Tell me the old, old story: Christ Jesus makes thee whole. [Refrain]

Text Information

• First Line: Tell me the old, old story of unseen things above
• Title: Tell Me the Old, Old Story
• Author: Anabella Katherine Hankey (1866)
• Refrain First Line: Tell me the old, old story, tell me the old, old story
• Language: English
• Copyright: Public Domain
• Notes: The lyrics are similar to those of "I Love to Tell the Story;" both come from Hankey's poem "The Old, Old Story:" I wrote the first part toward the end of January 1866. I was unwell at the time, just recovering from a severe illness, and the first stanza really indicates my state of health, for was was literally weak and weary. When I had written the first part, which consisted of eight stanzas of four lines each, I laid it aside, and it was not until the following November that I completed the whole hymn. Blanchard, p. 89

Tune Information

• Name: [Tell me the old, old story of unseen things above]
• Composer: William Howard Doane (1870)
• Incipit: 33455 65511 13455
• Key: C Major
• Copyright: Public Domain
• Notes: This ex­cel­lent hymn by Miss Hank­ey, of Lon­don, has been trans­lat­ed in­to ma­ny lang­uag­es, and has been set to sev­er­al tunes. Dr. Doane has this to say re­gard­ing the mu­sic by which it has be­come pop­u­lar, and the oc­ca­sion on which he com­posed it: "In 1867 I was at­tend­ing the In­ter­na­tion­al Con­ven­tion of the Young Men’s Chris­tian As­so­ci­a­tion, in Mont­re­al. Among those pre­sent was Ma­jor-Gen­er­al Rus­sell, then in com­mand of the Eng­lish force dur­ing the Fen­i­an ex­cite­ment. He arose in the meet­ing and re­cit­ed the words of this song from a sheet of fools­cap pa­per—tears stream­ing down his bronzed cheeks as he read. I wrote the mu­sic for the song one hot af­ter­noon while on the stage-coach be­tween the Glen Falls House and the Craw­ford House in the White Moun­tains. That even­ing we sung it in the par­lors of the ho­tel. We thought it pret­ty, al­though we scarce­ly an­ti­ci­pat­ed the pop­u­lar­i­ty which was sub­se­quent­ly ac­cord­ed it." Sankey, pp. 256-7