The Byrds' "I Am a Pilgrim"

Earlier I listened to the Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo, and I noticed that “I Am a Pilgrim” is pretty similar to “Wayfaring Stranger.”  I’ve heard a few versions of “Wayfaring Stranger,” but the lyrics I’m most familiar with are actually the ones that Roger McGuinn’s posted on his Folk Den (so this might not be a very impartial assessment).  He also has an entry for "I Am a Pilgrim," which is only slightly different from the version on Sweetheart of the Rodeo.  The lyrics are roughly the same too (typos notwithstanding).

The first verse of “I Am a Pilgrim” matches up to the first verse of “Wayfaring Stranger” pretty closely.  There’s the description of a “stranger” (both songs) “travelling through” (“I Am a Pilgrim”) or “wandering through” (“Wayfaring Stranger”) a land that’s “wearisome” (“I Am a Pilgrim”) or full of “woe” (“Wayfaring Stranger”).  These first two lines are followed by a contrast, specifically the “bright land” (“Wayfaring Stranger”) or “yonder city” (“I Am a Pilgrim”) that the pilgrim is trying to reach.

The next section in each (a verse in “I Am a Pilgrim” but a chorus in “Wayfaring Stranger”) talks about relatives who have already reached the pilgrim’s destination:  “I’ve got a mother, sister, and a brother / Who have gone this way before” in “I Am a Pilgrim,” and “I’m going there to see my father” in “Wayfaring Stranger.”  The second chorus of “Wayfaring Stranger” starts with “I’m going there to see my mother.”

Both also mention the Jordan River (“I’m going down to the river of Jordan / Just to bathe my wearisome soul” in “I Am a Pilgrim” and “I’m just a-going over Jordan” in “Wayfaring Stranger”), but I don’t think the river has the same rôle in both songs.

I also have a book that contains the music and lyrics for “I Am a Pilgrim.”  It’s from 1964, so it predates the Byrds’ version of the song, but it still includes these similarities to “Wayfaring Stranger.”  The lines are slightly different though.  Instead of “I’ve got a mother, sister, and a brother / Who have gone this way before,” the book has “I got a mother, sister, and a brother / Who have gone to that sweet land.”  And where the Byrds’ version has:

I’m going down to the river of Jordan
Just to bathe my wearisome soul
If I can just touch the hem of His garment, good Lord
Then I’d know He’d take me home

the book has:

As I go down to the river of Jordan,
Just to bathe my weary soul,
If I could touch but the hem of His garment, good Lord,
Well, I believe it would make me whole

It’s the same idea, but slightly different grammatically.  The book’s lyrics also rhyme (“soul”/“whole”) where the Byrds’ version doesn’t (“soul”/“home”).

A lot of folk songs exist in slightly different versions (like the version of "I Am a Pilgrim" in this book I have and the Byrds' version), so I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere back in history, "I Am a Pilgrim" and "Wayfaring Stranger" were the same song.

[Last April, I recorded a version of "Wayfaring Stranger," for which I wrote some additional vocal parts.]