♪ ♪ Rock of Ages, bless for me, let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from thy rib and thine rich clothes be of sin but of a cure. Save me from this guilt and sorrow.
Not the labor of my hand can fulfill thy love's demand. Could my zeal not rest in joy? Could my tears forever grow?
All for sin or not at all, thou must save and thou alone. Nothing in my hands I bring, simply gold thy cross I clear. Make it come to thee for dress, fair dress clothed to thee for dress.
Now I do the first and last, watch me, Savior, for I die. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ While I draw this sleeping breath, when mine eyes this closing stare, when I soar to worlds unknown, see beyond thy judgment thorn, a foundation left for me, let me hide myself in thee.
Transcribed by AI from the recording above. These are noisy hundred-year-old cylinders, so expect misheard words and the occasional invented line — trust your ears over the text.
This transfer and transcript: CC BY 4.0. The performance itself is public domain. Free to reuse, including commercially, with credit.
Edison Mixed Quartet
A studio ensemble rather than a touring band. Record companies kept groups of session players on call and issued them under a rotating set of house names — the personnel overlapped heavily from one to the next, and the name on the label indicated the kind of music inside more than who was performing it. Individual players were rarely credited, and for most of these ensembles the membership is now unrecoverable.
Written from UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive. Corrections welcome.