You’ve been a Friend to Me

This old time song has been kindly forwarded in response to an enquiry lately met with in this column.  No information is at hand regarding either its authorship or music.[1]

My barque of life was tossing down

The troubled stream of time,

When first I saw your smiling face,

When youth was in its prime.

My days of darkness turned to light,

My troubled heart was free;

And since that time I’ve always found

You’ve been a friend to me.

Chorus:

I’ll ne’er forget where’er I roam,

Wherever you may be,

If ever I have had a friend,

You’ve been a friend to me.

Misfortune nursed me as her own,

And loved me fondly too;

I would have had a broken heart

If it had not been for you;

Kind words were whispered soft and low,

But glad I could not be

Until I found that you had been

A faithful friend to me.

Chorus

The light of hope in your bright eyes

Dispelled the clouds of strife,

And through the rift the sun shone down

My weary path of life.

I now look back upon the past,

Along life’s stormy sea,

And smile to think ‘mid all life’s scenes

You’ve been a friend to me.

Chorus

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[1] My research found this song was written in 1879 by William Shakespeare Hays. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1837 and died there in 1907. His parents were Hugh and Martha (Richardson) Hays. He married Belle McCullough in 1865. His most popular songs were Evangeline (1862), The Drummer Boy of Shiloh (1863), We Parted by the River (1866), The Little Old Cabin in the Lane (1871), Molly Darling (1871) [with 3 million copies published], Susan Jane (1871), Oh! Sam (1872), Angels Meet Me at the Cross Roads (1875). Early in de Mornin’ (1877), Roll Out! Heave Dat Cotton (1877). He composed approximately 350 songs. (Source: ibiblio.org)