I learned to love this song the summer of '76 while participating in the Hill Cumorah Pageant. In those days busloads of girls from BYU rode cross-country to participate. We went by the name Sister, wore dresses and name tags, and were expected to conduct ourselves a missionaries--complete with companions and flip charts. It was a great experience that I'm thankful for.
Now I am serving a full time, couple's mission. I want to use the song, but the lyrics were a challenge to find. Thanks to my brother-in-law Jim Duthie, I now have them.
My apologies to the composer. If someone knows who wrote Canandaigua Road, please send me the name and I will give credit. The sheet music here is the tune as I remember it.
CANANDAIGUA ROAD by Richard DeLand
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| Canandaigua Road and Hill Cumorah in early 1900s |
Down the dusty Canandaigua Road
Young Joseph Smith the Prophet quickly rode.
His eyes upon a lonely hill, a sacred mission to fulfill
Beside the dusty Canandaigua Road.
A Golden Book concealed beneath the stone
By an ancient prophet wandering alone.
In 1827 an angel came from heaven
To Joseph near the Canandaigua Road.
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| Joseph Smith |
To end a chosen people’s long dark night.
In 1827 when an angel came from heaven
To the Prophet near the Canandaigua Road.
Chorus:
Canandaigua, Canandaigua Road.
Dusty winding Canandaigua Road.
Devoting heart and soul to God
With his hand upon the Iron Rod
He traveled down the Canandaigua Road.
The fullness of the gospel came to man,
The Lord’s eternal and exalting plan.
A message from the Living God came forth from Old New England sod
Beside the winding Canandaigua Road.
The road led Joseph on to Carthage town
Where a mob with blazing rifles shot him down.
He died a martyr brave and true; His work is left for me and you
As we walk along OUR Canandaigua Road.
Like Joseph, walk YOUR Canandaigua Road.
Like Joseph, with courage bear your load.
Devoting heart and soul to God with your hand upon the Iron Rod
As you walk along YOUR Canandaigua Road.
Chorus:
Canandaigua, Canandaigua Road.
Dusty winding Canandaigua Road.
Devote YOUR heart and soul to God
With YOUR hand upon the Iron Rod
As you walk along YOUR Canandaigua Road.
Canandaigua, Canandaigua Road....
I also got to learn that song in 1976 when I served a mission in Berlin. A sister missionary tought it to me and she also gave me the Lyrics. Us 4 missionaries in our 2 missionary appartment, called the "Hermsdorf Hermits", performed that song in several church events. Ever since that time this song kept being my faforite song and with the 4 missionaries in the Paphos Branch of Cyprus, where I am the Branch President, we presented the song at the Thanksgiving Party last week. I am Hans Malzl, comming fromm Austria but living in Cyprus. My E-Mail-Adress is malzl@proschlaf.at
ReplyDeleteHans, Thank you for sharing your experience with this wonderful song. It is good to hear of your service in Berlin and Cyprus, and that the Church is growing in those parts of the world.
DeleteIn 1976, and just returning from participating in the Hill Cumorah Pageant, I was invited to sing for a luncheon at the LDS Institute for all religious leaders on the ASU campus, and sang this song with my guitar. They all politely listened. :-) I hope they felt the Spirit through it.
I was serving in the New Mexico-Arizona mission in 1974 when I heard this song. We were serving with the Native Americans in the area, they loved music so we sang a lot and this is one of the songs we sang. I have never had the chance to hear it since then. Our stake is having a youth conference titled Joseph's journey. The subject is the restoration of the gospel and this song popped into my head.I wish I knew where to get the sheet music for this , as I do not believe I remember the melody correctly. I love the thought behind this song and would love to share it with another generation. thank you for posting the lyrics though as they brought back such great memories from long ago
ReplyDeleteDennis!! So good to see you again after so many years! I am on the web looking for the song Canandaigua Road to teach to my daughter. I found your web page... Is there any way to play it? I remember you talking to my dad saying there would be a day when every household would have a computer. Remember that? True. Please feel free to answer here or otherwise. Good to see you again. Keep the faith! Lola
ReplyDeleteI am on my way to the Hill Cumorah Pageant this weekend and would love to find this song somewhere
ReplyDeleteI have added the melody line here as I remember it. I wish to give credit to the composer, so if you know who wrote it, send his/her name. Thanks!
DeleteI have a mimeographed(?) copy of this song (3 pages, with music) & am trying to find writer/copyright information. The copy I have was in my grandmother's music collection from years ago, and there's no identifying information on it. Do you happen to know where I can find the information?
ReplyDeleteDid you find a way to share this or a place I could purchase the music? I'd also love to get a copy of the sheet music.
DeleteI have added the melody line here.
DeleteCrawford Gates wrote the score for the current Hill Cumorah Pageant as well as the version used from 1957 to 1987. Therefore, he is probably the composer of the song "Canandaigua Road." I believe he just recently passed away in June and was 96 years old.
ReplyDeleteHello! Just checking in to this blog from the library at BYU, where I am the Performing Arts Librarian. We have the LP this song is on, which is called "A better way." It gives credit to the composers, and so we have:
ReplyDeleteRicahrd DeLand: Composer of "Canandaigua Road" and "If you truly love me." The production crdit on the album is first the name of the church, and then "Seminaries and Institutes." We at the library would be interested in a pdf of the music. The copy here on the blog is nice, but not easy to read. If you have a clear copy that you could email to me at myrna_layton@byu.edu, I would appreciate it. In the mean time, I am trying to locate the composer or his heirs. Thank you!
I heard the song in the 1970's and have the lyrics hand written by the person who sang it for me, but would love to hear the song from the LP. Is there a way to listen to Canandaigua Road from the resources of the BYU library remotely? It seems there might big a fairly large number of people who would love to hear this song again.
DeleteI also was in the pageant in 1976 and loved singing that song on the bus from the dorms where we stayed at night to the hill!! I was wishing I could find wait to listen to it
ReplyDelete