Words and music by Stephen Foster. 1854. Arranged by Andru Bemis

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               B                            B7
Let us pause in life’s pleasures
           E                  E7        B
And count its many cares
                                       E              E7               B
While we all sup sorrow with the poor
                                                      B7
There’s a song that will linger
 E                E7         B
Forever in our ears
                           E            E7             B
Hard times come again no more

                 B                   B7                  E  E7  B
It’s the song, the sigh of the weary
                            G#m               E                              F#
Hard times, hard times come again no more
              B                               B7                E                    E7        B
Many days you have lingered around my cabin door
                           E            E7             B
Hard times come again no more

While we seek mirth and beauty
And music light and gay
There are frail forms fainting at my door
Though their voices are silent
Their pleading looks still say
“Hard times come again no more”

There’s a pale drooping maiden
Who toils her life away
With a worn heart whose better days are o’er
Though her voice would be merry
‘Tis sighing all the way
“Hard times come again no more”

It’s a sigh that is wafted
Across the troubled wave
It’s a wail that is heard upon the shore
It’s a dirge that is murmured
Around the lowly grave
“Hard times come again no more”

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