This song hits harder when you start getting older. The last few times I've gone to my old home, is to bury someone. That home starts to look a lot more strange and desolate the more of your friends and family leave this world.
Yes it does hit closer to home the older we get. ive lost 2 parents and 2 good friends in 8 months time.. hopfully they;ll be waiting for me on the white crystal shore!!!
After a career in theU.S. Army, I returned to my home in East Texas. My mom and dad owned a country store for 15 years from 1967-1982. All of my friends from high school had moved away or died in Vietnam. My dad died in 1987 and my mom died in 2007. The people remaining were all "rank strangers to me." I have listened to the Stanley Brothers for 60 years. It wasn't until I got older that I understood the true meaning of this song. It gives me chills and moist eyes every time I listen to it. After being divorced for almost 21 years, I attended my ex-sister-in-law's funeral a few weeks ago. Once again, The people I met including my former in-laws (who I had known for over 50 years) were all rank strangers to me. I look forward to meeting my mom and dad, relatives, friends and acquaintances in heaven - "where no one will be a rank stranger to me."
His tears probably came from missing family and friends, some of us drifted way too long and came home to nothing and this song brings out a lot of sadness.
My dad served 2 tours in Vietnam. He told me that this song is how he felt when he returned home. So much had changed and would never be the same again😢
most vets had a hard time coming over the trauma from their tours and battles, those scars are there forever. but i always felt bad for the homeless and disabled vets. and the song makes a good point. mostly i searched it up, its about a civil war vet feeling like a stranger its mostly the moral. but i think the song can hit hard emotionally
When I got out of army hospital and made my way home ? I felt cheated! I served my country with honor just to still being called murderer !take me home lord I’m hurting so badly
I feel the same way. Once loves ones and friends have passed, it doesn't feel like home. But I'll always be a coal miner's daughter from Eastern Kentucky and very proud of it.
RIP Cumberland Gap. Goodbye Nanny and Papaw, our tobacco farm, churning butter, canning the bounty of the garden, hunting deer, picking and singing on the porch and detesting “ brought on bread “ A moon pie and a Mountain Dew was a fancy city treat. I will see you when I cross the river Jordan. Farther along we’ll know more about it.
Or splitting wood in the fall so you could stoke the woodstove in the basement and feel that good old wood heat, or the simple joy you would get from a freshly sliced watermelon and a shaker of salt, searching for 4 leaf clovers, climbing trees or catching lightning bugs or even June bugs which you might have tied to a string and fly 'em around, playing cards, etc, etc., there are just so many things that we just don't do anymore and these things are what make up the majority of the most memorable/enjoyable moments in all of my memories/life
Its not goodbye, because they and the traditions that made them are still alive in your heart and mind. Make sure to spread it while we still can in this digital age.
@@davesheil7454 Wow! You told him! Good job, mate. Any music with any mention of Christianity should be outlawed. 5 CENT FREDOS!!! You fucking Euro tart.
Yes been serving the lord since I was 14 My entire family is Christians. Thank Christ Jesus for Salvation thur repentance. I study the KJV , I like it the best. Have a nice day.
I want to put "They were all like rank Strangers to me" on my mother's grave marker, she's buried by my father and share a grave stone. My father was very beloved in the community we lived in (Gordonsville VA where Charlie Waller lived and is buried in the same cemetery).. my father was an old farmer and a scholar.. he was well sought out for his knowledge of animal husbandry and farming expertise.. people came from all around yearly to pay their respects to him. The visitors were always greeted with the best cooking and hospitality by my dear sweet mother. My father unfortunately took his own life after many years of declining health.. the funeral home could not accommodate the people who turned out for his funeral.. the streets of Gordonsville were lined that day with people my mother had made welcome in her home for years.. my father died November 3rd 1994... December 24 1995 my mother who was still grieving her loss busily made her home ready for an onslaught of visitors who normally came every Christmas Eve.. no one bothered to come see her without him being there.. little did they know or understand all that she did to make him the man that he was.. he definitely was a lucky man. My mother lived 7 years beyond my dad's death and every Christmas she prepared her home for the Christmas Eve visitors who never came again.. Rank Strangers indeed.
I used to come home from middle school and listen to bluegrass music , it was like a refuge at the time, these songs and melodies were so comforting - I had such a rough time in middle school , then i learned how to play guitar - and one of the first songs i ever learned was "man of constant sorrow" I could find validation and comfort in the words of those music more than i could the people around me - it helped to give me a better piece of mind - i also started praying more and looking into the word of god . It helped me relax .
My absolute favorite by the Stanley’s…Carter had such a beautiful voice , something really special about him. The world was made much better by the Stanley’s.
That's exactly how I feel ,My Dad& Mom & 7 of my siblings are gone on I am the only one left& I'm 77 but I love this song by the Stanley Brothers they are the best❤❤
My Dad did Session work with these fellows in the mid fifties. My little brother was named after them. For a while while we lived in Louisville, Ga, in the early sixties, Daddy would get their latest album in the mail. From them.
My Dad just passed away and he was a country singer. Our last Father's Day weekend before he passed away I videoed him singing this as his all time favorite song he sang at Cowboy Church in Farmer City, Illinois. R.I.P DAD. NO MORE RANK STRANGERS AGAIN. Normand D. Barnes Sr.
This song hits hard. I come from central Kenya Which is mountainous. Every time I go back so much has changes. My childhood friends already moved out to cities and the old people are no more.
George Shuffler is grossly under rated. The man was a master of playing exactly what the song needs, and not overplaying or showboating. He's one of those guys who can step up, nail it in 8 bars and not take away from the focus of the song. It's a fine art, and Mr. Shuffler deserves a lot more consideration than he gets.
This song hits me hard. I have lost 299 family and friends since 1990. All of the previous generation are gone and almost all of my generation. My home community is almost empty - only 8 people where almost 300 lived. Miss them.
There is only one God, He has multiple names we cannot see him, but He can see us. He has no children or wife ; He is the creator of everything, including humans. He cannot have sons, and He is not a man. He has multiple names, but we all call Him Allah. May He guide you on the path of belief, paradise, and Islam
When I was a boy, "in life's early dawn," my Naval officer dad would drop me off at my aunt's house in a little town in the Allegheny Mountains of rural Northwest Pennsylvania. I lived all year just for those weeks away from those a sterile Navy bases and the incredibly poor, cold, demeaning and unfriendly Parochial schools I had to attend. This little town was for me a Home Town full of wonderful people, exciting things to do in the creeks and forests and to be around kind and loving people, many to whom I was related to. Last time I was back there was over 20 years ago and there is almost nothing left, it is not even a town anymore, just a "township." There were no mothers or dads or friends that I could see, they knew not my name and I knew not their faces. In the gorgeous old cemetery out of town, the same beautiful marble monuments of the people who had lived there in more prosperous times were still there. This song tells it exactly the way I felt when last I visited my aunt's house, now lived in by rank strangers and people who have no idea of the dramatic lives of the generations of my family who once lived there.
I'm goin' back to those beautiful Eastern Tennessee mountains where I was born to be reunited with those I've lost.A quiet little place along Roseberry Creek,near the little town of Mascot.This beautiful bluegrass music used to play all day from a wood radio sitting atop an ammonia fridge.
I wandered again to my home in the mountains Where in youth's early dawn I was happy and free I looked for my friends but I never could find them I found they were all rank strangers to me Everybody I met seemed to be a rank stranger No mother or dad not a friend could I see They knew not my name and I knew not their faces I found they were all rank strangers to me. Now they've all moved away said the voice of a stranger To a beautiful home by a bright crystal sea And some day I'll meet them all up in Heaven Where no one will be a rank stranger to me.
Back in the late 60’s early 70’s my dad would play a 1930 era acoustic guitar and we would sing this in the little Free Will Baptist church on Sunday night.Dad’s been gone 34 years.Hard to believe sometimes.
I wandered again to my home in the mountains Where in youth's early dawn I was happy and free I looked for my friends but I never could find them I found they were all rank strangers to me Everybody I met seemed to be a rank stranger No mother or dad not a friend could I see They knew not my name and I knew not their faces I found they were all rank strangers to me Now they've all moved away said the voice of a stranger To a beautiful home by a bright crystal sea And some day I'll meet them all up in Heaven Where no one will be a rank stranger to me
My dad grew up running the mou tains of Dickinson County, Va, my Papaw never missed a conversation with Ralph and Carter, bor a show if they were local. We just recently made it to the Home on the Hills Festival and watched 2 play. Everytime I hear a banner or fiddle I think of the great men that once roamed those mountains of Dickenson County. It will always be home to me.
Retired from USMC (1978) and went back home to MA. These words describe what my heart felt. Knew no one.. Friends moved or died (Vietnam). Felt so alone and lost. No matter who sings the song, the feelings remain the same.
Your post has blessed me. From the first time I ever heard the song it made me think of soldiers coming home with PTSD... the story of one of my world War II friends who came back to his rural home in Ohio in the middle of the night... And laid down on his feather tic. he said when he woke up people just acted like he never left and he never had the heart to tell them what he'd been through in the War. another one of the veterans that I was blessed to listen to had three daughters and a wife... He was in Europe for almost a year-and-a-half after the war building barracks for the Germans that killed his only brother. He said " since the war, my life has been filled with beautiful girls. They want me to talk to them about the war. But how can I live with myself if I visit that Hell upon them?" I gave my second son the middle name "Leighton" because that was his battle-dead brother's name. He cried when I told him and brought my baby boy to him. God bless you Vietnam Vets. And Korea and all the wars since including the invisible ones still ongoing. Thanks and Love 😍.... pg 🙏✝️❣️🤗
"Perhaps the most dramatic moment in all the Stanley Brothers' hundreds of recordings occurs in the chorus of "Rank Strangers." After Carter sings the verse, Ralph enters with the words 'Everybody I met/ Seemed to be a rank stranger' in a voice that stabs like an icepick. He raised the tension in the Stanley Brothers' music to the nearly unbearable: singing above Carter's melody, he would hang on a dissonant note in anticipation of the chord that was about to arrive. Over time, these harmonies became wilder, more edgy and attention-getting - a separate drama that didn't cozy up to the melody but defied it before an ultimate reconciliation." - David Gates, The New Yorker, Aug. 20-27, 2001
I went back to the old homestead yrs ago and hardly knew anybody!! all the old timer's had long ago passed away and all my friends had died or moved far away!! was so sad!!!---David.
Such authentic music! Being from the Ouachita Mountains on the Arkansas-Oklahoma line, this music sounds like home. This is what church music and “ singin’s” sounded like when I was a little girl ( and I’m only 43)…it’s a sound and an art that has, sadly, lost popularity Brumley worked hard, and (even today)serves as a great example of what one can achieve-regardless of the small, rural area they may come from. I only wish more of the original Hartford Music Company had been preserved.
I relate to this so much! Arkansas gal here (Murfreesboro), and this really *was* what church sounded like when I was little. I know people poked fun at us, because we seemed like we were 30 years behind the times, but I *SO* loved singing harmony in choir and with groups. All those old-time tunes like "I Saw the Light", "Everybody Will Be Happy" , and "Just a Little Talk with Jesus" and so many more. What a precious heritage we had!
The harmonies, the call and response, Rank Stranger is bluegrass at it's very best. I never grow tired of hearing this song, and the Stanley Brothers had the best version of the song.
This song touches a spot in me, I left my home an what little family and friends I had at a very young age, first the Army, then roaming the world, just could not find peace . After 30 plus years I came "home' and everybody had died or moved away so I understand being a Rank Stranger and never connected again.
Yes I had the same experience. Left home early @16 joined the Army. Seen the world 🌎 returned back to my childhood home. No one recognize me, or they all moved away.
@@barrypowell829 I know what you mean, after Vietnam I was restless so some guys I served with talked me into going to South Africa where we worked training kids to fight. I worked on a freighter all over the world , time just flew by. Being the baby of family time I returned everybody was gone.
Don’t know where in the world you are Jay Walker but you ain’t alone brother, Stay strong, it can be a hard lonesome road and we don’t get an answer to the question ‘why ?’. Gary from England.
Of all the great and famous lead singers that performed with Doctor Ralph over those many years, NOBODY was as good as Brother Carter. He was such a natural. I feel honored to hear his voice one more time today. Thank you
Carter didn't perform with Ralph; Ralph performed with Carter. No question about that. All Ralph did was outlive his brother; he never outperformed or led him.
I was looking at the music chart breakers and all of them seemed to go to the Globalist In Great Britian and nothing to the U.S. Talented Bands! Nothing.
“To a beautiful home by the bright Crystal Sea” - I actually saw this in the most vivid dream I ever had several years ago. I’ll never forget that dream. It’s just this side of Heaven.
I moved far away from my homeland in search of prosperity. It is always best at home, where the heart is. And everytime I hear this song, I break down in tears becouse "one beautiful day ill meet them in heaven, where no one will be a stranger to me".
My late Paternal grandmother loved this song and all music like it she was born in 1905 and grew up in the bootheel of MO as did my grandfather. They later moved to Detroit for work in the auto industry as did so many others but always still went "down home" to visit friends and relatives.
Just like Josie Wales, we were blessed with a perspective of the people. Not the the government, not the propaganda, but a core sample of how life goes on after death goes down.
My wife rode with Ralph on their final trip. Was holding her when she passed, with the voice of Ralph's ODeath playing in my head. Learned an hour later than Ralph left at the same time, 6-23-2016, he 79 and her 59. It was the greatest feeling of peace I could have had. Jane Hilaire played the Alto Flute, the "high lonesome" of the flute family.. The only titled alto-flute chair caries her name, and am sure they play together.
Love the Stanley Brothers. There’s a story: Ralph was in the army and overseas. When he returned to the States after being away a couple years, and still in uniform, he was met by his brother, Carter, and other members of the band. They brought his banjo, and drove off for a gig. I like that story, hope you all like it too.
![Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys - Rank Strangers to Me [Live]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1eLxTZIDP_o/mqdefault.jpg)
![Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys - Rank Strangers to Me [Live]](/img/tr.png)
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
This song hits harder when you start getting older. The last few times I've gone to my old home, is to bury someone. That home starts to look a lot more strange and desolate the more of your friends and family leave this world.
I couldn’t agree more!
Yes it does hit closer to home the older we get. ive lost 2 parents and 2 good friends in 8 months time.. hopfully they;ll be waiting for me on the white crystal shore!!!
@@tapertom1351 The older we get often we know more dead folks than alive, this song really hits home with me.
Thomas Wolfe was right - you can't go home again.........
Rejoice oh young man in thy youth.
After a career in theU.S. Army, I returned to my home in East Texas. My mom and dad owned a country store for 15 years from 1967-1982. All of my friends from high school had moved away or died in Vietnam. My dad died in 1987 and my mom died in 2007. The people remaining were all "rank strangers to me."
I have listened to the Stanley Brothers for 60 years. It wasn't until I got older that I understood the true meaning of this song. It gives me chills and moist eyes every time I listen to it.
After being divorced for almost 21 years, I attended my ex-sister-in-law's funeral a few weeks ago. Once again, The people I met including my former in-laws (who I had known for over 50 years) were all rank strangers to me.
I look forward to meeting my mom and dad, relatives, friends and acquaintances in heaven - "where no one will be a rank stranger to me."
I remember my daddy listening to this song, and he would cry, I never understood as a child. Now daddy has gone up ahead, I understand...
His tears probably came from missing family and friends, some of us drifted way too long and came home to nothing and this song brings out a lot of sadness.
Something like that
I'm 72 years old now...this was my grandma's favorite song....I know exactly how it is..its sad
Absolutely
It makes me cry too. Glad I'm not alone
My dad served 2 tours in Vietnam. He told me that this song is how he felt when he returned home. So much had changed and would never be the same again😢
most vets had a hard time coming over the trauma from their tours and battles, those scars are there forever. but i always felt bad for the homeless and disabled vets. and the song makes a good point. mostly i searched it up, its about a civil war vet feeling like a stranger its mostly the moral. but i think the song can hit hard emotionally
This isn’t home. We’re just visiting. God rest your father’s soul. He’s home now.
amen@@louisbiederman620
When I got out of army hospital and made my way home ? I felt cheated! I served my country with honor just to still being called murderer !take me home lord I’m hurting so badly
Some say the song is about a civil war soldier returning home. But I think it applies to so many situations and that’s what makes it a beautiful song
I feel the same way. Once loves ones and friends have passed, it doesn't feel like home. But I'll always be a coal miner's daughter from Eastern Kentucky and very proud of it.
If this song don't grab you, you ain't got a handle.
RIP Cumberland Gap. Goodbye Nanny and Papaw, our tobacco farm, churning butter, canning the bounty of the garden, hunting deer, picking and singing on the porch and detesting “ brought on bread “ A moon pie and a Mountain Dew was a fancy city treat. I will see you when I cross the river Jordan. Farther along we’ll know more about it.
Me too
Let's not forget the great apple butter makin in the fall and the self canning of the harvest.
Or splitting wood in the fall so you could stoke the woodstove in the basement and feel that good old wood heat, or the simple joy you would get from a freshly sliced watermelon and a shaker of salt, searching for 4 leaf clovers, climbing trees or catching lightning bugs or even June bugs which you might have tied to a string and fly 'em around, playing cards, etc, etc., there are just so many things that we just don't do anymore and these things are what make up the majority of the most memorable/enjoyable moments in all of my memories/life
May God bless your memories And keep them with you forever ❤️
Its not goodbye, because they and the traditions that made them are still alive in your heart and mind. Make sure to spread it while we still can in this digital age.
Remember my daddy when he was alive listening to this song, miss you dad
They should be in the country music of fame.
People who give it a thumbs down clearly is a rank stranger to music.
I agree 100 percent...
@@looleescrogg3170 who cares?
@@davesheil7454 Wow! You told him! Good job, mate. Any music with any mention of Christianity should be outlawed.
5 CENT FREDOS!!!
You fucking Euro tart.
@@davesheil7454 lol
People is plural. They are.
Parents were married for 65 years 10 children. We grew up listening to this song. Daddy and Mama both are in heaven now. TY Stanley Brothers
Have you been born again?
Yes been serving the lord since I was 14 My entire family is Christians. Thank Christ Jesus for Salvation thur repentance. I study the KJV , I like it the best. Have a nice day.
I want to put "They were all like rank Strangers to me" on my mother's grave marker, she's buried by my father and share a grave stone. My father was very beloved in the community we lived in (Gordonsville VA where Charlie Waller lived and is buried in the same cemetery).. my father was an old farmer and a scholar.. he was well sought out for his knowledge of animal husbandry and farming expertise.. people came from all around yearly to pay their respects to him. The visitors were always greeted with the best cooking and hospitality by my dear sweet mother. My father unfortunately took his own life after many years of declining health.. the funeral home could not accommodate the people who turned out for his funeral.. the streets of Gordonsville were lined that day with people my mother had made welcome in her home for years.. my father died November 3rd 1994... December 24 1995 my mother who was still grieving her loss busily made her home ready for an onslaught of visitors who normally came every Christmas Eve.. no one bothered to come see her without him being there.. little did they know or understand all that she did to make him the man that he was.. he definitely was a lucky man. My mother lived 7 years beyond my dad's death and every Christmas she prepared her home for the Christmas Eve visitors who never came again.. Rank Strangers indeed.
@@sharonturner6480my grandmother was Eva Stanley & she married Worley Rose. They had 9 survived children. Are we related?
God bless you all
This is glorious American music.
I used to come home from middle school and listen to bluegrass music , it was like a refuge at the time, these songs and melodies were so comforting - I had such a rough time in middle school , then i learned how to play guitar - and one of the first songs i ever learned was "man of constant sorrow" I could find validation and comfort in the words of those music more than i could the people around me - it helped to give me a better piece of mind - i also started praying more and looking into the word of god . It helped me relax .
I hope your life is doing well.
My absolute favorite by the Stanley’s…Carter had such a beautiful voice , something really special about him. The world was made much better by the Stanley’s.
That's exactly how I feel ,My Dad& Mom & 7 of my siblings are gone on I am the only one left& I'm 77 but I love this song by the Stanley Brothers they are the best❤❤
My Dad did Session work with these fellows in the mid fifties. My little brother was named after them. For a while while we lived in Louisville, Ga, in the early sixties, Daddy would get their latest album in the mail. From them.
My Dad just passed away and he was a country singer. Our last Father's Day weekend before he passed away I videoed him singing this as his all time favorite song he sang at Cowboy Church in Farmer City, Illinois. R.I.P DAD. NO MORE RANK STRANGERS AGAIN. Normand D. Barnes Sr.
Hello freedom
This song hits hard. I come from central Kenya Which is mountainous. Every time I go back so much has changes. My childhood friends already moved out to cities and the old people are no more.
I've heard it said that you can never go home
This was my wife’s favorite song she passed away on memorial day. I try to play it all the time just for God bless❤
Thank you
It is five months today She passed away
George Shuffler is grossly under rated. The man was a master of playing exactly what the song needs, and not overplaying or showboating. He's one of those guys who can step up, nail it in 8 bars and not take away from the focus of the song. It's a fine art, and Mr. Shuffler deserves a lot more consideration than he gets.
Agree, 100% Folk would go to a concert just to get a glimpse of George doing his cross pick.
He was the perfect accompanist to The Great Stanleys, in the later period of their recording and performing career, before Carter left this World.
True. And of course that applies to his singing as well as his guitar playing.
I met George at Wintergrass in the '90's, real nice guy. Was playing with Jim and Jessie at the time I believe...
When i was a little girl i heard my daddy sing this pretty song❤
This song hits me hard. I have lost 299 family and friends since 1990. All of the previous generation are gone and almost all of my generation. My home community is almost empty - only 8 people where almost 300 lived. Miss them.
How can there be any thumbs down??? Thank the good Lord for the Stanley Brothers!!!Beautiful!!!!
There is only one God, He has multiple names we cannot see him, but He can see us. He has no children or wife ; He is the creator of everything, including humans. He cannot have sons, and He is not a man. He has multiple names, but we all call Him Allah. May He guide you on the path of belief, paradise, and Islam
When I was a boy, "in life's early dawn," my Naval officer dad would drop me off at my aunt's house in a little town in the Allegheny Mountains of rural Northwest Pennsylvania. I lived all year just for those weeks away from those a sterile Navy bases and the incredibly poor, cold, demeaning and unfriendly Parochial schools I had to attend. This little town was for me a Home Town full of wonderful people, exciting things to do in the creeks and forests and to be around kind and loving people, many to whom I was related to. Last time I was back there was over 20 years ago and there is almost nothing left, it is not even a town anymore, just a "township." There were no mothers or dads or friends that I could see, they knew not my name and I knew not their faces. In the gorgeous old cemetery out of town, the same beautiful marble monuments of the people who had lived there in more prosperous times were still there. This song tells it exactly the way I felt when last I visited my aunt's house, now lived in by rank strangers and people who have no idea of the dramatic lives of the generations of my family who once lived there.
Carter and Ralph Stanley are the true Godfathers of Bluegrass music.
Buddy it can't get any better this that.
RIP BOYS UP IN THEM HILLS OF HOME
this song sends chills up my spine. one of the most hauntingly beautiful songs I have ever heard.
My too brother
It's a good one.
Try "Angel band". Oooh, it will get ya!
I'm goin' back to those beautiful Eastern Tennessee mountains where I was born to be reunited with those I've lost.A quiet little place along Roseberry Creek,near the little town of Mascot.This beautiful bluegrass music used to play all day from a wood radio sitting atop an ammonia fridge.
High lonesome!
I wandered again to my home in the mountains
Where in youth's early dawn I was happy and free
I looked for my friends but I never could find them
I found they were all rank strangers to me
Everybody I met seemed to be a rank stranger
No mother or dad not a friend could I see
They knew not my name and I knew not their faces
I found they were all rank strangers to me.
Now they've all moved away said the voice of a stranger
To a beautiful home by a bright crystal sea
And some day I'll meet them all up in Heaven
Where no one will be a rank stranger to me.
Back in the late 60’s early 70’s my dad would play a 1930 era acoustic guitar and we would sing this in the little Free Will Baptist church on Sunday night.Dad’s been gone 34 years.Hard to believe sometimes.
The way Carter Stanley takes the applause, head bowed, hands by his side. Proper performer.
My sweet Daddy used to play and sing this all the time, I hear it now and I just cry!! (We had it played at his funeral)
That skipping fiddle bow after Carter says "They've all moved away" gives me chills every time.
Yessir
It’s songs like this that makes me love bluegrass music and makes the world a better place for everyone
Nobody Answered Me. Is another great song by The Stankey Brothers. It's on UA-cam.
American folk. Never forget who we are or what we once were. God and family.
Family. The so called religion is rank.
I wandered again to my home in the mountains
Where in youth's early dawn I was happy and free
I looked for my friends but I never could find them
I found they were all rank strangers to me
Everybody I met seemed to be a rank stranger
No mother or dad not a friend could I see
They knew not my name and I knew not their faces
I found they were all rank strangers to me
Now they've all moved away said the voice of a stranger
To a beautiful home by a bright crystal sea
And some day I'll meet them all up in Heaven
Where no one will be a rank stranger to me
Song poetry of heavenly beauty
My dad grew up running the mou tains of Dickinson County, Va, my Papaw never missed a conversation with Ralph and Carter, bor a show if they were local. We just recently made it to the Home on the Hills Festival and watched 2 play. Everytime I hear a banner or fiddle I think of the great men that once roamed those mountains of Dickenson County. It will always be home to me.
The Stanley bros. are truly Bluegrass Masters ❤❤❤wooooooo Johnny From Alabama
Retired from USMC (1978) and went back home to MA. These words describe what my heart felt. Knew no one.. Friends moved or died (Vietnam). Felt so alone and lost. No matter who sings the song, the feelings remain the same.
My younger bro is 100% DAV. 26 surgeries. Army medic Vietnam era. Other brother DAV same time, father died in VA
Thank you for your service. You have a home in heaven and a friend in the Lord.
Your post has blessed me. From the first time I ever heard the song it made me think of soldiers coming home with PTSD... the story of one of my world War II friends who came back to his rural home in Ohio in the middle of the night... And laid down on his feather tic. he said when he woke up people just acted like he never left and he never had the heart to tell them what he'd been through in the War. another one of the veterans that I was blessed to listen to had three daughters and a wife... He was in Europe for almost a year-and-a-half after the war building barracks for the Germans that killed his only brother. He said " since the war, my life has been filled with beautiful girls. They want me to talk to them about the war. But how can I live with myself if I visit that Hell upon them?" I gave my second son the middle name "Leighton" because that was his battle-dead brother's name. He cried when I told him and brought my baby boy to him. God bless you Vietnam Vets. And Korea and all the wars since including the invisible ones still ongoing. Thanks and Love 😍.... pg 🙏✝️❣️🤗
Bless you
my dad had that feeling after 4 years 41-45 Came hyome . knew no one.
This song is about my life. Can't believe it took my until 41 yrs old to understand this song.
"Perhaps the most dramatic moment in all the Stanley Brothers' hundreds of recordings occurs in the chorus of "Rank Strangers." After Carter sings the verse, Ralph enters with the words 'Everybody I met/ Seemed to be a rank stranger' in a voice that stabs like an icepick. He raised the tension in the Stanley Brothers' music to the nearly unbearable: singing above Carter's melody, he would hang on a dissonant note in anticipation of the chord that was about to arrive. Over time, these harmonies became wilder, more edgy and attention-getting - a separate drama that didn't cozy up to the melody but defied it before an ultimate reconciliation."
- David Gates, The New Yorker, Aug. 20-27, 2001
Thank you, David Gates/Peter Cady.
I understand why David writes for The New Yorker and I try to come up with something clever for UA-cam.
David Gates: If I cant dazzle them with brilliance, I’ll baffle them with BS…
Um.... yeah. Kinda sorta.
... and I love every single second of it.
This song brings back so many memories The Stanley Brothers are the best
One of the greatest ‘blue-grass ‘ bands ever ❤👍
Carter Stanley was the master. Gone too soon.
Carter jr. died 4 months ago, me and him was clo😢 R.I.P. Carter,we love an miss u, from yur Budd n fla
I went back to the old homestead yrs ago and hardly knew anybody!! all the old timer's had long ago passed away and all my friends had died or moved far away!! was so sad!!!---David.
This music was before my time but I can listen to it all day it never gets old. These brothers were so talented just beautiful music and harmony.
This was my Dads favorite song we played it at his funeral
Such authentic music! Being from the Ouachita Mountains on the Arkansas-Oklahoma line, this music sounds like home. This is what church music and “ singin’s” sounded like when I was a little girl ( and I’m only 43)…it’s a sound and an art that has, sadly, lost popularity
Brumley worked hard, and (even today)serves as a great example of what one can achieve-regardless of the small, rural area they may come from. I only wish more of the original Hartford Music Company had been preserved.
I relate to this so much! Arkansas gal here (Murfreesboro), and this really *was* what church sounded like when I was little. I know people poked fun at us, because we seemed like we were 30 years behind the times, but I *SO* loved singing harmony in choir and with groups. All those old-time tunes like "I Saw the Light", "Everybody Will Be Happy" , and "Just a Little Talk with Jesus" and so many more. What a precious heritage we had!
I wish I could listen with my mother one more time
THE GOLD STANDARD OF BLUEGRASS GOSPEL MUSIC
Absolutely they were!!!
This was one of my Daddy s favorite songs, God, how I miss him
The harmonies, the call and response, Rank Stranger is bluegrass at it's very best. I never grow tired of hearing this song, and the Stanley Brothers had the best version of the song.
This song makes me cry don't know why
Then in that case, you better not listen to 'Sweet Flowers Will Bloom' by Ralph. I sob every time I hear it.
i know exactly why i weep when i hear this. it describes hell on earth.
That’s how you know it’s real shit 💯
No Body Answered Me by the Stanley Brothers is a tear jerker also ! It on UA-cam .
I do not care what music you are into.... this high lonesome bluegrass oldtime music is one of the best. Especially Ralph's tenor
This song touches a spot in me, I left my home an what little family and friends I had at a very young age, first the Army, then roaming the world, just could not find peace . After 30 plus years I came "home' and everybody had died or moved away so I understand being a Rank Stranger and never connected again.
Bless you
I'm your friend brother
Yes I had the same experience. Left home early @16 joined the Army. Seen the world 🌎 returned back to my childhood home. No one recognize me, or they all moved away.
@@barrypowell829 I know what you mean, after Vietnam I was restless so some guys I served with talked me into going to South Africa where we worked training kids to fight. I worked on a freighter all over the world , time just flew by. Being the baby of family time I returned everybody was gone.
Don’t know where in the world you are Jay Walker but you ain’t alone brother, Stay strong, it can be a hard lonesome road and we don’t get an answer to the question ‘why ?’. Gary from England.
Grew up with my wonderful Daddy singing this song...miss him and all the wonderful times in Church.
This song haunts my soul,after all the other folks that play this I always end up back here
Of all the great and famous lead singers that performed with Doctor Ralph over those many years, NOBODY was as good as Brother Carter. He was such a natural. I feel honored to hear his voice one more time today. Thank you
What a beautiful voice..
I met Ralph Stanley at a concert in St. Paul, Minnesota. What a Good Ole Boy! I'll never forget that evenin'. (brush with greatness.)
After Carter died, the greatest lead singer in Ralph's band was Roy Lee Centers.
Carter didn't perform with Ralph; Ralph performed with Carter. No question about that. All Ralph did was outlive his brother; he never outperformed or led him.
Oh my! I have no words to try and explain to people that don’t listen to bluegrass how out of this world crazy good this is!
One of the best Bluegrass gospel numbers ever.
Wonderful!
I'm 26 an I was raised on this music and still listen to it
Carter Stanley the best in gospel bluegrass EVER !!
holy Christ , what talent. This IS REAL American music. No effects, filters or help...just your voice and the guitars and banjo.
I was looking at the music chart breakers and all of them seemed to go to the Globalist In Great Britian and nothing to the U.S. Talented Bands! Nothing.
One of the best songs ever written.....
“To a beautiful home by the bright Crystal Sea” - I actually saw this in the most vivid dream I ever had several years ago. I’ll never forget that dream. It’s just this side of Heaven.
I moved far away from my homeland in search of prosperity. It is always best at home, where the heart is. And everytime I hear this song, I break down in tears becouse "one beautiful day ill meet them in heaven, where no one will be a stranger to me".
My late Paternal grandmother loved this song and all music like it she was born in 1905 and grew up in the bootheel of MO as did my grandfather. They later moved to Detroit for work in the auto industry as did so many others but always still went "down home" to visit friends and relatives.
I love this song so much I have to hear it just about every day. The Stanley Brothers were the best. 🪕
Yes sir, AMEN
One of the best singing duos ever. Thanks boys.
This performance is a work of art.
Life will be, life is, life was... what a glorious circle..
This is one of the best country songs of all time ....there talent blows me away
Love this Appalachian music.
Just like Josie Wales, we were blessed with a perspective of the people. Not the the government, not the propaganda, but a core sample of how life goes on after death goes down.
My dad and mom are in heaven but I I remember them still 😢
When we get to heaven we wont be strangers, WHAT a wonderful day that will be? 🙏💞
My dad, who would be 100 if he had made it, was from Western Virginia. The Stanleys and Carter family's timeless music brings him close
Hello Barbara
Perfect harmony. Beautiful. High Lonesome Sound Bluegrass is my favorite.
perfect harmony ?
@@boanerges149 you dance with tina.
Play this song at my daddy's funeral,Carter an bill stanley live n my home town,we talk daily,ralph is their uncle Carter is their daddy
This song is so true .The people , places & things that made our youth so magical, one day you turn around and it's all gone but the faded memories.
Just wonderful.
I'm about to lose my granddad, pls pray for my family. The Long family.
Peace and blessings to you
Good bless you n your family .showing sum love from Buffalo, NY !!!
God Bless yall all !!
@@mostfab7570 w
S@@mostfab7570
Haunting song that makes me sad, but I cannot stop listening. It is part of my life.
I have heard this song thousands of times, and never tire of it
There are few that equal the Stanley Brothers. This song is a classic example of the beauty of their talent.
So true, and yet the judges of the country Music Hall of Fame continue to overlook them. Shame on them!
There is something so powerful and so peaceful about this song that sets comfort to the soul it is in the powerful force of music 🎼✨️💛🙏🏼
I'm 26 an I was raised on this music and still listen to it
I grew up listening to the Stanley brothers, this was always one of my favorites and I still love e it today!c
One of the most beautiful songs ever to be written on the english language.
A wonderful song and performance...evocative of a time gone by...a sad time
OMFW these guys were so good! People in our age do not understand how hard it is to get that kind of harmony.
I do understand, Bub. Part of the magic is how effortless they make it seem.
Listen to bill monroe s version
WHUTS HARD
@@ronniefennell2335 you're not the boss of us.
@@ronniefennell2335 we,re happy enough with what we're listening to.
Thank Goodness, these treasured masters are captured on film
This was one of my dads favorite song s i played this song at my dad's funeral great song this song is a tear jerker for sure.
Some of the greatest meaning words ever uttered. God be with us.
So sorry for the infringe on your privacy. Beautiful song. Hello
R.I.P. Ralph, my mom went to school with Ralph and Carter,though they have gone on, we have memories and music that will carry on....
And I'm his 3rd cousin
Hey Will, my father and all of his siblings went to school with Ralph and Carter (and apparently your mom too).
This song says you can’t go home again
My wife rode with Ralph on their final trip. Was holding her when she passed, with the voice of Ralph's ODeath playing in my head. Learned an hour later than Ralph left at the same time, 6-23-2016, he 79 and her 59. It was the greatest feeling of peace I could have had. Jane Hilaire played the Alto Flute, the "high lonesome" of the flute family.. The only titled alto-flute chair caries her name, and am sure they play together.
Unbelievable. They were at their best in this period. Powerful Appalachian song.
8 years later I had to bring you back 😉
@@jeremyscorpio4170 Thanks . I can't believe it was that long ago that I first saw this video. I come back and watch it all the time.
@@kayeninetwo3585 your welcome 😊
Time flies but bluegrass will never die ❤
Love the Stanley brothers!
the perfect mingling of Carter's emotional lead and Ralph's ethereal tenor.
My Daddy passed at 88 years old
He loved this song
All of us children grew up hearing this song
Mama passed first
I have 10 sibbing
Stanley Brothers were awesome. The best old-timey band of all time! Rams forever.
Bluegrass music doesn't get much better than this. What a great clip & thank you for posting.
Hell yes I cheated
Bluegrass music is so amazing. Thank you for kind of music..gotta luv it!!!
I have loved this song since I was a child. Thank you for playing it again.
Love the Stanley Brothers. There’s a story: Ralph was in the army and overseas. When he returned to the States after being away a couple years, and still in uniform, he was met by his brother, Carter, and other members of the band. They brought his banjo, and drove off for a gig. I like that story, hope you all like it too.
Some beautiful day I'll meet 'em in heaven, where no one will be a stranger to me.
Thank you Albert E. Brumley!
I was just scrolling down here wondering who wrote this incredible song... one of my very favorites! Many thanks, indeed!
Beautiful ol time music...much meaning behind it...I'm so lonesome in this world...