I wonder as I wander, out under the sky,
how Jesus the Saviour did come for to die
for poor ordinary people like you and like I;
I wonder as I wander, out under the sky.
When Mary birthed Jesus, ‘twas in a cow’s stall
with wise men and farmers and shepherd and all.
but high from God’s heaven a star’s light did fall,
and the promise of ages it did then recall.
If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing,
a star in the sky, or a bird on the wing,
or all of God’s angels in heaven for to sing,
he surely could have it, ‘cause he was the King.
I wonder as I wander, out under the sky,
how Jesus the Saviour did come for to die
for poor ordinary people like you and like I,
I wonder as I wander, out under the sky.
©John Jacob Niles in 1933, based on an Appalachian folk song
he heard sung by Annie Morgan in Murphy, North Carolina

