The Exiles of Eden

This broadside, The Exiles of Eden, as well as The Good Shepherd, The Happy Man, An Invitation to Reformation, and The Union, include exhortations to forsake worldly vice for Christian blessings and some give conversion experiences as well. It is interesting that none of them bears an imprint. It is possible that they were ordered and purchased in bulk by itinerant missionaries.

The Exiles of Eden is a parody of Thomas Campbell’s popular Irish lament “Erin Go Brah” or “Exile of Erin”—see Erin Go Brah and The New Erin Go Bragh. Here the song has been transformed into a religious exhortation to the “tiplers,” vain youths, misers, Deists, and “bold Atheists.” Even the illustrations refer to the text, being images of city and country taverns. The song begins in the Old Testament with Adam and Eve but by the end of the second verse has moved into the New Testament. The song must have been enormously popular in its time. There are nine different broadside editions in the Harris collection at Brown University and the text was printed in seventeen songsters between 1807 and 1815 (Catalog 26; R. Keller,  Early American Songsters). The tune setting is the same as the original song, “Savournah Delish” (see Erin Go Brah).