Burl Ives - The Ninety and Nine (Lyrics) [HD]

Burl Ives sings the traditional spiritual 'The Ninety and Nine' during the opening credits of the 1957 MGM film 'Gun Glory' directed by Roy Rowland and starring Stewart Granger and Rhonda Fleming. The lyrics are in the video and below with comments about the film and Burl Ives.

[Film Audio/Lyrics/21-Images]

The Ninety and Nine (Singer: Burl Ives)

There were ninety and nine that safely lay
In the shelter of the fold (Of the fold)
But one was out on the hills away
Far off from the gates of gold (Gates of gold)

Away on the mountain wild and bare
Away from the tender Shepard's care
Away from the tender Shepard's care

Lord, Thou hast here Thy ninety and nine
Are they not enough for Thee? (Enough for Thee?)
But the Shepard made answer
This of mine has wandered away from me (From me)

Although the road be rough and steep
I go to the desert to find my sheep
I go to the desert to find my sheep

But all through the mountains thunder-riven
And up from the rocky steep (Rocky steep)
There arose a glad cry from the gates of Heaven
Rejoice I have found my sheep (Found my sheep)

And the angels echoed 'round the throne
Rejoice for the Lord brings back his own
Rejoice for the Lord brings back his own

(Rejoice for the Lord brings back his own)
(Rejoice for the Lord brings back his own)

Songwriter: Traditional song
[Lyrics transcribed from song audio]

Wikipedia states:

Gun Glory is a 1957 American Metrocolor Western film directed by Roy Rowland starring Stewart Granger and Rhonda Fleming.

It was one of a series of Westerns MGM started making following the success of The Fastest Gun Alive.

Burl Ives was to play the preacher but had to withdraw and was replaced by Chill Wills. However the music recorded by Ives for the film was retained in the finished production.

Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American musician and actor with a career that spanned more than six decades.

Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his own radio show, The Wayfaring Stranger, which popularized traditional folk songs. In 1942, he appeared in Irving Berlin's This Is the Army and became a major star of CBS Radio. In the 1960s, he successfully crossed over into country music, recording hits such as "A Little Bitty Tear" and "Funny Way of Laughin'". Ives was also a popular film actor through the late 1940s and '50s. His film roles included parts in So Dear to My Heart (1948) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), as well as the role of Rufus Hannassey in The Big Country (1958), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.