# Music by Genre > Bluegrass, Newgrass, Country, Gospel Variants >  Rank Stranger Question

## levin4now

Anyone know the story, or meaning, behind the song "Rank Stranger"? Is it literally about a story about someone returning home after a long time away and either a) he didn't know the people anymore and vice versa, b) he/they have changed so much, they weren't the same people he once knew; or is it a little more spiritual than literal?

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## ronlane3

I think it is more spiritual than that. JMHO.

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## Vincent

who really knows? heck, I'm still trying to figure out what Billy Joe and that girl were throwin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge...

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## Spencer

"I looked for my friends, but I never could find them, I found they were all Rank Strangers to me"

A bit later:

"They've all moved away, said the voice of a stranger, to a beautiful home, by the bright crystal sea" (or pretty close to that from memory).

All friends and loved ones dead and gone to my ear.

Spencer

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## tree

My gospel group plays Rank Strangers - beautiful song. #At one revival where we played it, the lay speaker who introduced us remarked that he grew up in the mountains of southwest Virginia, and the song had stirred memories from his childhood of his grandmother's funeral, where local musicians playing similar instruments had "sung the sister home" on the way to the graveyard with that song. #Later, he explained that he understood it to be inspired by soldiers returning home from the Civil War (or as we say down here, the Late Unpleasantness) to find that their families were gone. #I believe Rank Strangers is credited to Albert Brumley, a gospel songwriter and publisher, sometime in the 1920s. #He is also credited with I'll Fly Away, and Turn Your Radio On, and many other gospel tunes.

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## Moose

Ahhhh, man, I'm still try'n to understand the "true" meaning behind "Salty Dog"!!! - Just do the song and enjoy it! - leave the analyization(s) to the Folklorists..., Musicologists.., Pi###a-coglists and/or other assorted social scientists! - Sorry I just had to "vent" - Carry on. Moose.

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## tree

Hey big guy, chill out. #Just because it doesn't interest you doesn't mean everybody feels that way.

For the longest time I wondered about the cryptic lyrics, just like the original post. #We even commented to that effect when we performed it. #The guy that explained it to us, after hearing us do it, was obviously moved by the memories that the song stirred up in him.

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## Moose

Again, sorry I "vented" - "Joe don't let your music kill ya', nobody cares"(source: Tom T. Hall) - Best o' luck & regards. Moose.

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## Scotti Adams

I would happen to think that the word "rank" means just what it appears to mean...but what the song fails to mention is what "rank" the soldiers are when they returned home to....find the voice of a stranger..and so the song begins...

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## GVD

> Moose Posted 
> 
> Ahhhh, man, I'm still try'n to understand the "true" meaning behind "Salty Dog"!!! - Just do the song and enjoy it! - leave the analyization(s) to the Folklorists..., Musicologists.., Pi###a-coglists and/or other assorted social scientists! - Sorry I just had to "vent" - Carry on. Moose.
> 
> tree Posted on
> 
> Hey big guy, chill out. Just because it doesn't interest you doesn't mean everybody feels that way.


tree, Moose is just as entitled to his opinion as you are of yours. If you post something on this board and expect everyone to agree with you you're barking up the wrong tree. I see from your profile that you've only been around here for about a month so you probably don't know much about Moose but beleive me he's probably forgot more about music than you or me will ever learn. Does he always express them in the most PC way? Maybe not but he's not doing it to be spiteful. FWIW I happen to agree with him that we would all probably be better off if we just felt and enjoyed the music rather than analyzing it to death.  




> Scotti Adams
> 
> I would happen to think that the word "rank" means just what it appears to mean...but what the song fails to mention is what "rank" the soldiers are when they returned home to....


There are 8 meanings in Merriam-Websters Online Dictionary so I guess I'm more confused than ever. But the one I always thought of when heard the song was _4 a : shockingly conspicuous_. 

GVD

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## EasyEd

Hey All,

An here I thought rank stranger was about people who didn't use deodorant!  Thanks for educatin me folks!

Take Care! -Ed-

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## mandopete

Censored by Mandolin Cafe 2 time(s)?

Man, I thought I was the only person to be censored!

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## EasyEd

Hey All,

Mandopete - I've no doubt (know in fact) that many people have been censored here. Censorship is as fundamentally wrong as yelling "fire" in a crowded movie theatre. If one thinks about it my last sentence covers both extremes. I will keep count even if only to: 1) let people know what kind of site this is; and, 2) to give pause to the censors.

Take Care! -Ed-

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## tree

GVD - If you check my posts against the original post, you will find that I'm directly on topic. #No offense to Moose or you intended. Can't change the date I signed on here, though I lurked for about a year before I dared to post. #Been picking for 35 years. #Have a lovely day!

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## J. Mark Lane

I just looked it up, and the word "rank" refers to smelling bad. I'm pretty sure that this is related to "Salty Dog." I think most of the strangers smelled bad, and so that was the reason for the need for the salty dog. 

Hope this helps.

Mark

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## Tim

> There are 8 meanings in Merriam-Websters Online Dictionary so I guess I'm more confused than ever. But the one I always thought of when heard the song was _4 a : shockingly conspicuous_.


The one I thought of was 4b: # b : OUTRIGHT -- used as an intensive &lt;rank beginners&gt;

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## OdnamNool

Wuh, wuh, wuh.... _hmmmmmmm?_

First of all, Mark, I find it hard to believe that you would have to look up the meaning of, "rank."

Second of all... no... it doesn't help...

I already told you Bozo's the meaning... #_Anything wrong with that?_

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## picksnbits

OdnamNool,

Do you happen to possess a "fist of death"?

Just curious.

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## Moose

PHEW!!!

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## csstanley

And to think that we're talking about a "spiritual."

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## Moose

Here's my final(!?#) observation - I think we ALL agree: (1) Rank Stranger is a BEAUTIFUL song - (2) It is a "classic" Stanley Brothers song - regardless of WHO wrote it.

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## OdnamNool

Oh no... #I'm really afraid to ask... #Dare I ask?

Now no wise cracks... if it's somethin' that can't be said, here... well... then nevermind...

But, ur... #(huddled over in my chair, knees tightly clintched together, toes pointin' in, hands held tightly over eyes and face...) #Ur... #_What is a "fist of death?"_ # # (gulp.)

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## OdnamNool

Whoops! #Uh-oh... #May day! #May day!

I just re-read my first post... #What I meant was that I told you folks the meaning of, "Salty Dog," not rank...

Oh.... #well.... #I still don't get it...

Moose? #Mark? #Mr. Ed? Anyone care to explain? #I should probably just shut up...

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## David M.

This one got lost in a hurry, didn't it?

Great song and fun to sing w/someone who can hit the high "..everybody I met..." part.

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## AlanN

yeah, a bear to do right, like "Jordan".

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## Moose

Hey OdnamNool!...ol' buddy - Yes - shut up.., pop-a-top, an' let's PICK!(an' if yer'in tune...,yer' fired!) - Regards, Moose.

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## Vincent

Hitting that note pretty much defines the key for folks I've sung this with. Very pleasing how the parts move in and out. Not as "barbershop" as some other older gospel call and response songs, with the falsetto responses.

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## John Ritchhart

"Fist of Death" --- obscure reference to Dilbert character who manages frustration by whispering "must...control....fist ..of ..death!" whenever her boss says something really stupid.

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## Bobbie Dier

Let's have a sing along. 

 Everybody I met(echo) everybody I met. Seemed to be a rank stranger(echo) seemed to be a rank stranger. I love that song. 

Ok I'll shut up too. Just a girl having a little fun.

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## bnjrpkr

I once looked up the word Rank in an older dictionary.One of the meanings was "complete".Bear in mind that the song was written in the 30's,and the word has fallen into disuse,or worse yet misuse.
 What the song is saying is,if you're home is in heaven,you'll find lots of friends when you get there.
 It's a Brumley tune,is it not?

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## Moose

Now..., somebody.., get that real high part! - "Ev'er body I met..., -

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## Danny Boy

Rank Stranger definition.....

This was copied from Definitions.com. - it seems to indicate that a "rank stranger" has basically the same meaning as "a complete stranger".  In other words, someone that you absolutely don't know.  I tried to convince my wife that it meant a stranger that stinks, but she wouldn't buy it, since it is a spiritual or a religious type song. 

(9. adj) absolute, downright, out-and-out(a), rank(a), right-down, sheer(a) 
complete and without restriction or qualification; sometimes used informally as intensifiers
"absolute freedom"; "an absolute dimwit"; "a downright lie"; "out-and-out mayhem"; "an out-and-out lie"; "a rank outsider"; "many right-down vices"; "got the job through sheer persistence"; "sheer stupidity")

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## Ivan Kelsall

Danny Boy - you beat me to it !. The word 'Rank' in the context of this song does mean a 'complete' or 'real' stranger. Somebody _totally_ unknown to the narrator / singer. It is a superb song & one of the first that i ever hears the Stanley Brothers perform. Another song in the same vein, "The Fields Have Turned Brown" is also a very moving song,
                                                                                                                         Ivan

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j-hill

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## jr_ Morgan

rank 2  (rngk)
adj. rank·er, rank·est
1. Growing profusely or with excessive vigor: rank vegetation in the jungle.
2. Yielding a profuse, often excessive crop; highly fertile: rank earth.
3. Strong and offensive in odor or flavor.
4. Conspicuously offensive: rank treachery. See Synonyms at flagrant.
5. Absolute; complete: a rank amateur; a rank stranger.
[Middle English ranc, from Old English, strong, overbearing; see reg- in Indo-European roots.]


this is a old term for a person as the dictionary says .. a complete stranger ... rank stranger .... or a  absolute stranger.... maybe one should look things up if one does not know ???.....I'm just saying !!!!!!

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## OldSausage

When a writer chooses a word, he or she is usually aware of all of its possible meanings and implications, they may aim for ambiguity or court the possibility of multiple interpretations. Or they might not. You know, depends how they feel.

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## allenhopkins

After a three-year repose, the thread arises from the archive…

How would you "rank" this thread, in terms of longevity…?

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## OldSausage

I'd rank it stranger than fiction.

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## greg_tsam

That's pretty rank of you, Old Sausage, and I figured Old sausage would be rank enough on it's own.  I've seen 3 or 4 of these revived threads this week.  Must certainly be a record, you reckon?

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## Tom Cherubini

Rank: adj. (esp. of something bad or deficient) complete and utter (used for emphasis): rank stupidity | rank amateurs | a rank outsider.

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## OldSausage

> That's pretty rank of you, Old Sausage, and I figured Old sausage would be rank enough on it's own.  I've seen 3 or 4 of these revived threads this week.  Must certainly be a record, you reckon?


Google seems to favor this section of Mandolin Cafe. The ones I've been responsible for reviving were because I was posting tab and when you Google for tab for the song, those are the threads you get. I have a certain fondness for zombie threads, too.

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## Paul Kotapish

> It's a Brumley tune,is it not?


As long as we're picking up the old scent on this rank thread, here's a little response to bnjrpkr's query from nine years ago.

Albert Brumley did indeed pen the song in question, along with "I'll Fly Away," "Turn Your Radio On," and a bunch of other gospel songs that have become bluegrass standards.

http://www.oldstatehouse.com/exhibit....asp?a=201&g=2

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