Scripture Verse

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. Revelation 21:23

Introduction

portrait

Words: Jes­sie B. Pounds, 1897. One Sun­day morn­ing, when she had been mar­ried on­ly a few weeks, Jes­sie as not feel­ing well, so her hus­band John went to church with­out her (Cen­tral Chris­tian Church, In­di­an­apo­lis, In­di­ana). Jes­sie stayed home and be­gan me­di­tat­ing on Hea­ven; by the time John re­turned, she had pro­duced these words.

The Eu­ter­pe­an Quar­tette sang this song at the 1901 fu­ne­ral of as­sas­sin­at­ed Am­eri­can pre­si­dent Will­iam Mc­Kin­ley. It as re­port­ed­ly his fa­vo­rite song. Wi­ki­pe­dia re­ports the song has been per­formed by, among oth­ers, Gene Au­try (1939), Ed­dy Ar­nold (1951), the Black­wood Bro­thers (1960), and the An­drews Sist­ers (1965).

Music: John S. Fea­ris (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Jessie Pounds (1861–1921)

Lyrics

Somewhere the sun is shin­ing,
Somewhere the song­birds dwell;
Hush, then, thy sad re­pin­ing,
God lives, and all is well.

Refrain

Somewhere, some­where,
Beautiful Isle of Some­where!
Land of the true, here we live anew,
Beautiful Isle of Some­where!

Somewhere the day is long­er,
Somewhere the task is done;
Somewhere the heart is strong­er,
Somewhere the guer­don on.

Refrain

Somewhere the load is lift­ed,
Close by an op­en door;
Somewhere the clouds are rift­ed,
Somewhere the ang­els sing.

Refrain