Text:When the Saints Are Marching In
Author:Katharine E. Purvis
Tune:[Thro' the shining gate]
Composer:James Milton Black
Media:MIDI file

7651. When the Saints Are Marching In

1. Thro’ the shining gate,
Where the angels wait,
When the saints are marching in,
The redeemed shall come,
And be crowned at home,
When the saints are marching in.

Refrain
When the saints are marching in,
When the saints are marching in,
Joyful songs of salvation thro’ the sky shall ring,
When the saints are marching in.

2. Parted friends shall meet,
On the golden street,
When the saints are marching in,
Spotless robes shall wear,
Victor’s palms shall bear,
When the saints are marching in. [Refrain]

3. Ev’ry tongue and race
Shall extol God’s grace,
When the saints are marching in,
And the blood-washed throng
Shall repeat the song,
When the saints are marching in. [Refrain]

4. To the Lamb once slain,
But who lives again,
When the saints are marching in,
We shall offer praise
Thro’ eternal days,
When the saints are marching in. [Refrain]

Text Information
First Line: Thro' the shining gate
Title: When the Saints Are Marching In
Author: Katharine E. Purvis (1895)
Refrain First Line: When the saints are marching in
Language: English
Source: Songs of the Soul No. 2, by James M. Black (Cincinnati, Ohio: Curtis & Jennings, 1896)
Copyright: Public Domain
Notes: The song WHEN THE SAINTS ARE MARCHING IN...is NOT the traditional WHEN THE SAINTS ARE MARCHING IN. Even though the titles differ by a word, several authoritative music reference books list Purvis and Black as the 1896 authors of WHEN THE SAINTS ARE MARCHING IN. As a consequence, many song collections in a variety of formats--book, record, tape and CD--wrongly assign Katharine E. Purvis and James M. Black the credit for this American folk favorite. In truth, the precise origins of WHEN THE SAINTS ARE MARCHING IN is not known. At this point it is probably not possible to trace the original source of this error, or to correct it from spreading. Longtime music professor at Lycoming College, Mary Landon Russell confuses the two songs in her 1957 masters thesis at Penn State University. The earliest authoritative reference book with the error appears to be The Great Song Thesaurus by Roger Lax and Frederick Smith, published by Oxford University Press. On page 380 of the 1984 first edition, the authors wrongly attribute When the Saints Go Marching In to Katharine E. Purvis and James M. Black in 1896. Loyer, p. 14
Tune Information
Name: [Thro' the shining gate]
Composer: James Milton Black
Incipit: 55111 11165 12332
Key: A♭ Major
Copyright: Public Domain



Media
Adobe Acrobat image: Adobe Acrobat image
(Cyber Hymnal)
MIDI file: MIDI File
(Cyber Hymnal)
Noteworthy Composer score: Noteworthy Composer score
(Cyber Hymnal)
XML score: XML score

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