The words of this hymn were written around 1630 and later translated into English by the poet Robert Bridges. In 1930, the Composer Herbert Howells was sent the words by a friend and apparently ...

It was written by James Weldon Johnson, who considered the piece a hymn. James Weldon Johnson's "Lift Every Voice and Sing," colloquially known as the Black national anthem, was originally written ...

Why it's a good choice: One of the most sung hymns at funerals, this is really a prayer to God to stay with him in death as He did with us in life. Henry Francis Lyte, Vicar of Brixham in Devon ...