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Updated
09/03/2020 |
Beautiful
Isle of Somewhere
Jessie Brown Pounds |
"Beautiful Isle of Somewhere" is a
song with words by Jessie Brown Pounds and music by John
Sylvester Fearis written in 1897. The song gained huge
popularity when it was used in William McKinley's funeral. It
was a staple of funerals for decades subsequently, and there are
dozens of recorded versions. Jessie
Brown Pounds was born in Hiram, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland on
31 August 1861. She was not in good health when she was a child
so she was taught at home. She began to write verses for the
Cleveland newspapers and religious weeklies when she was
fifteen. After an editor of a collection of her verses noted
that some of them would be well suited for church or Sunday
School hymns, J. H. Fillmore wrote to her asking her to write
some hymns for a book he was publishing. She then regularly
wrote hymns for Fillmore Brothers. She worked as an editor with
Standard Publishing Company in Cincinnati from 1885 to 1896,
when she married Rev. John E. Pounds, who at that time was a
pastor of the Central Christian Church in Indianapolis.
A memorable phrase would come to her, she
would write it down in her notebook. Maybe a couple months later
she would write out the entire hymn. She is the author of nine
books, about fifty librettos for cantatas and operettas and of
nearly four hundred hymns.
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"Beautiful Isle of Somewhere" was
originally a poem entitled "Beautiful Isle" by Jessie Brown Pounds. The
words were written in the winter of 1896, during a period of miserable
weather. Persuaded or possibly forced to stay home, the words were
written within an hour's time. It was set to music by John S. Fearis,
who had purchased the poem for five dollars, and the song was published
in 1897. In 1901, the song was sung by the Euterpian Ladies Quartet
towards the beginning of the President McKinley's memorial service.
"Beautiful Isle" follows a
19th-century tradition of depicting paradise.The song was written to
contrast the difficulties on Earth with the tranquility of Heaven. The
hearer is invited to think that in the long term, "all is well" because
God is alive. The hymn has appeal at funerals because the lyrics state
that "somewhere" we will "live anew".
The song became highly popular for
decades after McKinley’s service. The tune and lyrics have been praised
as “beautiful,” but praise for the song has not been universal. Soon
after the McKinley service it was panned by The Independent as a
singular blot to the memory of the late president. Woodrow Wilson, while
governor of New Jersey, stated the song could be harmful if taught to
children, as it was "silly" and "vague." The Seventh-day Adventist
publication Signs of the Times said "Amen" to the future U.S.
President, listing it among songs "inexpressibly weak and shallow".
At the same time, John D. Rockefeller was endorsing its use in
church. In 1927, William Henry O'Connell, the Archbishop of Boston,
banned the use of the tune in funerals, calling the hymn "inane" and
"trashy." Cardinal O'Connell was concerned it was among a group of songs
composed by authors whose "maudlin sentiment" overshadowed their faith.
He threatened organists and choir directors who performed the piece with
loss of their positions. Several Boston protestant ministers joined in
criticizing the song at that time. Defenders of the hymn stated that
descriptions of paradise were necessarily allegorical, and worried the
ban would spread to other favorite hymns. A 1928 Lutheran publication
used O'Connell's exact words when it described the song as a
"sob-producer" that was a "flagrant outrage to faith and the ritual."
Later, Donald H. V. Hallock banned the use of this and other "popular"
songs from use at Episcopalian services as they did not conform to
rubric. Christian theologians have taken issue with the song because it
describes Heaven in nebulous terms. Criticisms aside, others have noted
that this sentimental song is a "joy to sing."
Lyrics by Jessie Brown Pounds
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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, where we live anew,
Beautiful Isle of Somewhere! |
Somewhere the day is longer,
Somewhere the task is done;
Somewhere the heart is stronger,
Somewhere the prize is won.
Refrain
Somewhere the load is lifted,
Close by an open gate;
Somewhere the clouds are rifted,
Somewhere the angels wait.
Refrain
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