This one works well as a banjo gospel number, using only three chords, G, D7, and C. The sheet music also includes the D and B minor, but you can get by without them if you prefer. Just substitute D7 for the D and G for the B minor.
This lyrics to this hymn were written in 1873 or thereabouts by DeWitt C. Huntington, a Methodist Episcopal minister serving, at that time, in Syracuse, New York. Soon afterwards, the poem was published in a newspaper and Tullius C. O'Kane, a traveling salesman for the Smith American Organ Company of Boston, Massachusetts, saw the poem in the paper and cut it out. He had a collection of poems he intended to put to music some day, and added "The Home Over There" to the stack. Some time later, on a Sunday afternoon, he was leafing through his collection when the poem caught his attention. He went to the organ, sat down and touched the keys, and the music to the hymn came pouring out. It's been a favorite ever since.
The earliest recording of "The Home Over There" may have been
this one, recorded in the 1920's by Smith's Sacred Singers, an amateur "shape-note" singing group led by J. Frank Smith, a Methodist teacher based in Braselton, Georgia. It's since been recorded by many others, perhaps most notably by Tennessee Ernie Ford.
The Home Over There
O think of the home over there,
By the side of the river of light,
Where the saints, all immortal and fair,
Are robed in their garments of light.
Over there, over there,
O think of the home over there,
Over there, over there,
O think of the home over there.
O think of the friends over there,
Who before us the journey have trod,
Of the songs that they breathe on the air,
In their home in the palace of God.
Over there, over there,
O think of the friends over there,
Over there, over there,
O think of the friends over there.
My Savior is now over there,
There my kindred and friends are at rest,
Then away from my sorrow and care,
Let me fly to the land of the blest.
Over there, over there,
My Savior is now over there,
Over there, over there,
My Savior is now over there.
I’ll soon be at home over there,
For the end of my journey I see;
Many dear to my heart, over there,
Are watching and waiting for me.
Over there, over there,
I’ll soon be at home over there,
Over there, over there,
I’ll soon be at home over there.
Lead Sheet
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