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[O brother, have you heard the story]

Appears in 3 hymnals Composer and/or Arranger: Jno. R. Sweney Incipit: 51112 33325 22234 Used With Text: Sinners Are Coming Home

Author: Rev. Johnson Oatman, Jr. Appears in 4 hymnals First Line: O brother, have you heard the story Refrain First Line: Then shout, shout the good news Used With Tune: [O brother, have you heard the story]

Instances

Published text-tune combinations (hymns) from specific hymnals

Sinners Are Coming Home

Author: Rev. Johnson Oatman, Jr. Hymnal: Melodies of Salvation #149 (1901) First Line: O brother, have you heard the story Refrain First Line: Then shout, shout the good news Lyrics: 1 O brother, have you heard the story? O brother, have you heard the story? O let us all give God the glory, For sinners are coming home. Chorus: Then shout, shout the good news, Shout, shout the good news; Then shout, shout the good news, For sinners are coming home. 2 O sing, for Jesus now rejoices O sing, for Jesus now rejoices And heaven rings with happy voices, For sinners are coming home. [Chorus] 3 The golden harps are sweetly sounding, The golden harps are sweetly sounding, And Christian hearts with joy are bounding, For sinners are coming home. [Chorus] 4 Oh, don’t you hear the angels singing? Oh, don’t you hear the angels singing? While with the news they’re upward winging, For sinners are coming home. [Chorus] Languages: English Tune Title: [O brother, have you heard the story]

Sinners Are Coming Home

Author: Rev. Johnson Oatman, Jr. Hymnal: Melodies of Salvation #149 (1900) First Line: O brother, have you heard the story Refrain First Line: Then shout, shout the good news Languages: English Tune Title: [O brother, have you heard the story]

Sinners Are Coming Home

Author: Rev. Johnson Oatman, Jr. Hymnal: Songs of Love and Praise No. 5 #203 (1898) First Line: O brother, have you heard the story? Refrain First Line: Then shout, shout the good news Languages: English Tune Title: [O brother, have you heard the story?]

People

Authors, composers, editors, etc.

Johnson Oatman, Jr.

1856 - 1922 Person Name: Rev. Johnson Oatman, Jr. Author of "Sinners Are Coming Home" in Melodies of Salvation Johnson Oatman, Jr., son of Johnson and Rachel Ann Oatman, was born near Medford, N. J., April 21, 1856. His father was an excellent singer, and it always delighted the son to sit by his side and hear him sing the songs of the church. Outside of the usual time spent in the public schools, Mr. Oatman received his education at Herbert's Academy, Princetown, N. J., and the New Jersey Collegiate Institute, Bordentown, N. J. At the age of nineteen he joined the M.E. Church, and a few years later he was granted a license to preach the Gospel, and still later he was regularly ordained by Bishop Merrill. However, Mr. Oatman only serves as a local preacher. For many years he was engaged with his father in the mercantile business at Lumberton, N. J., under the firm name of Johnson Oatman & Son. Since the death of his father, he has for the past fifteen years been in the life insurance business, having charge of the business of one of the great companies in Mt. Holly, N. J., where he resides. He has written over three thousand hymns, and no gospel song book is considered as being complete unless it contains some of his hymns. In 1878 he married Wilhelmina Reid, of Lumberton, N.J. and had three children, Rachel, Miriam, and Percy. Excerpted from Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers by Jacob Henry Hall; Fleming H. Revell, Co. 1914

John R. Sweney

1837 - 1899 Person Name: Jno. R. Sweney Composer of "[O brother, have you heard the story]" in Melodies of Salvation John R. Sweney (1837-1899) was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and exhibited musical abilities at an early age. At nineteen he was studying with a German music teacher, leading a choir and glee club, and performing at children’s entertainments. By twenty-two he was teaching at a school in Dover, Delaware. Soon thereafter, he was put in charge of the band of the Third Delaware Regiment of the Union Army for the duration of the Civil War. After the war, he became Professor of Music at the Pennsylvania Military Academy, and director of Sweney’s Cornet Band. He eventually earned Bachelor and Doctor of Music degrees at the Academy. Sweney began composing church music in 1871 and became well-known as a leader of large congregations. His appreciators stated “Sweney knows how to make a congregation sing” and “He had great power in arousing multitudes.” He also became director of music for a large Sunday school at the Bethany Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia of which John Wanamaker was superintendent (Wanamaker was the founder of the first major department store in Philadelphia). In addition to his prolific output of hymn melodies and other compositions, Sweney edited or co-edited about sixty song collections, many in collaboration with William J. Kirkpatrick. Sweney died on April 10, 1899, and his memorial was widely attended and included a eulogy by Wanamaker. Joe Hickerson from "Joe's Jottings #9" used by permission