Lyrics
When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound,
And time shall be no more,
And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;
When the saved of earth shall gather
Over on the other shore,
And the roll is called up yonder,
I'll be there.
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.
On that bright and cloudless morning
When the dead in Christ shall rise,
And the glory of His resurrection share;
When His chosen ones shall gather
To their home beyond the skies,
And the roll is called up yonder,
I'll be there.
Let us labor for the Master
From the dawn till setting sun;
Let us talk of all His wondrous love and care.
Then when all of life is over,
And our work on earth is done,
And the roll is called up yonder,
I'll be there.
Public domain hymn text and tune (published 1893). Words and music by James M. Black.
The Story Behind the Hymn
James Milton Black was a Sunday school and youth worker at a Methodist church in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, when he took particular notice of a poor, ragged young girl named Bessie, the daughter of an alcoholic father, whom he first saw sweeping the back porch of her family's apartment. Black invited her to Sunday school, and she began attending faithfully, morning and evening.
One Sunday in 1893, Bessie was absent when the roll was called. Black remarked to his class, more or less in passing, that he trusted when the roll was called up yonder, she would be there — and found himself immediately struck by his own words. Looking for a hymn on that exact theme to sing on the spot, he could find nothing suitable in his collection. According to Wikipedia's account, Black soon after visited Bessie's home and, finding her seriously ill, called a doctor to treat her for pneumonia.
Disturbed that no hymn existed for the moment, Black resolved to write one himself on the walk home. The first stanza came to him complete before he reached his door; within about fifteen minutes of arriving, he had finished the remaining two verses and the tune as well.
The hymn spread quickly and has remained one of the most recorded gospel songs in American history, covered by artists as varied as Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, and Willie Nelson. It even reached the world stage in 1945, when British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, asked by reporters when the wartime Allied leaders would next meet, replied that he did not know, but added, only half joking, "When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there" — to the visible surprise of a British press unaccustomed to an Anglican prime minister quoting an American revival hymn.
