How Beautiful Heaven Must Be: A Song History
"How Beautiful Heaven Must Be" is a gospel song with words by Mrs. A. S. Bridgewater and music by A. P. Bland.[1][2] The Cyber Hymnal dates the text to 1920, gives Bland's full name as Andy Pickens Bland, and lists its source as The Silver Star, a 1920 book by B. B. and G. M. Bateman published by Bateman Brothers of Knoxville.[3] Hymnary.org's biographical note identifies the lyricist as Cordie Bridgewater, a Baptist from North Carolina and the wife of A. Samuel Bridgewater, and adds, on the authority of J. Wiegand, that she was living in Alabama at the 1910 census.[1] When the song appeared in the 1933 collection Sweet Heaven, its copyright notice named Bland as owner.[2]
Samuel Palmer, The Golden Hour, watercolor and gouache, 1865. A golden evening landscape, shown for the hymn's vision of heaven.
Victor recorded it several times in the 1930s: the Discography of American Historical Recordings lists four Victor matrices of it that credit Bland, the earliest two made by the Vagabonds on 26 April 1933.[4] Asher Sizemore and Little Jimmie sang it in San Antonio, Texas, on 2 April 1934, and that take came out on Bluebird B-5568.[5] On 12 October 1936 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bill and Charlie Monroe, recording as the Monroe Brothers with mandolin and guitar, cut it under the title of its opening line for release on Bluebird B-6676.[6]
Hymnals have kept printing it: Hymnary.org counts it in 165 hymnals, ties it to Revelation 21, and lists recent printings such as Hymns for Worship (1987) and Best of Southern Gospel (2016).[1] Neal Walters and Heidi Cerrigione, members of a band known as The Doofus, include it in The Doofus - Occasional Number 2 - 18 Traditional Gospel Favorites For Autoharp, a book of their autoharp arrangements in sheet-music form.[7]
Sources
- Hymnary.org: "How Beautiful Heaven Must Be" (text).
- Hymnary.org: "How Beautiful Heaven Must Be" (Sweet Heaven, 1933, #65).
- Hymnary.org: "How Beautiful Heaven Must Be" (The Cyber Hymnal #12160).
- Discography of American Historical Recordings: "A. P. Bland".
- Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Victor matrix BVE-82753. How beautiful heaven must be / Little Jimmie ; Asher Sizemore".
- Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Victor matrix BS-02543. We read of a place that's called heaven / Monroe Brothers".
- Neal Walters and Heidi Cerrigione: "The Doofus - Occasional Number 2 - 18 Traditional Gospel Favorites For Autoharp".
- Image: Samuel Palmer, The Golden Hour, watercolor and gouache, 1865. The Cleveland Museum of Art.