If We Never Meet Again -- Albert E. Brumley

 

Did he test out this song on his wife Goldie? Or, was it maybe some other family member, like his father-in-law, Joe? Perhaps one of them helped Albert Edward Brumley locate a scrap of paper on which he’d scribbled some of the words of “If We Never Meet Again” in his house in Powell, Missouri. Someday, we might be able to also ask Albert if he had someone special in mind when he crafted his poem, someone who had played an especially important role in his life, like maybe Eugene Bartlett. It was wartime in 1945, when Albert’s song was on his mind, so was he pondering how many folks were trying to handle premature mortality across the world, or particularly in his community? What prompted this 40-year-old future Gospel Music/Oklahoma Music/Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer to pen these stirring words put to music?

 

There’re more than a few questions that the curious person could ask someone like Albert Brumley to answer, but you might not get many certain answers from this fellow. He had a reputation for disorganization, frankly, and whatever notes he might have made with the answers to the who/what/when/where/why of what he did might have been lost or hopelessly misfiled in his office-home. But, that habitual jumble of Albert’s music life did not prevent him from thinking clearly about what he’d compose, and upon whom he could rely as his sounding boards. His wife Goldie had a musical ear, and apparently was someone who would often listen to Albert’s tunes to size them up. His father-in-law Joe likewise reportedly evaluated Albert’s poetry for scriptural accuracy. So, perhaps Goldie and Joe played a significant role in ‘If We Never…’, although the exact setting for the song’s development is unknown. His long-time mentor and friend, Eugene Bartlett, had died four years earlier; could that have been a catalyst for Albert’s poem-song, as he reflected on the passage of someone so significant? Mr. Bartlett was, as someone else has written, Albert’s ‘good Samaritan’ (see link to the lengthy biographic sketch-obituary, below) when the dirt-poor Albert sought a start in the music business as his life’s calling in the late 1920s-early 1930s. Was Albert also considering the passage of so many others in the latter stages of World War II, as he wrote of ‘…this world and its strife’ (refrain); ‘storm clouds’ (v.2); and ‘sorrow’ and ‘pain(ful) benedictions’ (v.3)? We can only guess about the circumstances, but Albert’s state of mind is obvious. He was in what most people would consider mid-life, 40 years old, but could Albert have known for certain that he had another 32 years before death would take him? He says ‘Soon’ as the very first word of his poem, as he contemplated the end of life. And yet, he didn’t think in morbid terms ultimately, but with various phrases looked ahead to eternity. With ‘bright city’ and ‘beautiful shore’ (v.1); ‘sweet by and by’ (v.2); and ‘charming roses…forever’ and ‘separation comes no more’ (refrain), Albert infused the song with hope.

 

We can thank Albert someday, that he refused to look the other way when evidences of mortality invaded his life. This fellow, who wrote hundreds of songs in his life to articulate his convictions, met death head-on, and didn’t blink.Instead, he made musically clear, with a granite-like faith and trust, that he believed the eternal heaven his maker promised is true. One could say that Albert spent a lifetime to overcome life’s endpoint. In fact, it’s not an end, Albert says. It’s a transition, a passage to somewhere else. How do a person’s life relationships look when he goes around saying ‘If we never meet again’? Somebody might say he’s afflicted with melancholy. If that was all Albert had said, that somebody might be right. But, Albert didn’t stop there, did he? He didn’t want anyone else to finish there, either.

 

See a brief biography of composer here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/b/r/u/m/brumley_ae.htm   

 

And here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_E._Brumley

 

Also here: https://hymnary.org/person/Brumley_Albert

 

See a very good personal biography of the author here: https://www.therestorationmovement.com/_states/tennessee/brumley.htm

 

See biography on composer in Our Garden of Song, edited by Gene C. Finley, Howard Publishing Company, West Monroe, Louisiana, 1980.

Just Over in the Gloryland -- James W. Acuff

 

He was completely focused on the future. In the moments that he used to think about the time and place where he planned to be “Just Over in the Gloryland”, James Warren Acuff thought about more than the Georgetown, Texas hill country (see the map-picture) where he lived. Much more. Perhaps it was all of those church gatherings with like believers that spurred his joyful poetry about the people with whom he planned to spend that future. In his mind, James could also see and hear throngs singing, not unlike the crowds with whom he’d sung on numerous occasions, and so he embraced that vision in his poetry too. The surroundings and the place where he’d reside, no doubt more magnificent than he could describe, were also among James’ thoughts, but the biggest boon to this future was the Giver of that place. This Giver was someone that James mentioned throughout his poem. You can probably guess who James most longed to see.

 

James Acuff was 42 when his Gloryland vision-song was written and-or published in 1906, and he had already done enough in his native Texas to think of that as a stepping stone to his next abode. (By the way, he apparently was not related to Roy Acuff, the famous Country-Western singer from Tennessee who was born almost 40 years after James). He evidently was well regarded among the churches of the central Texas area as a singer and song writer, whose God-given talents were often solicited for large meetings, something that James was ready to answer eagerly for nearly 50 years. One can imagine that James felt these occasions were a foretaste of what he imagined in his heart and mind would crown his life and the lives of those with whom he sang. This kind of thrill just would not end, as he saw it. To ‘…sing God’s praise’ (v.2), including with a ‘…shout’ and ‘glad hosannas’ (v.4) was the language of where James and his spiritual family would be, so best to practice speaking in this tongue before one arrived there, right? James did not limit his musical gift to standing before a crowd to urge praises, or to writing a few hymns for use on those occasions. He also played a role in collecting and publishing songs in hymnals, through a company in Austin, effectively multiplying hymn-singing beyond himself and the assemblies he personally led. Was this James’ way of further visualizing the countless multitude that would lift their voices in heaven, including ‘the happy angel band’ (refrain)? James also had no lingering doubts about who was responsible for this future, the God whom he lauded in every verse. ‘Savior’, ‘God’, ‘Lord’, ‘Christ, the Lord and King’, were the names of the creator and caretaker of this Gloryland that leapt off James’ tongue. We may not be aware of the fine details of the day or hours in which James put together the words and music about this ‘Gloryland’, but isn’t it obvious what stirred his heart?

 

He loved God, and he cherished the moments when he could join with others in songs toward the King above. Perhaps James included the word ‘Just’ in his song to remind those earthly strugglers that the heaven where all believers can journey is not far. We can guess that all those times that James and his friends gathered to sing might have included prayers for each other and the challenges faced every day, too. Someone is sick, perhaps severely; a job has been lost, and how do I take care of myself and my family? Other countless anxieties afflict us humans, even us believers who plan to inherit a glorified flesh. James was not immune to these same troubles. He happened to notice that the next place is just a little bit away, though. Can you see it, like James did?       

 

See biography on author here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/a/c/u/f/acuff_jw.htm

 

See all the verses and the refrain here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/j/u/s/t/justover.htm

Hilltops of Glory – John Roy Harris

 

Did he write something that perhaps emerged from his own experience and-or from the stories he read from a book in his hands? Something in his own circumstances or study led John Roy Harris to visualize “Hilltops of Glory” when he was 29 years old in 1944. By this time in his life Roy was most likely in north-central Kansas (perhaps in or near Cawker City, in Mitchell County – see the map-picture), where he taught school and preached bible messages as a young man. He had learned something about climbing hills, apparently, and so he persuaded others to do the same. Look upward and press onward toward that goal, though its location may require physical and emotional energy that challenges and even threatens you with overexertion. Judging from what Roy had to say, he thought the objective was worth the effort.  

 

Roy Harris’ upbringing and his apparent awareness of biblical scripture must have contributed to his outlook and what he would write in 1944. Some brief biographical information about Roy indicates he was raised on a southern Missouri farm surrounded by the Ozarks, a moderately mountainous region in the southeastern plains of the American continent. Roy probably could tell of many times when climbing hills was part of daily life as a youngster engaged in farm chores. Harris didn’t stop climbing hills even after he left the farm and went to Indiana University and Southwest Missouri State College. And, singing schools and preaching were part of the hike for Roy. From what he wrote in three verses and a refrain of poetry, Roy was also very familiar with bible stories that tell of ancient characters who likewise needed to hike steep terrain for one reason or other. Two episodes could have been in Roy’s mind when he wrote about Moses (Exodus 17:9-10) in his second verse; and about Jesus (verse three) who reminded His followers to be lights upon a hill that everyone can see (Matthew 5:14). Can you hear the farm kid and the bible teacher emerging from Roy’s poetry? Others might have complained that the terrain caused muscle ache, but Roy speaks of ‘rejoicing’ and of an assurance that everything is ‘new’ (v.1) on the hilltop. While others might have noticed that the hilltop spot makes its occupant obvious to even one’s enemies, Roy considered that position ‘safe…’ (refrain). For Roy, the uphill journey evidently engendered a physical and emotional fitness that doesn’t end once the peak is conquered. That’s because the expedition is ongoing, like it was for Moses, who was ‘…always ascend (ing)’ (v.2), and for Jesus’ followers who are on a ‘life’s journey…on the upward trail’ (v.3). We don’t stop exercising and begin relaxing on the sofa because we’ve ‘arrived’. That’s because Roy didn’t see a single hilltop, but multiple ones. Apparently, Roy would climb one hill, and then look for the next one. He climbed many hills on that southern Missouri farm, probably urged on by others nearby who were doing the same.

 

And, is it possible that Roy heard and learned about something else from the time in which he wrote, in the early and mid-1940s? Millions of men went off to war, an event that touched virtually the entire civilized world. Even if Roy was not in uniform, he may have heard about sergeants who drilled their troops with a song on their lips, in order to motivate each other onward and upward. And, the folks at home who rationed food and other products so that the troops could be supplied must have also felt they were linking arms with the soldiers, joining in the struggle of World War II. This generation may have thought this was the biggest hill they ever climbed, and rightfully celebrated when it was over and they realized they had survived. But, does climbing really end? Comradeship, shared struggle and triumph, toning the mind and body – all that happens by climbing. That part came through to Roy; he recommended this for ‘each passing day’ (v.1), and ‘never turn (ing) backward’ (v.2). That’s the perspective one gains as you take more steps, and go higher and higher up that slope. Is that peak closer than it was yesterday?

 

 

See brief information on the author here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/h/a/r/r/i/s/harris_r.htm

 

See biography on composer in Our Garden of Song, edited by Gene C. Finley, Howard Publishing Company, West Monroe, Louisiana, 1980.