James M. Black

Gospel song writer and composer James Milton Black was born today in 1856 near Ithaca, New York. Not much of his early life is recorded, but near the start of his career he worked with song writer Daniel B. Towner, who was the music director at the Moody Bible Institute.

He began to write his own songs, both words and music, and later would write tunes for the texts of others.  He is reported to have written nearly 1,500 gospel songs, though, as we have seen with other prolific writers, the songs that were actually published may have been somewhat fewer.  Black also edited several collections of gospel songs.

Around 1881 he settled in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where he would live until his death in 1938.  For several years he was active in the Pine Street Methodist Episcopal Church, where he served as a song leader and Sunday school teacher.

In spite of his great body of work, only one of his songs remains well-known today.  Hymnary.org has documented 332 hymnals and songbooks thus far that contain this song, and it is still appearing in new collections.

When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more,
And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;
When the saints of earth shall gather over on the other shore,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

Refrain
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 the Resurrection share;
When the faithful souls shall gather to their home beyond the skies,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.
Refrain

Let us labor for the Savior 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.
Refrain

James M. Black, 1893; alt.
Tune: THE ROLL (15.11.15.11.with refrain)

Black was extremely proud of this song, perhaps to a fault. He is said to have requested a large copyright fee to reprint it, claiming that it was "the greatest gospel song that has ever been written for the last twenty-five years."  Years later, he served on the committee that produced the Methodist Hymnal of 1905 (which did not include his famous song).

More recently,  Black has been erroneously credited in a number of books as the composer of a song made famous by Louis Armstrong, When the saints go marching in.  However, Black's song is actually When the saints are marching in, which bears no real resemblance to the other.