When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder

The story of this hymn

James Milton Black taught a young people's Sunday class in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Calling the roll one evening in 1893, he came to the name of a girl from a poor home who did not answer, and found himself thinking that when the roll is called in heaven, none should be missing. Finding no hymn that said it, he wrote both words and tune himself. It has been sung at funerals with rising, defiant joy ever since — not least across South Africa.

Where it sits in the service

This is the hymn for a congregation that means to sing grief down — best placed at the close of the service or at the graveside, taken at a steady march and never dragged. The verses run long: set each line unbroken on its own line if the page allows, and print the chorus once.

In the programme, list it in the order of service as “Hymn — When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder” with the leader or choir named beside it.

How it is actually sung

Vigorous, joyful and firmly in the homegoing tradition. It is not a hymn for the committal — it belongs earlier in the order, where the service is still celebrating rather than parting, and placing it at the graveside jars badly. Four verses with a refrain. A congregation that knows it will sing it loudly and at pace, which is entirely the point of choosing it.

Printing the words

Public domain. Print all four verses and the refrain; this is a hymn people sing at volume and lose their place in.

This is practical guidance rather than legal advice. Reproduction rights vary by territory, by hymnal edition and by the licence your church holds — the church office is the right place to ask, and they answer this question often.