[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, ML...I love this song. So many, many versions.

Here are a couple.

Some Country Greats ~ Will The Circle Be Unbroken

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bRJLkNqNXI

The Carter Family

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjHjm5sRqSA

June and Johnny Cash and Pop Staples

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sPc8ahc7iI

[left that other site]

Thank you! :-)

[Fiji Hill]

The words to “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” were written by Ada Ruth Habershon, an Englishwoman who associated with the highly influential American evangelists Ira Sankey and Ruben Torrey. The music was composed by the great Methodist hymn writer Charles Gabriel. The song was published in 1907.

However, the version that is best known today originated in the 1920’s. This is the one performed by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and others.

Here are Ada Ruth Habershon’s original words:

There are loved ones in the glory,
Whose dear forms you often miss;
When you close your earthly story,
Will you join them in their bliss?

Will the circle be unbroken
By and by, by and by?
In a better home awaiting
In the sky, in the sky?

In the joyous days of childhood,
Oft they told of wondrous love,
Pointed to the dying Savior
Now they dwell with Him above.

You remember songs of heaven
Which you sang with childish voice,
Do you love the hymns they taught you,
Or are songs of earth your choice?

You can picture happy gatherings
Round the fireside long ago,
And you think of tearful partings,
When they left you here below:

One by one their seats were emptied,
One by one they went away;
Here the circle has been broken—
Will it be complete one day?

Will the circle be unbroken
By and by, by and by?
In a better home awaiting
In the sky, in the sky?