THIS WORLD IS NOT MY HOME
This gospel tune is fairly familiar, but what you may
not know about it is that it was a favorite hymn of
Charles E. Fuller. Born in Los Angeles in 1887, Fuller
started The Old-Fashioned Revival Hour, a
nationally-heard radio program carried first on the
Mutual Broadcasting System and later on ABC. The
program lasted over 30 years, from its first episode in
1937 until Fuller’s death in 1968. A half-hour of
great music to start was followed by a convicting
Fulle...(+)
THIS WORLD IS NOT MY HOME
This gospel tune is fairly familiar, but what you may
not know about it is that it was a favorite hymn of
Charles E. Fuller. Born in Los Angeles in 1887, Fuller
started The Old-Fashioned Revival Hour, a
nationally-heard radio program carried first on the
Mutual Broadcasting System and later on ABC. The
program lasted over 30 years, from its first episode in
1937 until Fuller’s death in 1968. A half-hour of
great music to start was followed by a convicting
Fuller sermon in the second half. So well-known was it
in its day, the program even spurred a short-lived TV
show and was sometimes broadcast on railway passenger
trains. Nowadays, episodes of it can be found
online.
Anyway, there were a few hymns that would be heard
frequently in the episode. One was Heavenly Sunshine,
used as the handshake song on every episode and always
featuring Fuller singing along with the choir. Another
was Jesus Saves, which opened every episode. This song
wasn’t sung in every episode, but when it was, Fuller
would often identify it as one of his favorites. It
was always done by the barbershop quartet, which sung a
few songs on each episode. While their rendition was
on my mind as I arranged this, the piano arrangement
you have here is not a copy—in fact, it’s not that
similar, given the different instrumentation. However,
the spirit of it is the same. I hope you enjoy this
piece!
