My Song in the Night
#1058 Hymns—For Home and ChurchLyrics
The Story Behind “My Song in the Night”
An anonymous frontier rewrite of an English poem, a verse by a man healed of epilepsy, and a Sacred Harp melody — three strands braided into one hymn of comfort.
Three Writers, One Hymn
'My Song in the Night' is a hymn assembled across a century by people who mostly never met. Its first two verses are an anonymous American adaptation of a poem by the English Baptist pastor Joseph Swain (1761–1796) — the same 'Description of Christ' that gave the Church 'Redeemer of Israel' and 'His Voice as the Sound.' Some unknown 19th-century singer reshaped Swain's lines into 'O Jesus, my Savior, my song in the night,' and the frontier songbooks carried it from there.
The third verse came from Frederick A. Graves (1856–1927), a Massachusetts orphan who developed epilepsy at fourteen and lived under its shadow until, at a healing meeting in Minneapolis, he was — by his own lifelong testimony — permanently healed. He spent the rest of his life writing gospel songs. A man who knew literal nights of suffering wrote the hymn's verse of trust.
The Sacred Harp Sound
The melody, EXPRESSION, is an anonymous American folk tune published in The Sacred Harp (1844), the great shape-note songbook of the South — pentatonic, lonesome, and perfectly matched to a song about singing in the dark.
Choirs made the pairing famous: Paul Christiansen's a cappella setting became a college-choir classic, and Mack Wilberg titled a whole anthology of folk-hymn arrangements after it. The Tabernacle Choir has sung Wilberg's setting for years.
Together at Last
When the Church released it on February 26, 2026, as hymn #1058, something quietly historic happened: according to the Church's hymn resource, it was the first time all three verses — the anonymous Swain adaptation and Graves's verse — had ever been published together as one hymn.
The title comes from Psalm 77: 'I call to remembrance my song in the night.' The psalm begins in anguish and ends in remembering the Lord's works — the exact arc the hymn walks, and the reason the Church's resource summarizes it in one line: 'Jesus Christ offers us hope and help in times of loneliness, darkness, and difficulty.'
Did You Know?
- The hymn descends from the same Joseph Swain poem as 'Redeemer of Israel' — making three hymns in LDS use from one 18th-century text.
- Third-verse author Frederick Graves suffered epilepsy from age 14 and testified he was permanently healed at a revival meeting — he wrote all his songs after age 35.
- The 2026 hymnbook release was reportedly the first time all three verses had ever been published together as one hymn.
- The tune comes from The Sacred Harp (1844), the great shape-note songbook of the American South.
- Mack Wilberg named an entire published anthology of folk-hymn arrangements after this piece.
Scripture Connections
- Psalm 77:6 — 'I call to remembrance my song in the night' — the hymn's title, and the psalm whose arc from anguish to trust it follows.
- Psalm 42:8 — 'In the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.'
Talk About It
Questions to spark a conversation with your family or Primary class:
- What does it mean to have a 'song in the night' — something that comforts you when things are dark?
- This hymn was built by strangers across a century, each adding a piece. What are you adding to things you'll never see finished?
- Frederick Graves wrote his verse of trust after years of illness. Why do people who have suffered often write the most comforting words?
- Is there a hymn or song your family reaches for on hard days? What makes it yours?
Teaching Resources
Attribution
Music by: American folk tune; The Sacred Harp, 1844; arr. 2026 | EXPRESSION
Text by: Anon.; inspired by a text by Joseph Swain, 1790; v. 3, Frederick A. Graves, 1894; alt.
Audio files from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints