Gbati Ipe Oluwa Ba Dun

Words & Music: James M. Black, 1893

Gbati ipe Oluwa ba dun T'akoko ba si pin T'imole owuro mimo n tan lailai; Gbat'awon ta ti gbala Yo pejo soke odo naa, Gba ta n pe oruko lohun, n o wa nbe. Gba ta n pe oruko lohun Gba ta n pe oruko lohun Gba ta n pe oruko lohun Gba ta n pe oruko lohun N o wa nbe. Looro daradara tawon Oku mimo y'o dide Togo ajinde Jesu o je tiwon Gba t'awon ayanfe Re yo Pejo nile lok'orun, Gba ta n pe oruko lohun, n o wa nbe. Je ka sise f'Oluwa Latowuro titi dale Ka soro 'fe yanu ati'toju Re; Gbat aye ba dopin tise Wa Si pari nihin, Gba ta n pe oruko lohun, n o wa nbe.

When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more, And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair; When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore, And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there. When the roll, is called up yon-der, When the roll, is called up yon-der, When the roll, is called up yon-der, 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 His resurrection share; When His chosen ones shall gather to their home beyond the skies, And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there. Let us labor for the Master 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.

Black, a Meth­od­ist Sun­day school teach­er in Wil­liams­port, Penn­syl­van­ia, was call­ing roll one day for a youth meet­ing. Young Bes­sie, daugh­ter of a drunk­ard, did not show up, and he was dis­ap­point­ed at her fail­ure to ap­pear. Black made a com­ment to the ef­fect, “Well, I trust when the roll is called up yon­der, she’ll be there.” He tried to re­spond with an ap­prop­ri­ate song, but could not find one in his song book:

This lack of a fit­ting song caused me both sor­row and dis­ap­point­ment. An in­ner voice seemed to say, “Why don’t you write one?” I put away the thought. As I opened the gate on my way home, the same thought came again so strong­ly that tears filled my eyes. I en­tered the house and sat down at the pi­a­no. The words came to me ef­fort­less­ly…The tune came the same way—I dared not change a sin­gle note or word.

This song was sung in the Aca­de­my award win­ning mo­vie Ser­geant York (1941).

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