I Will Sing of My Redeemer

🎸 Strum Pattern — Verse

Philip Bliss wrote this text in November 1876. Less than a month later he died in a train disaster in Ashtabula, Ohio, aged 38. The text was found in his trunk after the wreck and set to music by James McGranahan the following year. Knowing that, every time I play the opening line — "I will sing of my Redeemer and His wondrous love to me" — I hear it as the last song of a man who was about to go home. Play it with that weight. A firm, confident down strum at 88 BPM. The G - C - G and G - D - G movements are the simple, direct language of a man who knew what he believed and said it plainly. This is not a hymn that needs harmonic complexity — it needs honest declaration.

🔊 Dynamics — Chorus

"Sing O sing of my Redeemer, with His blood He purchased me, on the cross He sealed my pardon, paid the debt and made me free." The chorus is atonement theology stated as personal testimony — not doctrine to be analyzed but news to be sung. "Paid the debt and made me free" is one of the most concise summaries of substitutionary atonement in any hymn. I play the chorus with full energy and I have the congregation sing it as a declaration, not a reflection. By the second verse the congregation has found the melody and by verse 3 — "how the vict'ry He is giving over sin and death and hell" — the room is fully engaged. Let verse 3 land with its full triumphant weight before returning to the chorus.

🎵 Band Direction

Full band suits this hymn from verse 1. Drums: confident 4/4 groove, kick on 1 and 3, snare on 2 and 4, driving hi-hat. Bass: locked with the kick on every downbeat, roots only, simple and authoritative. Piano: right-hand melody support and chord stabs. Electric guitar: clean to moderate drive, strumming with the acoustic. This is a confident hymn — it does not build slowly. Philip Bliss was an evangelist and his hymns were written for crowd singing at revival meetings. They were designed to be loud, clear, and memorable. Arrange it accordingly. Every instrument present from the first bar, every voice in the room invited to sing.

🎤 Vocal

Key of G at 88 BPM is bright and energetic for congregational singing. The McGranahan melody is direct and easy to learn — the verse melody follows a simple descending pattern and the chorus is an amplified repeat of the same shape. New congregations learn it within one verse. The story behind the hymn belongs in how you introduce it: Philip Bliss was one of the greatest American gospel songwriters and hymnists of the 19th century. He and his wife died in a train disaster on the way home for Christmas. This was one of the last things he wrote. Leading it is an act of continuing what he started — the testimony of a man who trusted his Redeemer to the end. Sing it like someone who also trusts that.

→ Transitions

We use this hymn for services on the atonement, the cross, salvation, and redemption. It pairs naturally with "Nothing but the Blood" — both speak to the power of Christ's blood for pardon and freedom. For Easter services we use it after the resurrection announcement: "He from death to life hath brought me, Son of God with Him to be" is an explicitly resurrection lyric. After verse 4 I repeat the chorus one final time, then hold the last G and let the band taper down slowly rather than cutting off. The hymn begins with a declaration of intent — "I will sing" — and it should end having fulfilled that declaration. The congregation has sung; the debt is acknowledged; they are free. Let that settle.