Closer, Lord, to You (hymn)

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

Even though it is a cross that raiseth me;

My God, to Thee,

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

(Chorus)

Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,

Darkness be over me, my rest a stone;

My God, to Thee,

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

(Chorus)

There, you’ll not be able to find your way out;

All that Thou sendest me in mercy giv'n;

Angels to beckon me nearer, my God, to thee,

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

(Chorus)

Then with my thoughts

Out of my stony griefs Bethel I'll raise;

My God, To Thee,

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

(Chorus)

Or if on joyful wing, cleaving the sky,

Sun, moon and stars forgot, upwards I fly,

Still my song, my God, to Thee,

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

Closer, Lord, to You, closer to You,

Although I used a cross I had to climb;

I need only one:

Closer, Lord, to Thee,

Closer, Lord, to Thee,

Closer to you!

I am a wanderer in the wilderness, and the night is dark.

Rest on the stone will only find the head.

But the heart and in a dream

Closer, Lord, to Thee,

Closer, Lord, to Thee,

Closer to you!

There is a staircase leading up to the light.

Fears will leave here, all the sadness will come down.

With the angel by the hand up, I will ascend to the star:

Closer, Lord to Thee,

Closer to you!

And waking from sleep, I will sing a song;

Your praise, Christ, I will replace the crying.

In grief I am pleased:

Closer, Lord, to You!

Closer, Lord, to Thee,

Closer to you!

When I end my earthly life,

When you introduce me to glory,

Eternal joy to me:

Closer, Lord, to Thee,

Closer, Lord, to Thee,

Closer to you!

• Bethany
• Horbury
• Propior deo

“Closer, Lord, to You” is traditionally associated with the Titanic disaster , as the surviving passengers (including Violet Jessop ) said that the ship’s orchestra played this hymn when the ship began to sink (sinking sharply at 2:13 midnight) .

The lack of accurate data as to which particular version of the melody the musicians played led to various interpretations in the cinema. The Bethany version was first used in the 1929 British film Atlantic , and although the film itself is not historically accurate (its creators were forced to fiction script to avoid proceedings with the White Star Line ), this film consolidated this version of the melody. “Bethany” sounds in the episode “The Cavalcade” (1933), the German propaganda film of 1943, and the “Titanic” ( 1953 ) by Jean Negulesko and the 1996 television movie , while the big version of “Horbury” suitable for choral performance was used only in the 1958 film "The Death of" Titanic ", " directed by Roy Ward Baker .

Finally, the version of “Bethany” is used in the James Cameron film “ Titanic ” ( 1997 ). Wallace Hartley , the conductor of the vessel, who died like all the other musicians with the ship, was familiar with this hymn, which is often performed at the funeral . However, since he was an Englishman and a Methodist , he most likely used either the version of “Horbury”, more popular in England, or “Propior Deo” (characteristic of the Methodists), but not “Bethany”. His father, a regent of the Methodist church, used the Propior Deo for more than thirty years. The conductor's family was sure that he was playing the version of “Propior Deo”, and it was the initial notes of this melody that were carved on the monument to the musician.

The discrepancies related to the testimony of Harold Bride, may be due to the fact that the version of "Propior Deo" in its rhythm is very similar to Archibald Joyce's "Autumn" waltz, but performed in major. Colonel Archibald Gracie also noted in his report that the musicians played generally cheerful and cheerful motifs, and the hymn would be regarded as a tactless warning of immediate death for all passengers, and the anthem alone could cause panic.

The solemnly affirming version of “Propior Deo”, suitable for keyboards, sounds only in one film “SOSTitanic” (1979), which depicts how musicians play to the accompaniment of a piano pulled onto the deck.

• This anthem was played when the body of the 20th President of the United States (the second of those killed), James Garfield, was interred in the Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland , Ohio .
• According to eyewitnesses, the last words of the 25th President of the United States (the third of those killed), William McKinley, were the first lines of this hymn. At noon on September 13, 1901 , after a minute of silence in memory of the deceased president, the orchestras in Madison Square performed exactly this hymn. It was used in the memorial service at Westminster Abbey , London .
• The Anthem Association as a “prayer melody of catastrophes and shipwrecks” entrenched before the “Titanic”: the Canadian ship “Valencia” sank in 1906 off the coast of Vancouver Island, and then the crew and passengers, driven on the upper deck, really sang it.
• This is the name of the 1917 film made in the UK.
• This song ends the film " San Francisco " ( 1936 ), which also to a certain extent strengthened the sad connotations of the hymn in popular culture.
• A fragment of the anthem performed by the Pentecostal community sounds in the Soviet film “ Clouds over Borsky ” ( 1960 ).
• In the film “ Chairman ” (USSR, 1964 ), a poor old man and an old woman pretending to be blind and a guide are singing a hymn.
• This is the name of one of the drawings by a doctor who practiced euthanasia , Jack Kevorkian , called “Doctor Death”.
• This anthem was played at the funeral of US President Gerald Ford .
• American conservative journalist William Buckley mentioned in the introduction to his 1997 book , “Closer, My God: The Autobiography of Faith,” that the title was inspired by the hymn “Closer, My God, to You”.
• At the beginning of the film “ The Simpsons at the Cinema ” there is an episode parodying the movie “ Titanic ”: when Green Day is playing on a barge on Lake Springfield, in order to draw people's attention to environmental problems, their barge begins to sink because of the lake’s toxicity. When the barge begins to sink, bassist Michael Dirnt quotes Wallace Hartley from Cameron's Titanic: "It was an honor to play with you tonight." The musicians take out the violins and start playing "Closer, Lord, to You."
• In the episode of “ South Park ” “ Summer - sucks, ” the guys play “Closer, Lord, to You” during the crowds after the explosion of the “smoke serpent”.
• Performed at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London .

• midi-file and discussion of the anthem (inaccessible link from 07/23/2017 [739 days])
• text and midi-file (inaccessible link from 07/23/2017 [739 days])
• Russian text with notes and midi-file (inaccessible link) (inaccessible link from 07/23/2017 [739 days])
• Biography of Wallace Hartley, Conductor of Titanic
• Jack Kevorkian's drawing
• Information about the 1917 film in the IMDB database
• Notes for “Closer, Lord, to You” on Project Gutenberg