"Beautiful Isle of Somewhere" is a song with words by Jessie Brown Pounds and music by John Sylvester Fearis, written in 1897. The song gained huge popularity when it was used in William McKinley's funeral. It was subsequently a staple at funerals for decades, and there are dozens of recorded versions.
History
"Beautiful Isle of Somewhere" was originally a poem entitled "Beautiful Isle"[1] by Jessie Brown Pounds. The words were written in the winter of 1896, during a period of miserable weather. Persuaded or possibly forced to stay home, Pounds wrote the lyrics within an hour's time.[2] It was set to music by John S. Fearis, who had purchased the poem for five dollars, and the song was published in 1897.
In 1901, the song was sung by a quartet of young ladies at the beginning of McKinley's funeral in the First Methodist Episcopal Church in his hometown of Canton, Ohio.[3][4][2][5]
"Beautiful Isle" follows a 19th-century tradition of depicting paradise.[8] The song was written to contrast the difficulties on Earth with the tranquility of Heaven. The hearer is invited to think that in the long term, "all is well" because God is alive. The hymn has appeal at funerals because the lyrics state that "somewhere" we will "live anew".[2]
Reception
The song became highly popular for decades after McKinley’s service. The tune and lyrics have been praised as “beautiful,”[3] but praise for the song has not been universal.
Soon after the McKinley service, the song was panned by The Independent as a singular blot on the memory of the late president.[4]Woodrow Wilson, while governor of New Jersey, stated the song could be harmful if taught to children, as it was "silly" and "vague."[9] The Seventh-day Adventist publication Signs of the Times concurred with the future U. S. president, listing it among songs "inexpressibly weak and shallow".[10] At the same time, John D. Rockefeller was endorsing its use in church.[9]
In 1927, William Henry O'Connell, the Catholic Archbishop of Boston, banned the use of the tune in funerals, calling the hymn "inane" and "trashy." Cardinal O'Connell was concerned it was among a group of songs composed by authors whose "maudlin sentiment" overshadowed their faith. He threatened organists and choir directors who performed the piece with loss of their positions.[11] Several Boston protestant ministers joined in criticizing the song at that time.[12] Defenders of the hymn stated that descriptions of paradise were necessarily allegorical, and worried the ban would spread to other favorite hymns.[13] A 1928 Lutheran publication used O'Connell's exact words[14] when it described the song as a "sob-producer" that was a "flagrant outrage to faith and the ritual."[15]
In 1953, Donald H. V. Hallock. the Episcopal Bishop of Milwaukee, banned the use of this and other "popular" songs from use at Episcopal services as they did not conform to the rubric of the church.[16] Some Christian theologians have taken issue with the song because it describes Heaven in nebulous terms.[17]
Criticisms aside, others have noted that this sentimental song is a "joy to sing."[18]
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