What Are They Doing in Heaven

Updated on Dec 13, 2023

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A-side "Jesus Is My Friend" Genre Gospel blues Label Columbia 14404-D		Format 10" 78rpm single Length 3:15
Recorded December 5, 1928; Dallas, TX

"What Are They Doing in Heaven?" is a Christian hymn written in 1901 by American Methodist minister Charles Albert Tindley. As of 2015, it has become popular enough to have been included in 16 hymnals.

The song has sometimes been recorded under the titles "What Are They Doing?" and "What Are They Doing in Heaven Today?". The question mark is often omitted. The song may also be known by its first line, "I am thinking of friends whom I used to know".

The song consists of four verses and a refrain, each four lines long. In both the verses and the refrain, the first three lines rhyme, and the fourth is "What are they doing now?" or some small variant of that. The author reflects on friends who were burdened in life by care, or by disease, or by poverty; and wonders what they might now be doing in Heaven, without giving his answer.

The first known recording of the song is the 1928 one by Washington Phillips (1880–1954; vocals and zither), in gospel blues style. Phillips' recording was used in the soundtrack of the 2005 film Elizabethtown. The song has since been recorded many times in a wide variety of styles, including gospel and bluegrass; sometimes attributed to Phillips or to "anonymous" or to "traditional".

1928 – Washington Phillips, 78rpm single Columbia 14404-D

1934 – Mitchell's Christian Singers, 78rpm singles Perfect 326, Banner 33433, Conqueror 8431, and Melotone 13400

1938 – Golden Gate Quartet, 78rpm singles Bluebird 7994 and Montgomery 7866

c. 1938 – The Southernaires, radio broadcast

1946 – Pilgrim Travelers

1948 – The Lilly Brothers, 78rpm single Page 505

1948 – The Southern Harmonizers, 78 rpm single Specialty 301

1950 – The Mello-Tones, 78rpm single Columbia 39051

1950-53 – Silvertone Singers

1952 – The Dixie Hummingbirds, 45rpm single Peacock Records 5-1594

1957 – Harry and Jeanie West on the album Favorite Gospel Songs

1960 – Sister Rosetta Tharpe on the album Gospels in Rhythm

1962 – The Fairfield Four on the album The Bells Are Tolling

1964 – The Staple Singers on the album This Little Light

1966–92 – Marion Williams

1971 – The Downtown Sister New Heaven on the album Gospels And Spirituals

1983 – Slim & the Supreme Angels on the album Glory to His Name

1992 – Tom Hanway on the album Tom Hanway and Blue Horizon

1994 – Martin Simpson on the album A Closer Walk with Thee

1995 – The Pfister Sisters on the album The Pfister Sisters

1996 – Michelle Lanchester, Bernice Johnson Reagon and Yasmeen on the album Wade in the Water: African American Sacred Music Traditions

1996 – Little Jimmy Scott on the album Heaven

2000 – Last Forever on the album Trainfare Home

2000 – Margaret Allison and the Angelic Gospel Singers on the album Home in the Rock

2002 – Jorma Kaukonen on the album Blue Country Heart

2003 – Bill Gaither feat. Gloria Gaither and Babbie Mason on the album Heaven

2003 – The Immortal Lee County Killers on the album Love Is a Charm of Powerful Trouble

2003 – Mike "Sport" Murphy on the album Uncle

2006 – Riley Baugus on the album Long Steel Rail

2006 – Joanne Blum on the album Even More Love

2006 – Cabin Fever NW on the album The Door Is Always Open

2006 – Jessy Dixon on the album Get Away Jordan

2006 – Vince Gill on the album Voice of the Spirit, Gospel of the South

2006 – The Be Good Tanyas on the album Hello Love

2006 – Boxcar Preachers on the album Auto-Body Experience

2006 – Judy Cook on the album If You Sing Songs ...

2006 – The Great Gospel Crew on the album The Greatest Gospel Music

2007 – John Reischman and The Jaybirds on the album Stellar Jays

2008 – Murry Hammond on the album I Don't Know Where I'm Going but I'm on My Way

2009 – Jim Byrnes on the album My Walking Stick

2009 – The Habit on the album The Habit

2010 – Buddy Greene on the album A Few More Years

2011 – The Bright Wings Chorus on the album '

2011 – Dead Rock West on the album Bright Morning Stars

2013 – The Quiet American on the album Wild Bill Jones

2013 – Marcy Marxer on the album Things Are Coming My Way

2013 – Mogwai on the album Les Revenants

2013 – Mavis Staples on the album One True Vine

2013 – Colin Stetson feat. Justin Vernon on the album New History Warfare, Vol. 3: To See More Light

2014 – Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn on the album Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn

References

What Are They Doing in Heaven? Wikipedia

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