I’ll Fly Away

I’ll Fly Away

It can be a rough life when you are a cotton farmer. If you have never worked a day picking cotton, you don’t know what you are missing.

Albert knew. Albert was a musician and a singer. He grew up in Oklahoma but went off to music school in Arkansas. It was during the summer of 1927 that his story took a turn that made all of our lives a little bit better.

Albert was on a break from his studies when he returned home to help harvest his family’s cotton crop. Summer can be brutal in Oklahoma and the days in the fields were pretty rough. To get through his day, Albert would sing.

On this particular day, he was singing The Prisoner’s Song, the most popular song across the nation. It was about a lonesome man who longed for his love but who was about to go off to a lonely future in jail. He longed for the wings of an angel so he could fly over the prison walls.

“If I could fly, I’d fly away from here,” thought Albert. Picking cotton was not his pastime of choice. But, he thought, those would be some good lyrics for a song. There’s something to the idea that “I’ll fly away.” As a Christian, isn’t it our desire to do exactly that? Wouldn’t it be marvelous to just fly away some glad morning? We could fly away to God’s celestial shore.

The words and the music began to take shape and Albert published his hymn, “I’ll Fly Away,” in 1932. It was a tremendous hit, becoming the first Gospel song to sell a million copies, and it is the most recorded Gospel song of all time. Mostly, though, it’s just a lot of fun to sing!

It adds joy and gladness to our worship and it gives comfort at funerals. I guess the arduous job of working in the cotton fields has some lasting benefit, after all. Thanks, Albert Brumley.

I’LL FLY AWAY

Some glad morning when this life is o'er ... I'll fly away

To a home on God's celestial shore ... I'll fly away

Refrain:

I'll fly away, oh Glory. I’ll fly away When I die, Hallelujah by and by I'll fly away

When the shadows of this life have flown ... I'll fly away

Like a bird from prison bars has flown ... I'll fly away

(Refrain)

Just a few more weary days and then ... I'll fly away

To a land where joy shall never end ... I'll fly away

(Refrain)