He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
Soul Music
BBC
4.7 • 831 Ratings
🗓️ 16 March 2010
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
He's Got the Whole World in His Hands is a spiritual song originating in the USA.
But it first caught the public's attention when Laurie London took it to the top of the charts in 1958.
In this programme, people describe the place that the song has in their lives. Including the conductor of a choir for refugees and asylum seekers and the minister who led prayers on President Obama's first day in office.
There's also a performance from Washington Performing Arts Society's Children of the Gospel Choir. They sang an arrangement of He's Got the Whole World in His Hands made by their conductor and Artistic Director Stanley J Thurston at the National Prayer Service at the Washington National Cathedral on January 21, 2009.
President Barack Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden and their families attended this service and the sermon was given by the Reverend Sharon E Watkins.
Contributors:
John Copley Ian Bradley Amy Mclean Philip Wright Sharon Watkins Mike McGrother
Series exploring famous pieces of music and their emotional appeal.
Producer: Sara Conkey
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2010.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to quickly tell you about some others. |
| 0:05.1 | My name's Andy Martin and I'm the editor of a team of podcast producers at the BBC in Northern Ireland. |
| 0:11.3 | It's a job I really love because we get to tell the stories that really matter to people here, |
| 0:16.2 | but which also resonate and apply to listeners around the world. |
| 0:19.6 | And because the team is such a diverse range of skills and strengths, |
| 0:23.0 | we have trained journalists, people who love digging through archives, |
| 0:26.6 | we've got drama and even comedy experts. |
| 0:28.9 | We really can do those stories justice. |
| 0:31.5 | So if you like this podcast, head to BBC Sounds |
| 0:34.2 | where you'll find plenty more fascinating stories from all around the UK. |
| 0:39.3 | You're listening to a download of soul music from BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:44.7 | I think we love it because of its very reassuring message that God has everything in his hands and everything under control. |
| 0:54.2 | It's got the whole world. |
| 0:59.7 | In his hands, he's got the whole world. |
| 1:05.7 | It's something to do with its simplicity and the text. |
| 1:09.5 | It's very, it's naive in a way, but to the point and absolutely, oh point. |
| 1:19.4 | Clearly this is a very inclusive song. |
| 1:25.6 | I mean, it can be sung by people of any kind of |
| 1:29.0 | denomination, any kind of faith. |
| 1:30.8 | In his hands, he's got the birds of the air. In his hands, he's got the... |
| 1:40.8 | It's the kind of song that you can imagine being sung an emergency or a disaster. |
| 1:47.3 | I don't know if anyone was singing it as the Twin Towers collapsed on 9-11, |
... |
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