I'll Overcome Some Day

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This world is one great battlefield

Author: Charles Albert Tindley (1900)
Tune: [This world is one great battlefield]
Published in 10 hymnals

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Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 This world is one great battlefield,
With forces all arrayed;
If in my heart I do not yield
I’ll overcome some day.
I’ll overcome some day,
I’ll overcome some day;
If in my heart I do not yield
I’ll overcome some day.

2 Both seen and unseen powers join
To drive my soul astray,
But with God's Word a sword of mine,
I’ll overcome some day.
I’ll overcome some day,
I’ll overcome some day;
But with God's Word a sword of mine,
I’ll overcome some day.

3 A thousand snares are set for me,
And mountains in my way;
If Jesus will my leader be,
I’ll overcome some day.
I’ll overcome some day,
I’ll overcome some day;
If Jesus will my leader be,
I’ll overcome some day.

4 I fail so often when I try
My Savior to obey;
It pains my heart and then I cry,
Lord, make me strong some day.
Lord, make me strong some day,
Lord, make me strong some day;
It pains my heart and then I cry,
Lord, make me strong some day.

5 My mind is not to do the wrong,
But walk the narrow way;
I’m praying as I journey on,
To overcome some day.
To overcome some day,
To overcome some day;
I’m praying as I journey on,
To overcome some day.

6 Tho' many a time no signs appear,
Of answer when I pray;
My Jesus says I need not fear,
He’ll make it plain some day.
I’ll be like Him some day,
I’ll be like Him some day;
My Jesus says I need not fear,
I’ll be like Him some day.

Source: African American Heritage Hymnal #544

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Author: Charles Albert Tindley

Charles Albert Tindley was born in Berlin, Maryland, July 7, 1851; son of Charles and Hester Tindley. His father was a slave, and his mother was free. Hester died when he was very young; he was taken in my his mother’s sister Caroline Miller Robbins in order to keep his freedom. It seems that he was expected to work to help the family. In his Book of Sermons (1932), he speaks of being “hired out” as a young boy, “wherever father could place me.” He married Daisy Henry when he was seventeen. Together they had eight children, some of whom would later assist him with the publication of his hymns. Tindley was largely self-taught throughout his lifetime. He learned to read mostly on his own. After he and Daisy moved to Philadelphia… Go to person page >

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First Line:	This world is one great battlefield
Title:	I'll Overcome Some Day
Author:	Charles Albert Tindley (1900)
Language:	English
Publication Date:	1900
Notes:	This hymn (text and tune) is frequently cited as a source or antecedent of the folk song or spiritual, "We shall overcome", which became prominent as an anthem of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. For more information on the roots of that song, see Victor V. Bobetsky, "The Complex Ancestry of We Shall Overcome," Choral Journal, V. 54, No. 7 (2014).
Copyright:	Public Domain