He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
Encyclopedia
"He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" is a traditional American spiritual
. It was first published in the paperbound hymnal Spirituals Triumphant, Old and New, in 1927. In 1933, it was collected by Frank Warner from the singing of Sue Thomas in North Carolina. It was also recorded by other collectors, including Robert Sonkin of the Library of Congress, who recorded it in Gee's Bend, Alabama, in 1941. That version is still available at the Library's American Folklife Center.
Frank Warner performed the song during the 1940s and 50s, and introduced it to the American folk scene. Warner recorded it on the Elektra Album American Folk Songs and Ballads in 1952. It was quickly picked up by both American gospel singers and British skiffle and pop musicians.
charts in a 1958
version by English singer Laurie London
with the Geoff Love Orchestra
, which went all the way to #1 of the Most Played by Jockeys
song list in the USA
and went to number three on the R&B charts. It was the most successful record by a British male in the 50's in the USA. The record reached #2 on Billboard's Best Sellers In Stores survey and #1 in Cashbox's Top 60. Mahalia Jackson
's version made the Billboard top 100 singles chart, topping at number 67. It is the first gospel song to hit #1 on a U.S. pop singles chart in 1958; another, Oh Happy Day by the Edwin Hawkins Singers reached #1 on the Billboard Top 40 singles chart in 1969.
released "We've Got The Whole World In Our Hands" (Warner K17110) in conjunction with local band Paper Lace
; the B side featured "The Forest March". The song has become a favourite in British football grounds, with the lyrics adapted in various ways; for instance, "We're the worst team in the League" has been heard at Rushden & Diamonds matches.
, Bull Crapp (in Oslo on August 29, 1958 and released on the single
His Master's Voice 45-6075 AL 6075 and on the extended play
En aften på "Casino Non Stop", introdusert av Arne Hestenes (HMV 7EGN 26. It was arranged by Harry Douglas and Ed Kirkeby), Odetta
, Jackie DeShannon
, Perry Como
, the Sandpipers (1970;"Come Saturday Morning
" LP) and Nina Simone
on And Her Friends
(1959). The Sisters of Mercy
played it at the Reading Festival in 1991. It is featured on the "The Good and the Bad and the Ugly" bootleg album. A notable version of the song is found on the 2001 Grammy Award-Nominated Album starring Ann-Margret God Is Love: The Gospel Sessions performed by Art Greenhaw
and The Light Crust Doughboys
with The Jordanaires
.
In the 1982 film "Tootsie
", Dorothy Michaels (Dustin Hoffman
) sings a line of the song to her (his) agent George Fields (Sydney Pollack
), changing the words to "I've got the whole world in my hands."
In 1995, The Sisters of Glory
, a gospel group that featured Thelma Houston
, CeCe Peniston
, Phoebe Snow
, Lois Walden, and Albertina Walker
, included the composition to their album Good News in Hard Times released on Warner Bros
.
In the movie Con Air
(1997), Steve Buscemi
plays a serial killer who sings "He's got the whole world" with a little girl. In the movie RocketMan
, also from 1997, Harland Williams
plays the role of an astronaut who sings "I have the whole world in my hands" on a worldwide broadcast, and is then accompanied by millions of people around the world watching it.
The song is also used in the PlayStation Portable commercial.
The "I have the whole world in my hands" version is used.
Spiritual (music)
Spirituals are religious songs which were created by enslaved African people in America.-Terminology and origin:...
. It was first published in the paperbound hymnal Spirituals Triumphant, Old and New, in 1927. In 1933, it was collected by Frank Warner from the singing of Sue Thomas in North Carolina. It was also recorded by other collectors, including Robert Sonkin of the Library of Congress, who recorded it in Gee's Bend, Alabama, in 1941. That version is still available at the Library's American Folklife Center.
Frank Warner performed the song during the 1940s and 50s, and introduced it to the American folk scene. Warner recorded it on the Elektra Album American Folk Songs and Ballads in 1952. It was quickly picked up by both American gospel singers and British skiffle and pop musicians.
Laurie London recording
The song made the popular songPopular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
charts in a 1958
1958 in music
-Events:*February - 45,000 peoplein one week watch performances of "rokabirī" music by Japanese singers at the first Nichigeki Western Carnival....
version by English singer Laurie London
Laurie London
Laurie London is an English singer, who achieved fame as a boy singer of the 1950s, recording in both English and German....
with the Geoff Love Orchestra
Geoff Love
Geoff Love was a British easy-listening, and disco orchestra leader. He was born in the industrial town of Todmorden in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His father was a mixed race American-born guitarist and dancer, and his mother an actress. As a child, Love began to learn to play the violin but...
, which went all the way to #1 of the Most Played by Jockeys
Hot 100 number-one hits of 1958 (USA)
This is a list of number-one songs in the United States during the year 1958 according to Billboard magazine. Prior to the creation of the Hot 100, Billboard published multiple singles charts each week...
song list in the USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and went to number three on the R&B charts. It was the most successful record by a British male in the 50's in the USA. The record reached #2 on Billboard's Best Sellers In Stores survey and #1 in Cashbox's Top 60. Mahalia Jackson
Mahalia Jackson
Mahalia Jackson – January 27, 1972) was an African-American gospel singer. Possessing a powerful contralto voice, she was referred to as "The Queen of Gospel"...
's version made the Billboard top 100 singles chart, topping at number 67. It is the first gospel song to hit #1 on a U.S. pop singles chart in 1958; another, Oh Happy Day by the Edwin Hawkins Singers reached #1 on the Billboard Top 40 singles chart in 1969.
Nottingham Forest F.C. recording
In February 1978, English football team Nottingham Forest F.C.Nottingham Forest F.C.
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English Association Football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, that plays in the Football League Championship...
released "We've Got The Whole World In Our Hands" (Warner K17110) in conjunction with local band Paper Lace
Paper Lace
Paper Lace are a Nottingham based pop group, formed in 1969. They are known to Americans as a one-hit wonder; however, in the UK they were a "classic two and a half hit wonder".-History:...
; the B side featured "The Forest March". The song has become a favourite in British football grounds, with the lyrics adapted in various ways; for instance, "We're the worst team in the League" has been heard at Rushden & Diamonds matches.
Other recorded versions
Other versions were recorded by Marian AndersonMarian Anderson
Marian Anderson was an African-American contralto and one of the most celebrated singers of the twentieth century...
, Bull Crapp (in Oslo on August 29, 1958 and released on the single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
His Master's Voice 45-6075 AL 6075 and on the extended play
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
En aften på "Casino Non Stop", introdusert av Arne Hestenes (HMV 7EGN 26. It was arranged by Harry Douglas and Ed Kirkeby), Odetta
Odetta
Odetta Holmes, known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, songwriter, and a human rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals...
, Jackie DeShannon
Jackie DeShannon
Jackie DeShannon is an American singer-songwriter with a string of hit song credits from the 1960s onwards. She was one of the first female singer-songwriters of the rock 'n' roll period.- Life and early career :...
, Perry Como
Perry Como
Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with them in 1943. "Mr...
, the Sandpipers (1970;"Come Saturday Morning
Come Saturday Morning (The Sandpipers album)
Come Saturday Morning was an LP album featuring The Sandpipers, released by A&M Records in August 1970. The catalog numbers were SP 4262 in the United States and AMLS 99 in the United Kingdom. The album reached #96 on the Billboard charts....
" LP) and Nina Simone
Nina Simone
Eunice Kathleen Waymon , better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music...
on And Her Friends
Nina Simone And Her Friends
Nina Simone and Her Friends is an album that contains songs by Jazz singer/pianist/songwriter Nina Simone . The album was, however, released after Nina Simone left Bethlehem Records and without her knowing...
(1959). The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band that formed in 1980. After achieving early underground fame in UK, the band had their commercial breakthrough in mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasing new recorded output in protest against their record company...
played it at the Reading Festival in 1991. It is featured on the "The Good and the Bad and the Ugly" bootleg album. A notable version of the song is found on the 2001 Grammy Award-Nominated Album starring Ann-Margret God Is Love: The Gospel Sessions performed by Art Greenhaw
Art Greenhaw
Art Greenhaw is a Grammy Award-Winning recording artist, producer and mixing engineer, having won the Grammy Award in 2003 in New York City for "Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album of the Year" for the album WE CALLED HIM MR. GOSPEL MUSIC: THE JAMES BLACKWOOD TRIBUTE ALBUM...
and The Light Crust Doughboys
Light Crust Doughboys
The Light Crust Doughboys is a quintessential American Western swing band from Texas organized in 1931 by the Burrus Mill and Elevator Company in Saginaw, Texas. The band achieved its peak popularity in the few years leading up to World War II...
with The Jordanaires
The Jordanaires
The Jordanaires are an American vocal quartet, which formed as a gospel group in 1948. They are best known for providing vocal background for Elvis Presley, in live appearances and recordings from 1956 to 1972...
.
In the 1982 film "Tootsie
Tootsie
Tootsie is a 1982 American comedy film that tells the story of a talented but volatile actor whose reputation for being difficult forces him to go to extreme lengths to land a job. The movie stars Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange, with a supporting cast that includes Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman,...
", Dorothy Michaels (Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
) sings a line of the song to her (his) agent George Fields (Sydney Pollack
Sydney Pollack
Sydney Irwin Pollack was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack studied with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City, where he later taught acting...
), changing the words to "I've got the whole world in my hands."
In 1995, The Sisters of Glory
Sisters of Glory
The Sisters of Glory was a US gospel band that included Thelma Houston, CeCe Peniston, Phoebe Snow, Lois Walden, and Albertina Walker.After performing for the Pope John Paul II in Rome at the Vatican, the quintet released their only album entitled Good News in Hard Times, which scored at number...
, a gospel group that featured Thelma Houston
Thelma Houston
Thelma Houston is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She scored a number-one hit in 1976 with her cover version of the song "Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the 1978 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.-Early life & career:Houston is the daughter of a cotton picking mother...
, CeCe Peniston
CeCe Peniston
CeCe Peniston is an African American recording artist and former beauty queen. At the beginning of the nineties, she was considered to be one of the most successful dance club artists in the history of the U.S...
, Phoebe Snow
Phoebe Snow
Phoebe Snow was a fictional character created by Earnest Elmo Calkins to promote the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. The advertising campaign, based on a live model, using impressionistic techniques and a fictional character, was one of the first of its kind.-The advertising...
, Lois Walden, and Albertina Walker
Albertina Walker
-Early years:Walker was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Ruben and Camille Coleman Walker. Her mother was born in Houston County, Georgia, and her father in Bibb County, Georgia. They moved to Chicago between 1917-1920 where they lived out their lives. Albertina had four siblings born in Bibb County...
, included the composition to their album Good News in Hard Times released on Warner Bros
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
.
In the movie Con Air
Con Air
Con Air is an Academy Award–nominated 1997 American action-thriller film directed by Simon West and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. It stars Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and John Malkovich...
(1997), Steve Buscemi
Steve Buscemi
Steven Vincent "Steve" Buscemi is an American actor, writer and film director. An associate member of the renowned experimental theater company The Wooster Group, Buscemi has starred and supported in successful Hollywood and indie films including New York Stories, Mystery Train, Reservoir Dogs,...
plays a serial killer who sings "He's got the whole world" with a little girl. In the movie RocketMan
RocketMan
RocketMan is a 1997 science fiction comedy film that was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Caravan Pictures and released on October 10, 1997. The film was shot on location at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas and in Moab, Utah for the scenes on the surface on Mars.The film was a...
, also from 1997, Harland Williams
Harland Williams
Harland Williams is a Canadian actor, comedian, author, artist, musician and radio personality.-Personal life:Harland Reesor Williams was born on November 14, 1962, in Toronto, Ontario, to Lorraine , a social worker, and John Reesor Williams, who worked as a member of the Ontario Provincial...
plays the role of an astronaut who sings "I have the whole world in my hands" on a worldwide broadcast, and is then accompanied by millions of people around the world watching it.
The song is also used in the PlayStation Portable commercial.
The "I have the whole world in my hands" version is used.