Fish the Right

It Is Well with My Soul

Words: Horatio G. Spafford · Tune: VILLE DU HAVRE, Philip P. Bliss

Text size
Organ and orchestra: an introduction, then each of the 4 verses. Tap a verse’s number to start there.
  1. When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,When sorrows like sea billows roll;Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,It is well, it is well with my soul.
    RefrainIt is well with my soul,It is well, it is well with my soul.
  2. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,Let this blest assurance control,That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
    RefrainIt is well with my soul,It is well, it is well with my soul.
  3. My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!—My sin, not in part but the whole,Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more;Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
    RefrainIt is well with my soul,It is well, it is well with my soul.
  4. And, Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend;Even so, it is well with my soul.
    RefrainIt is well with my soul,It is well, it is well with my soul.

About this hymn

Words
Horatio G. Spafford, 1873. As printed in Victory Songs (1920), no. 111.
Tune
VILLE DU HAVRE, Philip P. Bliss, 1876.
Harmony
Philip P. Bliss, as printed in The Evangelical Hymnal, 1921. Score from the Open Hymnal Project. The Open Hymnal also prints two stanzas from Spafford’s manuscript; these are the four published in 1876.
Recordings
Arranged and recorded by Fish the Right, from the harmony above: the melody note for note and every chord the hymnal’s own. Played on the Salamander Grand Piano V3 by Alexander Holm (CC BY 3.0), with organ, strings, brass and timpani from VSCO 2 Community Edition by Versilian Studios (the organ sampled by Simon Dalzell); drums from Virtuosity Drums and bass from Black And Blue Basses by Versilian Studios and Karoryfer Samples; pads from GeneralUser GS by S. Christian Collins; made with abcMIDI, sfizz, FluidSynth and FFmpeg.
Rights
Words 1873, tune 1876, setting 1921: all published before 1931, so public domain in the United States. Checked: words (hymnary.org), tune (hymnary.org), harmony (openhymnal.org).