We'll Understand It Better By and By

DESCRIPTION: "We are tossed and driven on the restless sea of time.... In that land of perfect day, when the mists have rolled away, We will understand it better by and by." Even if lacking daily needs or faced with trials, hearers are promised eventual explanations
AUTHOR: Charles A. Tindley (d. 1933)
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (source: Morgan, Warren-EveryTimeIFeelTheSpirit)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad hardtimes
FOUND IN: US West Indies(Trinidad)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Warren-EveryTimeIFeelTheSpirit, pp. 182-184, "We'll Understand It Bettery By and By" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 30, #3 (1984), pp, 8-9, "We'll Understand It Better By and By" (1 text, 1 tune, plus an article by Bernice Reagon about the author)
Robert J. Morgan, _Then Sings My Soul, Book 2: 150 of the World's Greatest Hymn Stories_, Nelson, 2004, pp. 252-253, "We'll Understand It Better By and By" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ed Stilley, "When the Morning Comes," Max Hunter Folk Song Collection, Cat #0046 (MFH #674), accessed 19 July 2023 from https://maxhunter.missouristate.edu/songinformation.aspx?id=46
Homer A. Rodeheaver and Chas. H. Gabriel, _Victory Songs_ (Chicago: The Rodeheaver Company, 1920 ("Digitized by Internet Archive")), #155, "When Morning Comes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Richard M. Raichelson, _Black Religious Folksong: A Study in Generic and Social Change_ (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania (Unpublished dissertation- Ph.D.), 1975 (available online by ProQuest)), pp. 322-324, "By and By, When the Morning Comes" (1 text)
Roud #17224
RECORDINGS:
Minnie Gracie Gadson, "We Will Understand it Better By and By" (on USSeaIsland03)
Kentucky Mountain Chorusters, "We'll Understand It Better Bye and Bye" (Gennett 6888A, 1929; on KMM)
Edna Wright and Margaret Wright, "By and By" (on WITrinidadVillage02)
NOTES [129 words]: Charles A. Tindley, according to Morgan, was a Black minister, who suffered significantly from discrimination in his career but still managed to pen several well-known hymns including this and "Stand By Me." - RBW
Raichelson: "Many black gospel songs were similar to the Moody-Sankey type with regard to pretentiousness, wordiness, and sentimentality. C.A. Tindley, the first acknowledged writer of black gospel, appears to have composed in this style. However, his compositions often display greater substance relative to the theme of dispair (sic.) so prominent in black gospel. By and By, When the Morning Comes is similar to Sankey's When the Mists Have Rolled Away (1883) but the description of toil and trouble [by Tindley] is much more vivid and to the point." - BS
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