"Nearer, My God, to Thee" is perhaps most well-known as being the last song played by the band onboard the Titanic in its final hours. It is also said to have been the last words of U.S. president William McKinley and was played at his funeral and the funerals of presidents James Garfield, Warren Harding, and Gerald Ford.
Sarah F. Adams wrote the lyrics at the request of her pastor to accompany a sermon on Jacob's dream of a ladder to heaven. The words have been set to several different tunes. The one presented here is the one most familiar to Americans, Bethany, written by Lowell Mason in 1856. Known as the "father of American church music," Mason (1792-1872) composed over 1600 hymn tunes and is the first important American music educator, responsible for bringing music education into the public schools. Probably his composition that is most well-known throughout the world is "Mary Had a Little Lamb!"