Unbelievably in all these years I’ve never covered this spiritual, which has become a standard.
First published in the 1920s of unknown authorship it became popular in the 1950s.
This hymnal has John de Luca’s own arrangement and there are even chords given to help me out. I gather from his sheet music it is meant to swing, which most sheet music for this piece most certainly does not. The text has many variations – de Luca prefers singular hands and plural babies.
1 He’s got the whole world in his hand.
He’s got the whole world in his hand.
He’s got the whole wide world in his hand.
He’s got the whole world in his hand.2 He’s got you and me, brother, in his hand. . . .
He’s got the whole world in his hand.
3 He’s got you and me, sister, in his hand. . . .
He’s got the whole world in his hand.
4 He’s got the little tiny babies in his hand. . . .
He’s got the whole world in his hand.5 He’s got everybody here in his hand. . . .
He’s got the whole world in his hand.
The original hit version:
