1. Purpose of This Site

The purpose is to dig out the history of each JW hymn. (though the writer's ability is not enough...)

Jehovah's Witnesses have published a number of songbooks for many years. Although the brief history of the songbooks have been explained in the articles of the Watchtower or in the official history book, namely "Jehovah's Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom"(1993), they did not make clear the history of each song as other churches did. (The Protestants have published good books on the history of hymns, even in Japanese. The Mormons (LDS) too have such history books in English. The Moonies may have one in Japanese. But JWs have none, no, they even do not know the authors/composers of their hymns.)

2. Contents of This Site

The 'History' section gives a brief history of JW songbooks, including Japanese editions (published in 1955,1968,[1981] & 1984) and German "Zionslieder" (published in 1905 & 1923), along with the important changes in their teachings. The articles often criticize JW organization and its teachings. NOT recommended for earnest Witnesses!

The 'Comments on Songs' section gives brief explanation on the history of each song. The names of the authors/composers are restored for some songs, according to the 1928 songbook.

The index of the 'Comments' section goes as follows:

• 2-1. Songs supposed to be older than the 1928 songbook
  • 2-1-A. : both lyrics and tunes are older than the 1928 songbook : 0 song
  • 2-1-B. : only lyrics are older than the 1928 songbook : 2 songs
  • 2-1-C. : only the tune is older than the 1928 songbook : 1 song
• 2-2. Songs supposed to appear first in the 1928 songbook
  • 2-2-A. : both lyrics and tunes date back to the 1928 songbook : 9 songs
  • 2-2-B. : only lyrics date back to the 1928 songbook : 0 song
  • 2-2-C. : only tunes date back to the 1928 songbook : 10 songs
• 2-3. Songs supposed to appear first in the 1944 songbook
  • 2-3-A. : both lyrics and tunes date back to the 1944 songbook : 7 songs
  • 2-3-B. : only lyrics date back to the 1944 songbook : 1 song
  • 2-3-C. : only tunes date back to the 1944 songbook : 0 song
• 2-4. Songs supposed to be older than the 1950 songbook : 1 song
• 2-5. Songs supposed to appear first in the 1950 songbook
  • 2-5-A. : both lyrics and tunes date back to the 1950 songbook : 12 songs
  • 2-5-B. : only lyrics date back to the 1950 songbook : 6 songs
  • 2-5-C. : only the tune dates back to the 1950 songbook : 1 song
• 2-6. Songs supposed to be older than the 1966 songbook : no source yet
• 2-7. Songs supposed to appear first in the 1966 songbook   * yet to be written
  • 2-7-A. : both lyrics and tunes date back to the 1966 songbook : 60 songs   * no article yet
  • 2-7-B. : only lyrics date back to the 1966 songbook : 1 song   * no article yet
  • 2-7-C. : only tunes date back to the 1966 songbook : 2 songs   * no article yet
• 2-8. Songs supposed to be older than the 1984 songbook : 2 songs   * no article yet
• 2-9. Songs supposed to appear first in the 1984 songbook : the rest   * no article yet

List of Songs in the 1984 Songbook (ordered by song no.)