The hymn is also heard in films, including The 39 Steps (1935), Sergeant York (1941), Benny and Joon, The Outlaw Josey Wales, A Prairie Home Companion, Supervixens, Django Unchained (2012) and Suburbicon (2017).

News of the Day". (Christchurch) Press. No.6148. Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand. 3 June 1885. p.2 . Retrieved 27 December 2020. The hymn, immensely popular in the nineteenth century, became a Gospel standard and has appeared in hymnals ever since. It continues to be regularly performed. Noteworthy recordings over the years have been made by Elvis Presley, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn and Kenny Rogers.Sanford had a friend, a musician named Joseph Webster, who would visit the drugstore and spend time with Sanford. The two men had a mutual love of music and composed several tunes together – Sanford writing the words and Joseph composing the music. One morning two women came in to the drugstore and told Sanford that they had met his friend Joseph and he seemed depressed. “You know how musicians are – temperamental – but I know just what to do to help him when I see him” Sanford replied. Mr. Webster, like many musicians, was of an exceedingly nervous and sensitive nature, and subject to periods of depression. During these times, everything seemed dark to him. Webster had learned his peculiarities so well that on meeting him he could tell at a glance if his friend was was melancholy. Webster had found that he could rouse him by giving him a new song to work on. In The Sweet By And By", Artisan Band (2006-08-13: Artisan iMix 2.0 Bluegrass Week) (CC2.5)— Internet Archive. a b Duffy, John-Charles; Olaiz, Hugo (2002). "Correlated Praise: The Development of the Spanish Hymnal" (PDF). Dialogue. 35 (2): 90–92.

Mr. Webster, like many musicians, was of an exceedingly nervous and sensitive nature, and subject to periods of depression, in which he looked upon the dark side of all things in life. I had learned his peculiarities so well that on meeting him I could tell at a glance if he was melancholy, and had found that I could rouse him up by giving him a new song to work on. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”– John 14:2 We are thrilled to share a series of brief accounts of how some of the great hymns of our faith were written. Each synopsis has been compiled through the research of Jerry Vargo and is shared by permission. It is our hope that these stories will be a help and encouragement to your Christian walk. This week we read the unique story behind the stirring hymn, “Sweet By and By.” A crowd of admirers in New Zealand sang the hymn in 1885 at the railway station to the departing American temperance evangelists Mary Greenleaf Clement Leavitt of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and Blue Ribbon Army representative R.T. Booth. [3]This is the only hymn ever written in a drugstore. For decades millions of Americans have sung the lyrics to his famous hymn; yet, only a handful know the name of the one who co-wrote Sweet By and By. Sanford Fillmore Bennett was born in New York, 21 June 1836. He moved to Elkhorn, Wisconsin and in 1864 enrolled in the Wisconsin Volunteers and served as Second Lieutenant in the Civil War. Following the war, he returned to Elkhorn and started a drug store. During this time he began the study of medicine at Rush Medical College in Chicago. He graduated in 1874. Sanford Fillmore Bennett was born inNew York, 21 June 1836.In 1864 enrolled in the Wisconsin Volunteers and served as Second Lieutenant. Following the war, he returned to Elkhorn and started a drug store and began the study of medicine. He graduated from Rush Medical College in 1874. In the New Orleans jazz tradition, the song is a standard dirge played in so-called " jazz funerals". The American composer Charles Ives quoted the hymn in several works, most notably in the finale of his Orchestral Set No. 2, written between 1915 and 1919. Translations of the text exist in a number of world languages. Sweet By and By was originally written on a little piece of 5 x 7 paper , but it was big enough to sing its way into the hearts of millions of Christian people for over 140 years.

The hymn was parodied by Joe Hill in 1911 as The Preacher and the Slave, in which the phrase " pie in the sky" was coined as a satirical comment on the Christian conception of heavenly reward. Gonzalez, Andrés C (1996). Placentero nos es trabajar. Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. p.88. {{ cite book}}: |work= ignored ( help)Mark Twain made fun of the song's ubiquitous popularity, along with the demographic groups in which it became popular. The melody is mentioned in The Loves of Alonzo Fitz Clarence and Rosannah Ethelton (1878) and The invalid's Story (1882); in both stories the melody is sung out of tune. Also in chapter 17 ("A Banquet") of his 1889 satirical novel A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court. The protagonist, Hank Morgan, a visitor from the future, attends a lavish court dinner given by Morgan Le Fay, King Arthur's sister, during which guests are regaled with music: In a gallery a band with cymbals, horns, harps, and other horrors, opened the proceedings with what seemed to be the crude first-draft or original agony of the wail known to later centuries as "In the Sweet Bye and Bye." It was new, and ought to have been rehearsed a little more. For some reason or other the queen had the composer hanged, after dinner.