I'll Be a Sunbeam I'll Be a Sunbeam "I'll Be a Sunbeam" (also called "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam") is a popular children's Christian hymn composed by Nellie Talbot; it is sung to music composed in 1900 by Edwin O. Excell. Due to its age, the hymn has entered the public domain in the United States. Published in Chicago by Excell as hymn number 137 in his "Praises" in 1905, the words and music were anthologized at least three more times in other hymnals before 1923. Virtually nothing is known about lyricist Nellie Talbot; attempts to search census records suggest that she may
W. H. Jude "Festival March in C". Many of his compositions are of the Victorian parlour music variety. He was a keen writer of high-Victorian hymns, and his hymn tune "Galilee" was widely printed and applied to several texts, although notably "Jesus Calls Us" by Cecil Frances Alexander. In 1900, he published a collection of his own hymn tunes entitled "Music and the Higher Life". Several of his hymn settings, such as "Onward, Christian Soldiers", "Eventide" and "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" are better known in alternative settings. Jude wrote the words of a few hymns. "Speak to me, Lord, and calm this