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
Day by Day (hymn) Day by Day (hymn) Day by Day, is a Christian hymn written in 1865 by Lina Sandell several years after she had witnessed the tragic drowning death of her father. It is a hymn of assurance used in American congregational singing. Sandell-Berg was a prolific Swedish hymn writer. Two of her hymns, "Day By Day" and "Children of the Heavenly Father" are widely known in the U.S. The original and most popular English translation of the hymn is by Andrew L. Skoog, a Swedish immigrant to the U.S. "Day by Day" started appearing in American hymnals in the latter half