I'll Be a Sunbeam Want Me for a Sunbeam". The latter version was covered by Nirvana. The hymn was also referenced in the lyrics of the song "Alibi" by Elvis Costello ("Maybe Jesus wants you for 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
Rock of Ages (Christian hymn) his anti-religious father, which figures in one of his hallucinations. The hymn has appeared in other languages including German (as "Fels der Ewigkeit") and Swedish ("Klippa, du som brast för mig"). There were also Latin translations by William Gladstone as "Jesus, pro me perforatus" and by Canadian linguist Silas Tertius Rand as "Rupes saeculorum, te." On reading this version, Gladstone wrote to Rand, "I at once admit that your version is more exact than mine". This hymn was also translated to Telugu, a south Indian language spoken by nearly eighty million people. The hymn is included in "Andhra Christava Keerthanalu",