DOWNLOAD THE SONGSHEET
Keep On The Sunny Side (for BUG)(WORD)
Keep On The Sunny Side (for BUG)(PDF)
Keep On The Sunny Side (original)(WORD)
Keep On The Sunny Side (original)(PDF)
I've changed two lines of the lyrics in the last verse to keep on the sunny side of the event organizers BUG is involved with - we've been asked by most if not all to keep songs secular, and that is the same policy we follow at our BUG Jams. So now we'll be able to enjoy singing this joyous song wherever we go!
In 1899 Ada Blenkhorn was inspired to write the Christian hymn by a phrase used by her nephew. Blenkhorn's nephew was disabled and always wanted his wheelchair pushed down "the sunny side" of the street. The Carter Family learned of the song from A. P. Carter's uncle who was a music teacher, and they recorded the song in Camden, New Jersey in 1928. "Keep on the Sunny Side" became their theme song on the radio in later years. A.P. Carter's tombstone has a gold record of the song embedded in it. In later years, the Carter Family treated "Keep on the Sunny Side" as a theme song of sorts. A recording of the song with The Whites was featured in the 2000 movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?
This song is also on the album "Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes"(Music From & Inspired By). The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes movie is a 2023 American dystopian action film directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt. Based on the 2020 novel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins, it serves as a prequel to The Hunger Games (2012), and is the fifth installment in The Hunger Games film series.