"He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" is a traditional American spiritual. It was first published in the paperbound hymnal Spirituals Triumphant, Old and New,[1] in 1927. In 1933, it was collected by Frank Warner from the singing of Sue Thomas in North Carolina.[2] It was also recorded by other collectors, including Robert Sonkin of the Library of Congress, who recorded it in Gee's Bend, Alabama, in 1941. That version is still available at the Library's American Folklife Center.[3]
Frank Warner performed the song during the 1940s and 50s, and introduced it to the American folk scene.[2] Warner recorded it on the Elektra Album American Folk Songs and Ballads in 1952.[4][5] It was quickly picked up by both American gospel singers and British skiffle and pop musicians.
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The song made the popular song charts in a 1958 version by English singer Laurie London with the Geoff Love Orchestra, which went all the way to #1 of the Most Played by Jockeys song list in the USA and went to number three on the R&B charts.[6] It was the most successful record by a British male in the 50's in the USA.[7] The record reached #2 on Billboard's Best Sellers In Stores survey and #1 in Cashbox's Top 60. Mahalia Jackson's version made the Billboard top 100 singles chart, topping at number 67. It is the first gospel song to hit #1 on a U.S. pop singles chart in 1958; another, Oh Happy Day by the Edwin Hawkins Singers reached #1 on the Billboard Top 40 singles chart in 1969.
In February 1978, English football team Nottingham Forest F.C. released "We've Got The Whole World In Our Hands" (Warner K17110) in conjunction with local band Paper Lace; the B side featured "The Forest March". The song has become a favourite in British football grounds, with the lyrics adapted in various ways; for instance, "We're the worst team in the League" has been heard at Rushden & Diamonds matches.[8]
Other versions were recorded by Marian Anderson, Bull Crapp (in Oslo on August 29, 1958 and released on the single His Master's Voice 45-6075 AL 6075 and on the extended play En aften på "Casino Non Stop", introdusert av Arne Hestenes (HMV 7EGN 26. It was arranged by Harry Douglas and Ed Kirkeby), Odetta, Jackie DeShannon, Perry Como, the Sandpipers (1970;"Come Saturday Morning" LP) and Nina Simone on And Her Friends (1959). The Sisters of Mercy played it at the Reading Festival in 1991. It is featured on the "The Good and the Bad and the Ugly" bootleg album. A notable version of the song is found on the 2001 Grammy Award-Nominated Album starring Ann-Margret God Is Love: The Gospel Sessions performed by Art Greenhaw and The Light Crust Doughboys with The Jordanaires.[9]
In the 1982 film "Tootsie", Dorothy Michaels (Dustin Hoffman) sings a line of the song to her (his) agent George Fields (Sydney Pollack), changing the words to "I've got the whole world in my hands."
In 1995, The Sisters of Glory, a gospel group that featured Thelma Houston, CeCe Peniston, Phoebe Snow, Lois Walden, and Albertina Walker, included the composition to their album Good News in Hard Times released on Warner Bros.
In the movie Con Air (1997), Steve Buscemi plays a serial killer who sings "He's got the whole world" with a little girl. In the movie RocketMan, also from 1997, Harland Williams plays the role of an astronaut who sings "I have the whole world in my hands" on a worldwide broadcast, and is then accompanied by millions of people around the world watching it.
The song is also used in the PlayStation Portable commercial. The "I have the whole world in my hands" version is used.
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