# "In the Garden": well-known by non-Baptists?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-garden-well-known-by-non-baptists/459902>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 13, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-garden-well-known-by-non-baptists/459902 "2008-08-13T22:13:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-garden-well-known-by-non-baptists/459902/21 "2008-08-14T02:42:36Z")

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I’m barely methodist, and I know it. It’s right up there with “Amazing Grace,” IMO.

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**Author:** ![Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Metal_Lotus)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-garden-well-known-by-non-baptists/459902/22 "2008-08-14T02:42:54Z")

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I have heard it more times than I want to.

I am more or less an athiest, and the only times I have heard that Hymm, has been at funerals for friends or loved ones I have attended.

So I don’t have great emotional associations with it, despite the hope and joy it supposedly represents for believers.

Regards  
FML

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**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-garden-well-known-by-non-baptists/459902/23 "2008-08-14T02:55:52Z")

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Catholic. I’m vaguely aware of the song, maybe from movies, but I’ve never heard it in church or played fully. I’m in Tennessee - did Elvis maybe record it? That might be what I’ve heard.

StG

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**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-garden-well-known-by-non-baptists/459902/24 "2008-08-14T03:23:45Z")

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It was my mom’s favorite hymn, too. It was performed at her funeral back in 1976 (Southern Baptist)  
VCNJ~

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**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-garden-well-known-by-non-baptists/459902/25 "2008-08-14T05:30:49Z")

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So far this thread has answered my OP question thus: The hymn is known by most people except for Catholics and atheists. The musician I mentioned is perhaps the anomaly, having been an Episcopalian (I was one of the pallbearers at her funeral) since Episcopalian seems to me to be Catholic without the authority of the Pope.  
I play the electronic keyboard. I have the song set up to play on it but I _never_ play it–every time I try I break down and cry because of the memory of my Dad. ☹

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**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-garden-well-known-by-non-baptists/459902/26 "2008-08-14T06:50:21Z")

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Brought up Catholic…I’ve heard it and played it many times, just not in the Catholic church\*

- I was a church organist-for-hire and played in a bluegrass band.

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**Author:** ![meenie7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7993a0/32.png) [@meenie7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meenie7)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-garden-well-known-by-non-baptists/459902/27 "2008-08-14T07:42:09Z")

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Well, I am one atheist who has heard of it. 🙂

I used to be in the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls when I was a teenager, and “In The Garden” was one of the hymns we sang during one of our major ceremonies.

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**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-garden-well-known-by-non-baptists/459902/28 "2008-08-14T08:34:32Z")

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Attended Christian & Missionary Alliance as a kid, Assembly of God for the past 20+ years- very popular in both.

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**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-garden-well-known-by-non-baptists/459902/29 "2008-08-14T10:41:06Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> **missred** : \* I was a church organist-for-hire and played in a bluegrass band.

I’m a keyboard person myself! I should have known that when I met you!

Yes, _In the Garden_ is one of the hymns I grew up knowing. I was brought up in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

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**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-garden-well-known-by-non-baptists/459902/30 "2008-08-14T12:06:36Z")

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[QUOTE=dougie\_monty]  
This is the old Baptist hymn by C. Austin Miles with the lines in the refrain:  
_And he walks with me and he talks with me  
And he tells me that I am his own…_  
My Dad (born in Arkansas) knew it, and sang it, accompanying himself on the guitar. A Jewish girl I used to date knew it; I think she had attended Hope Chapel or something similar. Another woman–of unknown church affiliation but Scandinavian ancestry–knew it; and a musician, who played the organ in her local Episcopalian church, not only knew it but gave me the title, which I had not known before.  
So what I’d like to know is, Is this hymn well known outside the Baptist chuch?  
[/QUOTE]

I’m Catholic, and have never heard it in a Catholic Church. But my ex-wife was a Church of Christ girl from South Texas, and I heard the song regularly at her church (a capella, of course, since Church of Christ members frown on musical instruments in church).

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-garden-well-known-by-non-baptists/459902/31 "2008-08-14T12:12:20Z")

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I’ve never heard it. I was brought up Catholic, and it’s never been played in any Catholic Church I’ve been in (but then, Catholics rarely if ever play Protestant hymns).  
I’ve since been to lots of church services from many branches, Baptist included, and I don’t recall ever hearing that one.

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**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-garden-well-known-by-non-baptists/459902/32 "2008-08-14T12:52:30Z")

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My father was brought up Catholic, which I never learned until after he’d died. He joined the Disciples of Christ about the time I was born. He often hummed the tune. I don’t know if he learned it there or knew it all along. He loved it.

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**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-garden-well-known-by-non-baptists/459902/33 "2008-08-14T14:40:53Z")

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Here’s [Elvis’s version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NH_is7VuCI) if anyone is interested.

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**Author:** ![N.Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f19dbf/32.png) [@N.Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N.Sane)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-garden-well-known-by-non-baptists/459902/34 "2008-08-14T14:56:04Z")

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This has been one of my favourite hymns since I was a kid. I grew up Presbyterian/non-denominational Christian, and we sang it reasonably often. I’ve been LDS for years now, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard it sung in church. Haven’t been to many LDS funerals.

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**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-garden-well-known-by-non-baptists/459902/35 "2008-08-14T15:03:08Z")

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Now I’ve been singing this to myself since yesterday. It feels like I’ve been to our local Hobby Lobby where they play muzaked hymns on their speakers, which leaves me humming stuff like \*How Great Thou Art \*for the rest of the day.

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**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-garden-well-known-by-non-baptists/459902/36 "2008-08-14T15:25:48Z")

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[QUOTE=pepperlandgirl]  
Yep, I heard it a lot growing up. Googling brought up [the Mormon Hymn Classics 6 Volume Set. It’s on disc 3.](http://deseretbook.com/store/product?sku=3582125)  
[/QUOTE]  
Huh. That is so weird. I know almost every hymn listed on that set (I don’t have the CDs), but I’ve never heard this one. I guess it’s sort of geographical. I might need to take a survey of my friends now.

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**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-garden-well-known-by-non-baptists/459902/37 "2008-08-14T17:19:52Z")

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I grew up 7th Day Adventist (kissing cousins of Baptists, so I guess I probably don’t qualify for the OP’s criteria) and it was a favorite when I attended church.

It’s also the source of a bad joke that used to amuse me greatly:

“I know what God’s name is.”  
“Really? What is it?”  
“Andy!”  
😕😕  
“Andy walks with me, Andy talks with me…” (singing, of course)

Yeah, a bad joke, but I laughed the first time.

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**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-garden-well-known-by-non-baptists/459902/38 "2008-08-14T18:15:47Z")

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Half catholic, half jewish, raised out of church, and I’ve heard it a bunch of times. I think I have a copy of Elvis singing it somewhere. I’ve got a lot of Elvis on vinyl.

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**Author:** ![Reloy3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Reloy3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reloy3)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2008, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-garden-well-known-by-non-baptists/459902/39 "2008-08-14T18:53:10Z")

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[QUOTE=dangermom]  
[Is this it?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f2z8NiI5u8) (Music only, no words)

I’m not familiar with this one at all. If it’s popular at LDS funerals in Utah, in California it ain’t.  
[/QUOTE]

Nor in LDS services in Wyoming, New York or Ohio.

The only reason I know the song is because it is a standard in my dad’s 1950’s and 60’s country gospel album collections.

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**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-garden-well-known-by-non-baptists/459902/40 "2008-08-15T00:51:28Z")

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Is it Andy that owns Gladly, The Cross Eyed Bear? 😃

VCNJ~

[QUOTE=Snickers]  
I grew up 7th Day Adventist (kissing cousins of Baptists, so I guess I probably don’t qualify for the OP’s criteria) and it was a favorite when I attended church.

It’s also the source of a bad joke that used to amuse me greatly:

“I know what God’s name is.”  
“Really? What is it?”  
“Andy!”  
😕😕  
“Andy walks with me, Andy talks with me…” (singing, of course)

Yeah, a bad joke, but I laughed the first time.  
[/QUOTE]

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