# Song in "The Right Stuff"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-in-the-right-stuff/190090>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 22, 2003, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-in-the-right-stuff/190090 "2003-07-22T04:37:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDeath_the_Mad)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-in-the-right-stuff/190090/1 "2003-07-22T04:37:35Z")

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What is the name of the song that they sing at the funerals in “The Right Stuff”?

And does it have alternate words as well? I swear in some nautical movie (“The Perfect Storm” I think) I heard them sing the same song at a funeral, but the words were more nautical and less avaitor.

MtM

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**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-in-the-right-stuff/190090/2 "2003-07-22T06:07:30Z")

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I thought this had been covered in a previous thread, but I can’t find it.

The song is a variation of “Eternal Father, Strong to Save”, also known (in the U.S. Navy, at least) as the “Navy Hymn”. The original words were written by the Rev. William Whiting, and it was adapted to music in 1861 by the Rev. John B. Dykes. In 1879 it was established as the concluding hymn of Sunday’s Divine Services as the United States Naval Academy.

New verses have been introduced along with advances in naval technology. I’ve found a reference to at least one verse for submariners. The version used in _The Right Stuff_ was introduced around the time of World War II, and seems to be adapted from a seperate hymn, “Lord, Guard and Guide the Men Who Fly” by Mary C. D. Hamilton. I haven’t seen _The Perfect Storm_, but considering the seafaring tradition of the hymn, it’s probably one of the variations.

Lots of background [here](http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq53-1.htm), or do a Google search on “Navy hymn”.

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**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-in-the-right-stuff/190090/3 "2003-07-22T06:13:26Z")

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[The Naval Hymn](http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/questions/eternal.html)

There are many verses theat give tribute to sailors, flyers, Marines, Seabees, Coast Guardsmen, and one written in 1961 for astronauts:

> [@](#):
>
> **Eternal Father, King of birth,  
> Who didst create the heaven and earth,  
> And bid the planets and the sun  
> Their own appointed orbits run;  
> O hear us when we seek thy grace  
> For those who soar through outer space.**

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**Author:** ![McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDeath_the_Mad)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-in-the-right-stuff/190090/4 "2003-07-22T16:18:30Z")

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Thanks!

MtM

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**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-in-the-right-stuff/190090/5 "2003-07-22T16:40:26Z")

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It is also sung in the movie Titanic during the church service, the line highlighted in that film of course

and those in peril on the sea.