About this Song
‘Do What Is Right”
was borrowed first as a poem, and published by the Latter-Day Saints on September 3, 1859 in a short-lived newspaper entitled the Mountaineer. It was reprinted in the Latter-day Saint’s Millennial Star on March 24, 1860, and from there entered the Latter-day Saint hymnal in the twelfth edition of Sacred Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1863).
“Do What is Right” was first paired with OAKEN BUCKET, the tune to which we sing these words today, in Eliza Snow’s Tune Book for the Primary Associations of the Children of Zion (1880). This tune is more familiarly known as the musical setting for Samuel Woodworth’s poem “The Old Oaken Bucket,” hence the tune name.
The composer of OAKEN BUCKET remained a mystery for many years, but some time before the publication of the 1948 hymnal, the melody was found to be adapted from the song “Araby’s Daughter” by British composer George Kiallmark (1781-1835).
This Arrangement Uses:
