Kenneth Dissmore Hymns

Kenneth Dissmore's hymns are available in book form.

2005 edition

Spiral bound piano-friendly books contain 71 hymns and a collection of poems. 28 hymns have music different than that which Kenneth initially chose.

Table of Contents is here.

A limited quantity of these books are still available, but only in the small size: 5½"×8½"

Order item B5602 by inquiring here.

The price for this edition of the book is $10 plus postage.

There is an available audio CD collection, HA7800, containing piano music of all the hymns in this collection also at the above link.

2021 edition

These books contain 71 hymns using the original melodies that Kenneth chose. The poems are not included.

Table of Contents is here.

If you have appropriate printing and binding equipment, you can find ready-to-print zipped PDF files here. If you wish to order a printed, spiral-bound, piano friendly copy, inquire about items B5603, B5604, B5605, or B5606 here.

Errata

A few early copies of this edition incorrectly indicated that Kenneth began in the ministry in 1955. The correct year is 1935.

A few early copies of this edition didn't include four alternate tunes written by Bernice Lundin and Dale Richardson. This shouldn't be considered an error, just a notification. The alternate tunes are downloadable if you wish to print them. If your edition includes them, and you don't want them, just tear them out. These tunes were not in the 2005 edition.

A Mystery

Kenneth borrowed melodies for some of his hymns, and, with help from others, composed music for some of them. It is generally thought that he wrote the lyrics for all of them, but one has turned into a mystery: Be a Little Candle. It seems that the lyrics, but so far not the music, have turned up in other places. Since Kenneth distributed Be a Little Candle with his name at the bottom, most people assumed he created the whole thing, and probably never asked for clarification. People who might have known otherwise have probably, like Kenneth himself, passed on from this world's scene.

Since the internet has continued to accumulate information at a rapid pace, playing detective with internet searches can be done more and more effectively.

The first item uncovered is a hymnal containing a hymn attributed to John W. Peterson, with the same title. While that is interesting, it is not conclusive, as titles are often reused. Unfortunately, that reference has no information beyond the title, and possibly first line. A search for the hymnal via inter-library loan has been initiated.

The second item uncovered is a hymnal containing a single verse hymn, that has lyrics which are nearly identical to the fourth verse of Kenneth's hymn. Unfortunately, there is no attribution for the author of the lyrics. Instructions are given to sing it to the foregoing tune, which is different than the one Kenneth used.

The third item uncovered is a book entitled little candle authored by Mary Sargent Potter. In the first reference found for that book, the lyrics Kenneth used for his chorus, and for his second verse, are quoted. It is not yet clear if the 25-page book is a book of poetry, or a story containing a poem, or a hymnal. Other references found for the book indicated it was published in at least three editions. A search for this book via inter-library loan has been initiated.

This book was borrowed, and It is not at all clear why the page mentioning the book contained the chorus and second verse of Be a Little Candle: it is not contained in the book.

The book contains a touching story of a young boy who died young of an unknown illness, and who seemed to live a selfless life, at the end of which he professed a revelation of a Heavenly Home. However, the book contains no poetry whatsoever.

Since Kenneth distributed it with his name at the bottom, it seems extremely likely that he did some amount of creative work for the hymn, possibly only setting it to music, but more probably creating the music (with help from others, as was his usual style).

As yet, no copies of the music have been found in other sources, but it is much harder to search for music than for lyrics. Until the various books are examined, we cannot say with certainty whether all or only some of the lyrics were published in little candle; the possibility exists that Kenneth may have added additional lyrics, as the other sources found so far do not include all the lyrics in Kenneth's hymn.

Watch this space for updates.

A Clarification

It seems that Kenneth must have distributed a hymn titled Let Me to various ones of his friends, as a number have included it in their collections of Kenneth's hymns. However, his name was not on the hymn, rather it included the initials "M. M.", which stands for Muriel Molina, the actual author and composer of that hymn. A list of hymns mostly in Kenneth's handwriting even includes Let Me, and although the list includes date of creation for many of his hymns, it is not given for <Let Me. From the order of the list, he may have acquired and distributed around 1979.

When written

Kenneth didn't put dates on his hymns, so it is uncertain exactly when most of them were written. The dates for #30 and #71, in the table below, are very certain. Most of the rest of the dates, all that have both day and month, were found by one of his nieces in her collection. The list of hymns and dates were mostly in Kenneth's handwriting, but it is uncertain if the list was from memory, or were notes made at the time if writing, so there could be inaccuracies. Further, not all the hymns listed had dates. A family that professed in Kenneth's meetings had marked the year they received some of Kenneth's hymns, so some of the dates are from their records, which corresponded well with the dates on the handwritten list, although there was a large discrepancy for #41. The family mentioned had noted 1974, and thought it was a new creation when presented to them in person, but the handwritten list has 1964. Curiously, though, most of the handwritten list was in order by date, and that one was between others that were marked 1973 and 1974! The Hymns Old and New 1987 booklet of Authors claims #55 was written in the 1960s, and one would presume that Kenneth, being still alive at the time that booklet was created, would have been asked about it. However, the handwritten list puts it in 1980.

The numbers in the table below refer to the number in the 2005 and 2021 printed books. Hymns for which no information is known have been omitted.
KD numberTitleKnown to have been written or distributed by this date
3I Never Can Forget the Day20 July 1979
4Jesus Will Keep8 June 1975
5Impelled by Love6 March 1971
7Hasten to Jesus15 January 1966
8King of My Soul14 February 1979
9Beautified with True Salvation1961
10The Angels Are Waiting15 January 1972
12Safe in Jesus26 March 1960
17The Pages of Life27 June 1968
20With the Lord20 May 1972
21Beyond The Shadow1973
22At Eventide26 December 1970
24The Mighty Creator3 June 1976
25Precious Father28 November 1974
28Zion1943
29Calmly Enduring1943
30My All I Give to Theelyrics in 1988 by Kenneth Dissmore, music in 1989 by Dale Richardson
31The Everlasting Song13 December 1972
32Precious Peace4 February 1985
33Peace Within28 June 1976
36The Lamp Of Life10 January 1976
37The One We Adore5 January 1970
38Be A Little Candle†1970
39Jesus Leads Me There23 December 1970
40The Sinner's Friend21 December 1972
41Jesus Leads Me Home16 February 1964 (or 1974)
42By The Wayside1 November 1973
43Another Day With Jesus28 February 1975
44He Leadeth Best1977
45Just to Know1973
46Chart Thou The Way10 February 1972
47Time For Doing6 February 1975
48Resigned10 May 1977
49I Love The Lord20 July 1976
51The King Of Kings12 February 1975
53Look To The Saviour31 July 1976
54Take Time for Jesus20 July 1977
55In Jesus’ Hands1980 (Author's book says "in the 1960s")
57My Shepherd Be14 May 1987
60Sing to the Lord1984
61Precious Moments Are Mine1986
67Victory and Song12 August 1967
70Thy Special Children31 January 1986
71The Saviour CalledDecember 1992

MIDI files

A zip file of MIDI files for all the tunes in the 2021 edition can be downloaded here. These can be a useful aid in learning the tunes and timing, if they are unfamiliar to you.

Alternate tunes

Besides the 28 alternate tunes published in the 2005 edition, some of Kenneth's lyrics inspired others to write alternate tunes. Downloadable sheet music of those alternate tunes are available here:

These are included in all but the first few books of the 2021 edition that were printed.
Additional Hymns by Kenneth

The Greek hymnbook contains a number of hymns of Greek and German origin that didn't have English translations. While literal translations were made available, a literal translation seldom fits the original meter of the music, because syllable counts vary between words in different languages. Kenneth helped with reworking these translations into English poetry that fits with the music.

Also included is a poem by Kenneth that was reworked and set to music by Loran Skaw.