If My Jesus Wills/We Shall Overcome

Louise Shropshire was a church organist and choir director when she composed If My Jesus Wills in the 1930’s. “If my Jesus wills, I’ll overcome. I’ll overcome someday,” proclaims the song that would later develop into We Shall Overcome. Our arrangement blends these two songs into one piece for choir and orchestra. It ends with a sacred rendition of We Shall Overcome. Audiences always rise to sing along.

Title: If My Jesus Wills/We Shall Overcome

Composer: Louise Shropshire et al. Arranged by Tim Berens

Dedication: This arrangement is dedicated to the Louise Shropshire Foundation.

Description: This piece begins with the choir singing If My Jesus Wills a cappella. The rhythm section joins after the first chorus, laying down a gospel groove that moves the piece forward. The orchestra joins for a harmonic transition, and the choir sings a calm, reverent verse of We Shall Overcome. Following a brief transition, the two songs are blended together, and the listener hears how If My Jesus Wills developed into We Shall Overcome. The arrangement finishes with a sacred rendition of We Shall Overcome, with a spectacular ending.

Length: 4:00

Instrumentation: 3333/4331/Timp+2/Drum Set/Electric Bass/Guitar/Keyboard with B3 organ sound/SATB Choir/Strings

Length: 4:00

Rental Fee: $275.00 first performance. $90.00 per subsequent performance.

Delivery Formats: Available in printed parts and scores, or PDF parts and scores, or both. An additional $100.00 fee applies for delivery in both printed and PDF formats.

If My Jesus Wills/We Shall Overcome was performed by The Cleveland Orchestra with the magnificent 140 member Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Chorus on January 19, 2025.

Enjoy the video of their performance below.