O SINGAPORE, MY HOME SWEET HOME

Rev Timothy Tow

Singapore Skyline Then

O Singapore, my Home Sweet Home,
Fairest Tower of Southern Sky.
How I yearn coming back to thee,
Whene’er duty bids me fly.
See how brightly beam your night eyes
Through the blue of evening haze.
O Singapore, my Home Sweet Home,
Paradise to every race!

Let your sons serve thee always
with might and main,
And make thee more great in
heart and strength.

O Singapore, my Home Sweet Home,
Wing my steps to come to thee.
Thou Fairest Tower of Southern Sky,
Brighter shine from sea to sea.
O Singapore, my Home Sweet Home,
How I yearn to come to thee.

O Singapore, My Home Sweet Home was written in 1990, “To commemorate the Silver Jubilee of our Independence, taking pride in our Global City not only having the first seaport but also first airport.” [Life B-P Weekly, 5 August 1990.]

Story behind Singapura

Singapura is an anthem penned “with warm sentiments towards God and country” while on sabbatical in the Holy Land, August 1969 – January 1970:

“On the last day but one before our return to Singapore, the Carlsons took us to Ashkelon on the Mediterranean seashore for a family picnic. Lolling on the yellow sands before the waters so blue that transported me in spirit back to Singapore, these words began to flow from a patriotic heart.” [Timothy Tow, Son of a Mother’s Vow (Singapore: FEBC Bookroom, 2001), 246.]

The writer “humbly offers it to the Christian public with a prayer that its use might bind our Island Nation back to the Higher Government above, and that our rulers might realise that without Him we can do nothing”. [B-P Weekly, 8 August 1970.]

It is to be sung “as an expression not only of loyalty to our country, but also in accord with the Apostle’s injunction that ‘first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty’ (1 Tim 2:1, 2)”. [Life B-P Weekly, 5 August 1984.]

Singapore Skyline Now