When There's Love At Home

It is easy to see why this is such a popular hymn; the key words read like a Thesaurus entry of sweetness.

Music score

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When There's Love At Home

John Hugh McNaughton (1829-1901) wrote both the music and words for When There's Love At Home in 1860.

He lived in Caledonia, New York, about 30 miles southwest of Rochester. John was known as 'The Poet McNaughton' for composing many songs popular at the time, though few have survived to be sung today. Other than 'Love At Home,' perhaps his most famous was 'The Faded Coat of Blue', about Union soldiers taken prisoner during the American Civil War.

The Carter Family, a famous American country singing trio, recorded 'The Faded Coat of Blue', although with a different tune from McNaughtons. There is a monument to John Hugh McNaughton just outside Caledonia, on the site of the farm where he lived.

(Our thanks to Allen Hopkins for the above information. Allen lives not too far from McNaughton's birth place and has the same sparkle as McNaughton for brilliant and original folk music, as you can hear on his website: allenhopkins.org.)

Here then, are three of the popular verses of John Hugh McNaughton's

When There's Love At Home


There is beauty all around, when there's love at home.
There is joy in ev'ry sound, when there's love at home.
Peace and plenty here abide, smiling sweet on ev'ry side.
Time doth softly, sweetly glide, when there's love at home.

Chorus: Love at home, Love at home.
Time doth softly, sweetly glide, when there's love at home.

In the cottage there is joy, when there's love at home.
Hate and envy ne'er annoy, when there's love at home.
Roses bloom beneath our feet, all the earth's a garden sweet,
Making life a bliss complete, when there's love at home.

Chorus: Love at home, Love at home.
Making life a bliss complete, when there's love at home.

Kindly heaven smiles above, when there's love at home.
All the world is filled with love, when there's love at home.
Sweeter sings the brooklet by, brighter beams the azure sky.
Oh, there's one who smiles on high, when there's love at home.

Chorus: Love at home, Love at home.
Oh, there's One who smiles on high, when there's love at home.


(Click on the music for a full score)

When There's Love At Home has been translated into other languages, such as this Portuguese version and is not restricted to Western cultures. Here's the Japanese version.

Listen to the melody

If you have further information about this song, please email us and we'll add it to this page.

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