A gift­ed mu­si­cian, Doane helped di­rect mu­sic while at­tend­ing the Wood­stock Academy; with­in two years he had pub­lished his first com­po­si­tion. Al­though he called music his “avo­ca­tion,” he pro­duced over 2,000 hymn tunes in his life­time. How­ever, his main trade was sec­u­lar: He was pres­i­dent of the J. A. Fay wood­work­ing ma­chin­ery com­pa­ny, and an ex­treme­ly suc­cess­ful bus­i­ness­man. He al­so served as Sun­day School sup­er­in­tend­ent and choir di­rect­or at the Mount Au­burn Bap­tist Church in Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio, and be­queathed large sums to var­i­ous caus­es. The Doane Me­mor­i­al Mu­sic Build­ing in Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois, was named af­ter him. His works in­clude:

• Sabbath School Gems, 1862
• Songs of De­vo­tion, 1868
• The Sil­ver Spray (Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio: John Church & Co., 1868)
• Songs of De­vo­tion (New York: 1870)
• Pure Gold for the Sun­day School (New York: 1871)
• Roy­al Di­a­dem for the Sun­day School, with Ro­bert Low­ry (New York: Big­low & Main: 1873)
• Brightest and Best, with Ro­bert Low­ry (New York: Big­low & Main: 1875)
• Welcome Tid­ings: A New Col­lect­ion of Sac­red Songs for the Sun­day School, with Ro­bert Low­ry & Ira Sank­ey (New York: Big­low & Main, 1877)
• Gospel Hymn and Tune Book, with Ro­bert Low­ry (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: 1879)
• Hymn Ser­vice for the Sun­day School, with Ro­bert Low­ry, D. A. Whe­don & John H. Vin­cent (New York: Big­low & Main: 1879)
• Good as Gold, with Ro­bert Low­ry (New York: Big­low & Main: 1880)
• The Bap­tist Hymn­al (mu­sic­al ed­it­or) (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Amer­i­can Bap­tist Pub­li­ca­tion So­ci­et­y, 1883)
• Joyful Lays, with Ro­bert Low­ry (New York: Big­low & Main, 1884)
• The Glad Re­frain, with Ro­bert Low­ry (New York: Big­low & Main, 1886)
• Select Gems, with Ro­bert Low­ry (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Amer­i­can Bap­tist Pub­li­ca­tion So­ci­et­y, 1889)
• Sunny-Side Songs for Sun­day Schools (New York: The Big­low & Main Co., 1893)
• Songs of the King­dom (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Amer­i­can Bap­tist Pub­li­ca­tion So­ci­e­ty, 1896)
• Glorious Praise, with Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick (Lou­is­ville, Ken­tucky: The Bap­tist Book Con­cern, 1904)
• Precious Jew­els of Sac­red Song (Lou­is­ville, Ken­tucky: The World Pub­lish­ing Co., un­dat­ed)
• Song Evan­gel (Lou­is­ville, Ken­tucky: 1906)

Sources

Lyrics

1. Like a Bird to Thee

Music

1. Adora­tion
2. Alstyne
3. Beautiful Vale of Rest
4. Beautiful Witness
5. Bethesda Is Open
6. Bless This Hour of Pray­er
7. Blessed Are They That Believe
8. Blessed Feast, The
9. Children Sing
10. Choose Ye Today
11. Christian Brother, o’er the Main
12. Church of Christ, O Sleep No More
13. City of Gold
14. Come, Great Deliverer, Come!
15. Cross of Jesus
16. Dear Sabbath Home
17. Dew of Mercy
18. Do All the Good You Can
19. Evangel
20. Faith in Jesus
21. Few More Marchings Weary, A
22. First Commandment
23. Good Old Way, The
24. Hand in Hand
25. Hark! There Comes a Whisper
26. Help Us to Labor On
27. Hide Me
28. His Words Are True
29. Hour by Hour
30. I Am Thine, O Lord
31. If Any Man Hear
32. If I Come to Jesus
33. Is It There?
34. Jesus Calls Thee
35. Jesus Is Passing This Way
36. Jesus Was a Child Like Me
37. Just a Word for Jesus
38. Keep Me Wholly Thine
39. King of Zion
40. Labor On
41. Lay It Down
42. Let Your Light Shine Out
43. Like a Bird to Thee
44. Lion of Judah, The
45. Moments of Pray­er
46. More Like Jesus
47. More Love to Thee, O Christ
48. Mother’s Goodbye, The
49. My Precious Bi­ble
50. Near the Cross
51. Never Will I Cease to Love Him
52. No Tears in Heaven
53. One Blessèd Hour with Jesus
54. Only a Little Way
55. Only a Step
56. Only One Name
57. Only Thy Garment’s Hem
58. Our Festive Song
59. Out of Bondage
60. Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior
61. Patriot’s Prayer, The
62. Pilgrim’s Journey, The
63. Precious Name
64. Preston
65. Pure Within
66. Rescue
67. Rest over Jordan
68. Sacred Fountain
69. Safe in the Arms of Jesus
70. Saved by the Blood
71. Savior, More Than Life
72. Some Sweet Day, By and By
73. Sound the Alarm!
74. Speed for Thy Life
75. Stand by the Right
76. There Is Peace
77. They That Overcome
78. Though Your Sins Be as Scarlet
79. ’Tis Not Far to Jesus
80. ’Tis the Blessed Hour of Pray­er
81. To God Be the Glory
82. To Jesus I Will Go
83. To the Work
84. Too Late
85. Tread Softly
86. Tried and True
87. Trust in the Promise
88. Trusting and Hoping
89. Trusting Jesus
90. ’Twill Not Be Long
91. Vision
92. We All Can Do Something for Jesus
93. We Praise Thee
94. Welcome Hour of Prayer
95. We’ll Battle to the End
96. We’ll Give Our Hearts to Jesus
97. What Wilt Thou Have Me to Do?
98. When the Burden Bearer Came
99. Why Do the Ho­ly Angels Sing?
100. Will Jesus Find Us Watching?