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)
• Jubilant Voices, with Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick et al. (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Hope Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, 1907)
• 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. Benjamin
6. Bethesda Is Open
7. Bless This Hour of Pray­er
8. Blessed Are They That Believe
9. Blessed Feast, The
10. Children Sing
11. Choose Ye Today
12. Christian Brother, o’er the Main
13. Church of Christ, O Sleep No More
14. City of Gold
15. Come, Great Deliverer, Come!
16. Cross of Jesus
17. Dear Sabbath Home
18. Dew of Mercy
19. Do All the Good You Can
20. Evangel
21. Faith in Jesus
22. Few More Marchings Weary, A
23. First Commandment
24. Good Old Way, The
25. Hand in Hand
26. Hark! There Comes a Whisper
27. He Gave His Life for Thee
28. Help Us to Labor On
29. Hide Me
30. His Words Are True
31. Hour by Hour
32. I Am Thine, O Lord
33. If Any Man Hear
34. If I Come to Jesus
35. Is It There?
36. Jesus Calls Thee
37. Jesus Is Passing This Way
38. Jesus Was a Child Like Me
39. Just a Word for Jesus
40. Keep Me Wholly Thine
41. King of Zion
42. Labor On
43. Lay It Down
44. Let Your Light Shine Out
45. Like a Bird to Thee
46. Lion of Judah, The
47. Moments of Pray­er
48. More Like Jesus
49. More Love to Thee, O Christ
50. Mother’s Goodbye, The
51. My Precious Bi­ble
52. Near the Cross
53. Never Will I Cease to Love Him
54. No Tears in Heaven
55. One Blessèd Hour with Jesus
56. Only a Little Way
57. Only a Step
58. Only One Name
59. Only Thy Garment’s Hem
60. Our Festive Song
61. Out of Bondage
62. Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior
63. Patriot’s Prayer, The
64. Pilgrim’s Journey, The
65. Precious Name
66. Preston
67. Pure Within
68. Rescue
69. Rest in Jesus
70. Rest over Jordan
71. Sacred Fountain
72. Safe in the Arms of Jesus
73. Saved by the Blood
74. Savior, More Than Life
75. Some Sweet Day, By and By
76. Sound the Alarm!
77. Speed for Thy Life
78. Stand by the Right
79. There Is Peace
80. They That Overcome
81. Though Your Sins Be as Scarlet
82. ’Tis Not Far to Jesus
83. ’Tis the Blessed Hour of Pray­er
84. To God Be the Glory
85. To Jesus I Will Go
86. To the Work
87. Too Late
88. Tread Softly
89. Tried and True
90. Trust in the Promise
91. Trusting and Hoping
92. Trusting Jesus
93. ’Twill Not Be Long
94. Vision
95. We All Can Do Something for Jesus
96. We Praise Thee
97. Welcome Hour of Prayer
98. We’ll Battle to the End
99. We’ll Give Our Hearts to Jesus
100. What Wilt Thou Have Me to Do?
101. When the Burden Bearer Came
102. Why Do the Ho­ly Angels Sing?
103. Will Jesus Find Us Watching?