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

Hymns

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