Created in the 70s, "I'll Build You a Rainbow" is known throughout Mormondom as our community's all-time cheesiest musical production. It describes the Mormon belief that families can be together forever, not just "until death do you part." I think it's great!


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29 Comments » Leave a comment
  1. Debi

    I have LOVED this video for as long as I remember. My father died when I was 6 or 7, and just recently my younger brother died at a very young age. I cry every time I see this video, and so much of what happens I can relate to my life. Thank you SO much for having it on your web site. I have been searching for this video for years!!

  2. Anonymous
    8-24-2007, 11:38:56 PM

    I used to listen to this song from a record player. It was one of my earliest memories of feeling the Spirit when I listened to something. Listening to it now takes me right back to those moments and the special feelings I felt then. Thank you for posting this clip. It was so uplifting to listen to it.

  3. Anonymous
    3-18-2009, 05:19:32 PM

    I am from Hawaii, and back in the 70's I recall the missionaries in our area showing my family and I the video. I absolutely loved it when I first viewed it, and still do now. I was a teenager back then, and not a member of the church, but this film, the music and especially the message always remained with me and I never forgot it. My husband and I joined the church in the 80's and worked our way to a temple marriage. This beautiful song was recorded by a non-member local Hawaiian singing group named Kapena. You would be very proud to hear their beautiful rendition of the song. ~Aloha

  4. Anonymous
    2-23-2009, 08:41:08 PM

    I know that this short slide show is a little on the corny side yet I first saw it on my mission, I was having a hard time the first 3 months of my misson yet this slide show helped me out so much and I did stay to finish my two years so the slide show dose help.

  5. Anonymous
    3-24-2009, 10:48:27 AM

    I love this video, but this is the first time I've seen it without the filmstrips "beeps" indicating that it's time to turn to the next image!

  6. Anonymous
    4-26-2009, 01:26:17 PM

    I was in high school when I heard this song. It is one of my favorites. My brother sung this song to me two days before he died. I still sing this song but now, I am singing it with tears falling down from my eyes...

  7. Anonymous
    1-13-2009, 09:38:40 PM

    To the man who said he recalls this video and it made him cry you're not alone. Also the movie is cheesy and wonderful!!

  8. Ryan

    How can call this great film/song cheesy? It's one of my favorite LDS songs. they don't play at all anymore. I can't find it on CD!! I want to put (the original version, not the crap version!) on my MP3 player. My seminary teacher said that he hadn't heard that song in 20 years.

    I WANT TO HEAR THIS ALL THE TIME! (This song always makes me want to dance!)I want to hear this so many times that I get sick of it!

  9. julie
    9-20-2007, 08:04:49 AM

    Our home teachers brought this to our home on record. I love this song. Now that I'm a mom it has brought more meaning to me. I've been thinking about this song for years.

  10. Anonymous
    12-18-2007, 04:05:19 AM

    I remember this song and video. It is with mixed emotions I searched for it, I must say. I am close to my mum and this is the song that plays in my head when she has bad days with her health. She has emasemia and the machine that I know will help her a lot costs $15,000, which I can't afford since I am on welfare.

  11. Steven
    1-5-2008, 06:06:51 PM

    I love this song so much. I remember the first time I heard this, I just cried forever with my sisters, mom, and dad. I still cry till this day. What a powerful message. Thank You!!!

  12. R.B.
    1-13-2008, 10:11:25 PM

    I love this video. Do you know where I can get a copy?

  13. Brian
    2-26-2008, 11:42:43 PM

    I must be a glutton for punishment. My mom is in hospice in another state and doesn't have much time left, and she has yet to go to the temple which I have prayed for her for the last fifteen years she has been a member and then I watch this and not only am I going to lose her here but in the next world too.

    Webmaster: I was very sorry to hear about your mother. While I'm sure this must be a very challenging time in your life, you need not let your concern that you're going to "lose [your mother] in the next world" trouble you. God is far more merciful that we mortals imagine. I encourage you to do your mother's temple work a year after her passing; let that temple service be part of your healing process.

  14. Anonymous
    4-11-2008, 12:36:47 PM

    I'm so bummed that this song and video is considered "cheesy"! When I taught Sunday school I would show it like twice a year. Along with Johnny Lingo! My poor kids! I'm cheesy!

    Webmaster: Just for the record, I'm cheesy too!

  15. Anonymous
    8-2-2008, 12:07:03 AM

    We have a family of 4 sisters in my ward that sing this song so beautifully. They sang it for my little rainbow who died just recently.

  16. Dave
    5-2-2009, 05:56:56 PM

    This has made me cry for over the last 20 years. I must have shown this to hundreds of people in the mission field, and now whenever I hear the phrase "families are forever" this song and filmstip/video pop into my head and I start to cry, mostly because I know it to be true. My wife and I started our "forever" family over 20 yrs ago, now with 6 daughters (i'm waiting for son-in-laws) we are well on our way. Both of us are part a "forever family" thanks to our parents listening to the missionaries so many years ago and we thank God for thier willingness to listen and pray.

    I was just looking up things for my primary class' "sharing time" when I came across this and boy did it bring back a flood of good memories. I hope more people come to the knowledge of "forever families". Now that my eyes are dry I will just say goodbye for now.

  17. MamaRachel
    6-12-2009, 10:58:09 AM

    Thanks so much for putting this up! I used to listen to my tape of this over and over when I was a little girl. Seeing it again made me cry all over again! (My tape has been lost over the years. ) I remember when this song came out, and I believe it was released in the early 80's rather than the 70's. (Just a side note...)

    Thanks again!!!

  18. Anonymous
    8-2-2009, 12:34:13 PM

    Love this film, my daughter is assigned to give a talk for our primary sharing time. I had no idea she watched this film. She is talking about families are forever. She loves this film. We both started crying. Reminds us of my dad who passed away. Families can be together forever!

  19. Kathy
    8-23-2009, 09:48:57 PM

    I was looking for this song for the author/narrator. I didn't expect to hit almost the whole gold mine. So all those who know, who are the performers?

  20. Anonymous
    9-1-2009, 04:21:41 AM

    R. Scott strong wrote and performed this song. If memory serves me, he was inspired to write it when he lost a child who drowned. I hope this helps.

  21. Anonymous
    9-8-2009, 09:28:09 PM

    R. Scott strong was my mission president and would often play his acoustic guitar and sing this song at firesides or to the missionaries. An interesting note is that it's his daughter jamie from whom he gets the name for the song. But as he says "Girl rhymes with squirrel.. Boy rhymes with joy", hence its a little boy in the song and not a girl. It was quite a thrill for a green 20 year old missionary like myself to see the mission president whip out the guitar and play some tunes during a zone conference.

  22. Megan
    10-14-2009, 11:21:20 PM

    This song is the best my mom died last year when I was only 14 and now it seems everyone just for got about her and here I am still trying to get through life without my mom there its so hard I miss her so much and I know some day I will see her again its just hard not to hear her voice when I wake up or when I went on my first date she never got to say im so proud of you.

  23. Doug
    10-18-2009, 10:05:22 AM

    It reminds me that the most important things in my life have nothing to do with jobs or money. They have everything to do with my family. I was going to teach about obedience today but I have changed my mind. I will talk about the family and how obedience to our Heavenly Father will enhance that family forever. Doug

  24. Sergios
    10-24-2009, 11:50:11 PM

    I always loved this song and film, in my mission when teaching the principle of the eternal nature of family, it gave hope and the desire to do my best to have the spirit with so the families I was teaching could be able to know and have the assurance that the gospel of Jesus Christ could make it possible for their families to be together for ever.

  25. Beng
    1-11-2009, 02:19:24 AM

    Thank you for preserving this video! I've searched it for years, and so happy to find it. I've seen this video from the missionaries who taught us when I was still in gradeschool, and never forgot the song. I love the message of the video even more that I'm a mother now. It really makes me cry then and till now.....

  26. Jonathan
    11-8-2009, 07:50:24 PM

    I just got done showing this to my wife and kids and they loved it. I search for it because of a story I had told my kids about one of my missionary companions. After he entered the MTC, he found out his mom had cancer. After hearing the news, he went back to class where they were watching this slide show. Of course he cried... A lot. When the instructor asked if he was ok, he said, yes, I'm fine. I just love this slide show so much, it makes me cry every time. My companion's story helped illustrate the importance of the message to me. I love the song and the message, and I love my missionary companion who shared this story with me while we discussed his mother's death. He was truly an example of faith in overcoming sorrow and in persevering through trials.

  27. Lorin
    4-12-2009, 06:28:14 PM

    I heared this sing when I was about 10. I have love it eversense. I didn't think about it when my mom died. About 2 days later for some reisun I liked up and saw a rainbow and remebered this song.

  28. Nicole
    12-23-2009, 11:10:00 AM

    Oh the memories. I found the song on line, but where can I get a copy of the filmstrip? Our ward library just through them all away :(

  29. Cindy
    1-29-2010, 12:15:16 PM

    Nicole, where did you find the song on line? I've been looking for it for years. I have the original album it was on, Gates of Zion, but I'd love to find it on mp3.

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