who wrote the original lyrics to the old hymn oh happy day who washed my sins away?
Origins [edit]. Edwin Hawkinsâ gospel style arrangement of the hymn Oh, Happy Day has a long pedigree: It began as a hymn written in the mid-18th century (O happy day, that fixed my choice) by English clergyman Philip Doddridge (based on Acts 8:35) set to an earlier melody (1704) by J. A. Freylinghausen.