Songs

Take My Hand

51 Comments

Today is the birthday in 1899 of the musician and songwriter Thomas A. Dorsey.

With his preacher father and church organist mother, he certainly had an upbringing rich in religion and songs of praise. But when it was time to get a job he went into the secular music world instead and made a name for himself there as a pianist and singer called “Georgia Tom”.

Dorsey put together a band to play behind Ma Rainey, performed in jukejoints and wrote bawdy (for the time) popular songs, but there was a personal cost that was most evident in the two breakdowns he suffered.

keyboard

He kept trying to return to a way of life that spoke to his roots, playing in churches and becoming the band director for two congregations. Dorsey couldn’t keep his street and social music out of the mix, and he raised eyebrows by bringing some blues to the people in the pews. It doesn’t take much to get people talking. There was concern that he was introducing the devil’s music to a sacred setting.

In 1932, his his wife Nettie and infant son died in childbirth. His response to this immense personal tragedy was to write new words to a hymn, “Maitland”. The result was Take My Hand Precious Lord, a song that was sung at the funerals of Martin Luther King Jr., LBJ, and Mahalia Jackson.

And of course it is still sung today.

Thanks primarily to this one tune, Dorsey is considered “The Father of Gospel Music.” And if Dorsey is Gospel Music’s father, Mahalia Jackson could be considered its mother.

http://youtu.be/as1rsZenwNc

Dorsey wrote hundreds of sacred and secular songs, both the words and the music, though he is primarily known for this one set of lyrics. As long as people turn to religion and music for consolation in dark times, the name Thomas A. Dorsey will be connected to Take My Hand, Precious Lord.

If you could be known forever for writing one song, what song would you want it to be?

51 thoughts on “Take My Hand”

  4. RISE AND SHINE BABOONS!

    This question is too big for 6:51 a.m. I cannot answer it yet–Jim and VS I admire your mental clarity and assurance about this at such an hour.

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    1. Jacque, I don’t how I was able to come up with that song. There certainly are others that I could have picked if I could have thought of them. When I first saw the question I also thought I wouldn’t be able to think of an answer.

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    2. Well, when the kitten wakes you up at 4:45 by attacking your feet, you’re awake long enough to start getting focused!

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  5. Morning–

    I got nothing on this either. I would just want something with a catchy beat.
    But my bigger question this morning; why is Radio Heartland actually streaming the News Station? Anyone else getting that?

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    1. I was listening to RH, Ben, when suddenly the signal changed to News. I assume they’ll fix it, maybe at 9 AM when they do the show live.

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      1. Renee, with regard to your question about storing bean seeds yesterday, here is some more information that might help. If seeds are brittle they are dry enough to keep well. You can use pliers or a hammer to flatten seeds to test for brittleness. A mashed seed that doesn’t break into a number pieces is not brittle.

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    3. i was tuned into radio heartland and they had a pair of disc jockeys cracking jokes and chatting about the tunes they were playing. i thought i was listening to clear channel. i think they have began listening to the marketing department and have bill kling chirping from behind the curtain. i am still not over my anger….i hope mine pengra didnt take it on the chin

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  6. Ah, a day of what will no doubt be some wonderful music on the trail. Depending on the day this question is asked, and my state of mind at the time, you’d be liable to get a different answer. Today, it’s tough choice between two songs: Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” and Julie Golds’ “From a Distance.”
    http://performingsongwriter.com/from-a-distance/

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    1. hallelyujah is the newest addition to my kitchen concert repertoire. from a distance is when i think of nancy griffin singing it and getting aced out by cindy lauper for the radio version . this was shortly after nancy griffin got aced out by johnny cashs daughter for another one. poor nancy never did make it to the top of the charts but had some awful good stuff.

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      1. tim, I’m not sure whether these are just timisms or typing errors or if you are just combining two different singer/songwriters, Nanci Griffith and Patty Griffin? I can’t think of what song you might be referring to with regard to Johnny Cash’s daughter (Rosanne?) acing Griffith/Griffin out of a hit song.

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    2. There is an entire book about “Hallelujah” – it’s called The Holy and the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah”.

      Jeff Buckley’s version has always been my favorite.

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  7. Mahalia Jackson is one of my all time favorite singers. She does a version of His Eye is on the Sparrow that I think is completely amazing. I wouldn’t pick that as one of my most liked songs, but I would pick Mahalia’s rendition as one of my top picks for a preformance of a song.

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  11. For one, “Summertime, Summertime, sum- sum-summertime” that was posted last week.
    Thinking about more…

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  12. I’ll never understand what draws me to this song – I couldn’t have written the words, but I would love to claim the instrumentation and the harmonies. Anyone else know this one? Joy of Cooking, early 70s:

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    1. Not sure which guy you’re referring to, Jim, but if it’s Thomas A. Dorsey, I’m inclined to believe not as he was black and Tommy and Jimmy were white.

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    2. When I started reading the blog this morning I thought Dale was talking about Tommy Dorsey. Oh.
      Well, not to waste this:

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  17. I am just in a geeky enough mood today to wish I was cleaver enough to write some of Tom Lehrer’s stuff. I’m also partial to Gilbert and Sullivan, but I’ll just drop this bit of rhymology here, amongst the great stuff the rest of you have thought of.

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    1. And I have head Beethoven going through my head all evening since reading this. I could do a lot worse. 🙂 (Beethoven is a favorite of mine – so you would be, too, then, by proxy…)

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  19. All so far are fabulous (though I haven’t, truth be told, listened to all of the clips). My addition would be a bit long in its entirety, so here is a shorter version which I’m pretty sure I have linked to here previously because if I could write like George Gershwin, then I could have this under my belt as well as “Porgy and Bess”:

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  21. OK, I’ve been thinking about this all day. This would be THE ONE.
    Not on Youtube, but Laurie Lewis apparently did it on a Prairie Home Companion.
    Here are the lyrics.

    Earth moves in a mysterious way, her wonders to unfold;
    She fashions beauty out of clay, like straw spun into gold.

    She holds us all within her grasp, enfolds us in her grace,
    We cling like children to her breast, this glowing jewel in space.

    I lose her face a thousand times in crowded streets of fear.
    But when I gaze at starry skies, I see her shining clear.

    I lose her voice amid the din and clamor all around
    But if I listen to the wind, I hear her sacred sound.

    And thought this human enterprise is poised ‘tween hope and hell,
    Earth circles in her endless task and whispers “all is well.”

    And in the darkest season, amid the winter storm,
    She sings to us of spring to come and keeps our spirits warm.

    Earth moves in a mysterious way, her wonders to perform.
    She fashions beauty out of clay, our Mother and our home.

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  22. I think I’ll go with this one. The words are slightly different than what we sang as kids, but the sentiment is the same. 🙂

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