Precious Lord

DESCRIPTION: "Precious Lord, take my hand, Lead me on, let me stand, I am tired, I am weak, I am lost...." The sing prays that the Lord guide and protect him or her, and "lead me (home/on)" (to heaven)
AUTHOR: Thomas A. Dorsey (1899-1993)
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (recording, Alphabetical Four)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Warren-EveryTimeIFeelTheSpirit, pp. 176-178, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" (1 text, 1 tune)
Courlander-NegroFolkMusic, pp. 255-257, "(no title)" (1 text, probably partial; 1 tune)
DT, PRECLORD*
Roud #21783
RECORDINGS:
Alphabetical Four, "Precious Lord Hold My Hand" (Decca 7546, 1938; partial version on AlphabFour01)
Johnny Brown, "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" (on USFlorida01)
Elder Effie Hall & congregation "Precious Lord, Hold My Hand" (on MuSouth09, Babylon)
Five Soul Stirrers, "Precious Lord" (Bronze 103, n.d.)
Brother Joe May [Thunderbolt of the Middle West], "Precious Lord" (Specialty 815, n.d.)
Selah Jubilee Quartet, "Precious Lord" (Decca 48003, rec. 1939)
Kinsey West, "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" (on BlackAmRel1)
NOTES [122 words]: According to LindaJo H. McKim, Presbyterian Hymnal Companion, Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993, p. 281, Thomas A. Dorsey wrote this in 1932 when his first wife died (according to W. K. McNeil, editor, Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music, Routledge, 2005, p. 106, this would be Nettie Harper, who married him in 1925 and helped him through a nervous breakdown and bout of depression in 1926-1928. According to McNeil, p. 107, his wife died in childbirth and the boy died the next day).
McKim claims is "the most popular black gospel song ever written" because it was favored by Martin Luther King.
McKim, p. 405, adds that the original tune was compased by George N. Allen (1812-1877) in 1842, but that Dorsey adapted it. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: CNFM255

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