Thomas Andrew Dorsey (July 1, 1899 – January 23, 1993) was known as "the fa… Read Full Bio ↴Thomas Andrew Dorsey (July 1, 1899 – January 23, 1993) was known as "the father of black gospel music" and was at one time so closely associated with the field that songs written in the new style were sometimes known as "dorseys." Earlier in his life he was a leading blues pianist known as Georgia Tom.
As formulated by Dorsey, gospel music combines Christian praise with the rhythms of jazz and the blues. His conception also deviates from what had been, to that time, standard hymnal practice by referring explicitly to the self, and the self's relation to faith and God, rather than the individual subsumed into the group via belief.
Dorsey, who was born in Villa Rica, Georgia, was the music director at Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago from 1932 until the late 1970s. His best known composition, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord", was performed by Mahalia Jackson and was a favorite of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.. Another composition, "Peace in the Valley", was a hit for Red Foley in 1951 and has been performed by dozens of other artists, including Queen of Gospel Albertina Walker, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. Dorsey died in Chicago, aged 93.
In 2002, the Library of Congress honored his album Precious Lord: New Recordings of the Great Songs of Thomas A. Dorsey (1973), by adding it to the United States National Recording Registry.

Dorsey's father was a minister and his mother a piano teacher. He learned to play blues piano as a young man. After studying music formally in Chicago, he became an agent for Paramount Records. He put together a band for Ma Rainey called the "Wild Cats Jazz Band" in 1924.
He started out playing at rent parties with the names Barrelhouse Tom and Texas Tommy, but he was most famous as Georgia Tom. As Georgia Tom, he teamed up with Tampa Red (Hudson Whittaker) with whom he recorded the raunchy 1928 hit record "Tight Like That", a sensation, eventually selling seven million copies. In all, he is credited with more than 400 blues and jazz songs.
Dorsey began recording gospel music alongside blues in the mid-1920s. This led to his performing at the National Baptist Convention in 1930, and becoming the bandleader of two churches in the early 1930s.
His first wife, Nettie, who had been Rainey's wardrobe mistress, died in childbirth in 1932. Two days later the child, a son, also died. In his grief, he wrote his most famous song, one of the most famous of all gospel songs, "Precious Lord, Take My Hand".
Unhappy with the treatment received at the hands of established publishers, Dorsey opened the first black gospel music publishing company, Dorsey House of Music. He also founded his own gospel choir and was a founder and first president of the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses.
His influence was not limited to African American music, as white musicians also followed his lead. "Precious Lord" has been recorded by Albertina Walker, Elvis Presley, Mahalia Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Clara Ward, Dorothy Norwood, Jim Reeves, Roy Rogers, and Tennessee Ernie Ford, among hundreds of others. It was a favorite gospel song of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.; and was sung at the rally the night before his assassination, and, per his request, at his funeral by Mahalia Jackson. It was also a favorite of President Lyndon B. Johnson, who requested it to be sung at his funeral. Dorsey was also a great influence on other Chicago-based gospel artists such as Albertina Walker and The Caravans and Little Joey McClork.
Dorsey wrote "Peace in the Valley" for Mahalia Jackson in 1937, which also became a gospel standard. He was the first African American elected to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and also the first in the Gospel Music Association's Living Hall of Fame. In 2007, he was inducted as a charter member of the Gennett Records Walk of Fame in Richmond, Indiana. His papers are preserved at Fisk University, along with those of W.C. Handy, George Gershwin, and the Fisk Jubilee Singers.
Dorsey's works have proliferated beyond performance, into the hymnals of virtually all American churches and of English-speaking churches worldwide.
Thomas was a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity.
He died in Chicago, Illinois, and was interred there in the Oak Woods Cemetery.

I don't know why
Thomas A. Dorsey Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I waited 'til I saw the sun
I don't know why I didn't come
I left you by the house of fun
I don't know why I didn't come
I don't know why I didn't come
When I saw the break of day
I wished that I could fly away
Instead of kneeling in the sand

Catching teardrops in my hand
My heart is drenched in wine
But you'll be on my mind
Forever
Out across the endless sea
I would die in ecstasy
But I'll be a bag of bones
Driving down the road alone
My heart is drenched in wine
But you'll be on my mind
Forever
Something has to make you run
I don't know why I didn't come
I feel as empty as a drum

I don't know why I didn't come
I don't know why I didn't come

Overall Meaning

Thomas A. Dorsey's song "I Don't Know Why" is a song about regret and longing for someone. The singer is reflecting on their decision to leave the person they care for behind, and is unsure why they did so. They mention waiting until they saw the sun, perhaps implying that they were waiting for the courage to leave. But now, looking back, the singer doesn't understand why they left.

The lyrics "My heart is drenched in wine, But you'll be on my mind, Forever" suggest that although the singer is drinking to numb the pain of their regret, they cannot forget about the person they left behind. The singer wishes they could fly away from their sorrow but is instead left to catch tears in their hand.

The line "Something has to make you run" suggests that the person the singer left may have been the one to initiate the separation. The singer is left feeling empty and unsure why they didn't fight for the relationship.

Overall, the song is a poignant reflection on the pain of regret and the longing for a lost love.

Line by Line Meaning

I waited 'til I saw the sun
I delayed my arrival until daybreak.

I don't know why I didn't come
I am uncertain why I didn't show up.

I left you by the house of fun
I deserted you near the amusement hall.

I saw the break of day
I gazed upon the sunrise.

I wished that I could fly away
I desired to take flight and escape my problems.

Instead of kneeling in the sand
Instead of kneeling in the sand, drowned in regret.

Catching teardrops in my hand
Attempting to hold back tears.

My heart is drenched in wine
I have consumed an abundance of alcohol.

But you'll be on my mind
Despite my inebriation, you'll remain in my thoughts.

Forever
Indefinitely.