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.
Swing Down Chariot
Thomas A. Dorsey Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home;
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home.
I looked over Jordan,
And what did I see,
A band of angels comin' after me,
Comin' for to carry me home.
[Chorus]
If you get there before I do,
Comin' for to carry me home,
Tell all my friends I'm comin' too,
Comin' for to carry me home.
Thomas A. Dorsey's song "Swing Down Chariot" speaks about hope for a better life after death. The lyrics are set in the context of slavery and use biblical references to describe the idea of dying and going to heaven. The chorus, "Swing low, sweet chariot, Comin' for to carry me home," expresses the idea of being transported to a better place of rest and peace.
The first verse, "I looked over Jordan, And what did I see, Comin' for to carry me home, A band of angels comin' after me," could be interpreted as a reference to the biblical Jordan river, which symbolizes crossing into the promised land in the book of Joshua. The band of angels coming after him represents the idea of being welcomed into a spiritual afterlife.
The second verse, "If you get there before I do, Comin' for to carry me home, Tell all my friends I'm comin' too, Comin' for to carry me home," speaks to the importance of community and the idea of not being alone in death. The singer wants to be sure that his friends know that he will be joining them in the afterlife, which gives him hope to endure his current situation of oppression.
Line by Line Meaning
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Oh kind and gentle chariot, please come and take me home.
Comin' for to carry me home;
Please take me to my eternal home.
I looked over Jordan,
I gazed across the river Jordan.
And what did I see,
What I saw was so amazing.
Comin' for to carry me home,
I saw angels sent to take me to my eternal home.
A band of angels comin' after me,
A group of angels has come to welcome me and guide me on my way out of this world.
If you get there before I do,
If you get to heaven before I do.
Tell all my friends I'm comin' too,
Please let my loved ones and friends know that I am coming soon after.
Comin' for to carry me home.
I'll be there soon, to make my final journey home.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: B.J. Thomas, Eric Prestidge, Jim Ed Norman
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind