One of my prized possessions as a song historian is a 1977 recorded interview with Thomas A. Dorsey. I learned that in 1899, Dorsey was born into the home of a black minister in Villa Rica, Ga., a small town only 35 miles from Atlanta. His mother, a music teacher, taught him to play piano as a child. As he grew into his teens he was drawn into the world of jazz music.
At age 17 he moved to Gary, Ind., pursuing a nightclub career. Two years later, Georgia Tom, as he was known in his music world, could be found performing in the establishments on the south side of neighboring Chicago.
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He was torn between the blues music and his Christian training. The stress was so intense he suffered a nervous breakdown and was two years recuperating. During that time he had become a member of the Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago and began to play a major role in directing the music of the church.
He wrote hundreds of songs, some of which were recorded by such notables as Red Foley, Connie Francis, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Jim Reeves, Roy Rogers and Tennessee Ernie Ford.
Dorsey said of the writing of “Peace in the Valley,” “It was just before Hitler sent his war chariots into Western Europe in the late ’30s. I was on a train going through southern Indiana and saw horses, cows and sheep all grazing together in this little valley. Everything seemed so peaceful. It made me question what’s the matter with mankind? Why cain’t men live in peace? Out of those thoughts came ‘Peace in the Valley.'”
He later said he wrote the song for the famed Mahalia Jackson, known as the queen of Gospel. It has become extremely popular in America and far beyond our borders. I will never forget hearing a young, barefoot black man strolling down a dusty road on Andros Island, an out-of-the-way part of the Bahama chain, singing Dorsey’s “Peace in the Valley.”
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President Lyndon B. Johnson, before his death, requested that it be sung at this funeral. Anita Bryant was chosen to fulfill that request.
“Oh well, I’m tired and so weary
But I must go alone
Till the lord comes and calls, calls me away, oh yes
Well the morning’s so bright
And the lamp is alight
And the night, night is as black as the sea, oh yes
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There will be peace in the valley for me, some day
There will be peace in the valley for me, oh Lord I pray
There’ll be no sadness, no sorrow
No trouble, trouble I see
There will be peace in the valley for me, for me.”
Through phone contacts with his wife, Katherine, I kept tabs on Thomas Dorsey during the last months of his life. He died in Chicago on Jan. 23, 1993.
“But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace …” Ephesians 2:13-14
Source: https://t-tees.com
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