The influence of Scripture on congregational song is unmistakable. Sometimes a song makes a brief allusion to Scripture; sometimes a hymn paraphrases a passage of Scripture; sometimes entire sections are cited almost verbatim. It is in the latter category that this well known Scripture song falls – a direct quotation […]
Song Story
94 posts
Lynn DeShazzo, one of our most prolific composers of praise choruses, was born to Thomas and Bettie DeShazo in Birmingham, Alabama in 1956. She developed a love for music at an early age, learning to play the guitar by age 11, the year she became a Christian. In her first […]
Fanny Jane Crosby (1820-1915) “set the standard for the ‘successful’ writing of gospel hymns,” according to UM Hymnal editor Carlton R. Young. She was the author of over 8,500 gospel songs. Blind at six weeks of age, Crosby began composing texts at age 6. At 12 she began her study at the […]
The hymn was written by Julia Harriette Johnston. She was born on January 21, 1849 in Ohio. At the age of six, she moved to Peoria, IL where she resided the remainder of her life. Her father, Robert Johnston, was a Presbyterian minister. Her mother founded the Presbyterian Missionary Society […]
Anthony Showalter was leading a singing school in an Alabama church in 1887. When he returned to his boardinghouse room one night, two letters awaited him. Both were from former students, and both men told of the recent loss of their wives. Mr. Showalter wrote back, seeking to comfort the […]
“My Life Is in You” is the most popular and most published song by Michigan native Daniel Gardner (b. 1956). This enthusiastic declaration of praise and commitment is based on Philippians 1:21: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (KJV). Gardner, one of four musical […]
This is truly one of the saddest stories behind a well-known spiritual song. It takes place in 1858, just before the start of the Civil War. Dudley Atkins Tyng was an evangelist and an abolitionist who had just finished preaching a service at a mission in Philadelphia. He held midday […]
Isaac Watts wrote “Our God, Our Help in Ages Past” as a paraphrase of Psalm 90. His desire to write the hymn was born, in part, out of his dissatisfaction with the church music of his day. At 20 years of age, he complained that the metrical psalms they had to sing […]
I have had quite a few people asking me for an explanation of the roots and meaning of the words and themes contained in “Days of Elijah” since I wrote the song way back in 1994. The song is generally and principally a song of ‘hope’. The themes it explores […]
Often attributed as “one of the best modern examples of storytelling conveying the power of the gospel”, In Christ Alone was co-written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. Stuart on the lyric side and Getty focusing on the melody and music. What resulted from this new found collaboration was a […]
Eliza Hewitt was born in 1851 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She went to school locally and graduated as Valedictorian of the Girl’s Normal School. She then began teaching in the Philadelphia area. One day while overseeing her students in the playground, she, unfortunately, suffered a severe back injury and was forced to bed […]
Usually, when writing a song, the words come first… then the music is composed to fit it. But, sometimes, Fanny Crosby worked backwards… and fit words to the tune. Frances “Fanny” J. Crosby (1820-1915) was the author of over 8,500 gospel songs. Though blind at 6 weeks of age, Crosby […]