March 30, 2019 (Saturday)
Thomas Dorsey wrote many blues songs before turning to spiritual music. He tells us how he was inspired to write a song named, “Peace in the Valley.”
“It was just before Hitler sent his war chariots into Western Europe in the late 1930s. 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 can’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.
President Lyndon B. Johnson, before his death, requested that it be sung at this funeral. Anita Bryant was chosen to fulfill that request.
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 a light
And the night, night is as black as the sea, oh yes
There will be peace in the valley for me, someday
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”