PRECIOUS LORD, TAKE MY HAND

Created on 03/06/2008
Latest update on 04/09/2023

Artist: Heavenly Gospel Singers
Author: Thomas Dorsey
Label: Bluebird
Year: 1937

Thomas A. Dorsey wrote this when he lost his first wive and child. He began writing gospels in '32. Before that he concentrated on blues songs, for Ma Rainey, Sara Martin and others. As Georgia Tom he cut the original It's Tight Like That in duet with Tampa Red. Those risky lyrics sure contrasted with what came after '32. One of Dorsey's own versions of Precious Lord can be heard in PBS tv-series American Roots Music. This was MLK Jr's favorite gospel. In fact he was shot down in Memphis while sax player Ben Branch serenaded him with it.

Covers:

1938:

Emory Johnson [on Decca]

1938:

Carolinians

1938:

Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet

1938:

Capitol City Four

1941:

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

1946:

Gospel Keys

1946:

Little Jimmy Dickens

1950:

Brother Joe May

1950:

Blackwood Brothers

1951:

Hank Williams [Mother's Best transcription]

1952:

Eddy Arnold

1954:

Effy Hall & Congregation

1956:

Mahalia Jackson [also in '68 at Martin Luther King's funeral, as this was one of his favorite hymns; another poignant version with Mavis Staples at the Summer Of Soul Festival in Harlem, NY in '69]

1956:

Aretha Franklin [at the age of 16 on JWB]

1957:

Elvis Presley [as Take My Hand, Precious Lord; also recorded that same Thomas A. Dorsey's Peace In The Valley]

1957:

Tennessee Ernie Ford

1958:

Roy Acuff

1959:

B.B. King

1959:

Oak Ridge Boys

1962:

Chet Atkins

1962:

Jim Reeves

1963:

Fannie Lou Hamer

1964:

Little Richard

1967:

Staple Singers

1968:

Nina Simone

1970:

Jim Nabors

1973:

Marion Williams

1974:

Ike & Tina Turner

1976:

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

1981:

Thomas Dorsey [author]

1994:

Al Green

1995:

Norbert Detaeye

1996:

Clara Ward

1996:

Mavis Staples

1996:

Charles Brown

1998:

Gladys Knight

1998:

Pat Boone

2001:

Merle Haggard

2002:

Blind Boys Of Alabama

2003:

Engelbert Humperdinck

2005:

Etta James

2005:

Chaka Khan

2005:

Randy Travis

2010:

Pinetop Perkins & Willie 'Big Eyes' Smith

2013:

Wynton Marsalis

2016:

Michelle David [as Need Your Help]

2017:

Dee Dee Bridgewater

2019:

North Mississippi Allstars [with Cedric Burnside as Take My Hand]

2021:

Jennifer Hudson

Based upon old George Nelson Allen tune Maitland (1852) and according to the book The Rise Of Gospel Blues, based upon Must Jesus Bear The Cross Alone, cut by the Soul Stirrers ('69).

Contact


If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors,
please let me know:

Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)

info@originals.be

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