Stories Behind Songs of
Inspiration.
by
An American Original
BROTHER LEE HALL
For
many years, or, for that matter, many centuries, people have debated about
which part of a song is the most important, the words or the music.
Is it the words that make a song so attractive to people,
or could it be the melody, the beat, tempo, style or the like? Well, one
thing for sure, for a song to be a song it has to have both part "A", the
words, and part "B", the music.
One of the hymns the
church has been singing since America Civil War days (1865) is a hymn that
became singable only when the two parts were brought togeather at the Monument
Street Methodist Church in Baltimore, Maryland. It seems that Elvina Hall
was distracted from the pastor's sermon one morning in church by thoughts
of the words of a poem. Instead of listening to the good reverend, she
wrote the words on the fly leaf of her hymnal. After the service, she presented
the words to her pastor along with her shame and an apology for writing
on the church's hymn book. The loving man of GOD looked at the words and
said he forgave her, but mentioned that just a few days before the church
organist, a layman worker in the church and coal salesman by trade, brought
some music to the pastor, for which he had no words.
Would you believe it? The tune, Part "B", fit perfectly
with the words, Part "A". And the two have been together ever since, in
hymnals all around the world. The Song:
"Jesus Paid It All, All To Him I Owe,
Sin Had Left A Crimson Stain,
He washed It White As Snow."
The hymn, "Jesus Paid It All", words by Elvina Hall,
music by John Grape ---
Part "A", Part "B." is on page 156 of our hymnal.
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