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Dorsey remembered the evening as a surreal moment. "People were happily singing and clapping around me, but I could hardly keep from crying out."

Racing home, he learned that Nettie had given birth to a boy. "I swung between grief and joy," he recalled. "Yet that night, the baby died. I buried Nettie and our little boy together in the same casket." He managed to get through the funeral visitation and service. But when it was all over, he withdrew from family, friends, and even his beloved music. "I felt that God had done me an injustice. I didn't want to serve him anymore or write gospel songs. I just wanted to go back to that jazz world I once knew so well," he said.

In the midst of despair, a friend visited Dorsey and arranged for him to be left alone in a music room with a piano. "It was quiet; the late evening sun crept through the curtained windows," Dorsey recalled. For the first time in many days, he sat at a piano using his fingers to browse the keys. Soon, the young artist experienced a personal revival: "I felt at peace. I felt as though I could reach out and touch God. I found myself playing a melody, one I'd never heard or played before, and words [for "Precious Lord"] came into my head—they just seemed to fall into place."

"Precious Lord" was an immediate and permanent hit. Dorsey himself said, "This is the greatest song I have written." He went on to sing and direct "Precious Lord" at churches and concerts around the world. To date, the song has been translated into 32 languages.

Dorsey died in January 1993 in Chicago, but his legacy thrives. With his innovative blending of sacred and secular styles, he is remembered as the architect of modern gospel music.

Words and Music by Thomas A. Dorsey 1938 (Renewed 1965) Unichappell Music Inc. Rights for the Extended Term of Copyright in the U.S. Assigned to Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today International/Today's Christian magazine.
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