He wrote five verses to explain what motivated his heart to
sing, including two that may suggest some emotional turmoil was at hand. Or,
was there another less pressing circumstance that moved Luther Burgess Bridgers
to say “He Keeps Me Singing” in the first decade of the 20th
Century? What makes a 25-year old Southern minister compose words that say God
is whispering to his inner being? Though he was still pretty young, Bridgers’
verses indicate he or someone he knew was experiencing some wide swings in life,
from highs to lows. Yet, he knew what his emotional center was, and the destination
where he expected it would eventually take him.
Luther Bridgers’ ingredients for his singing biography by
1910 were a family legacy of faith, one that had endured for centuries, as well
as his own life’s events, including a tragedy that may have played a central role
in his song-poem. His family’s faith history traced backwards some 11
generations to ministry in the English church in the 16th and 17th
Centuries, and another L.B., this one Lawrence Bridgers. Luther’s father carried
on the family tradition in America, and it’s said that Luther accompanied his
father at revival meetings until his death in 1913. So, Luther had a rich
family life upon which to draw for his spiritual development. That did not make
him immune to challenge, however. The song Luther composed by 1910, particularly
verses 2 and 4, tap into his distressed soul, seemingly, as he reveals a ‘wrecked
life’ and ‘path…rough and steep’. Was it autobiographical? Some commentators
believe it was in fact the words Bridgers scrawled during the aftermath of a
great trial – his young wife’s and three sons’ deaths in a fire. Though another
source casts doubt on the plausibility of this scenario – the fire may in fact
have been a year after the song was written—his words indicate the pain he felt
at the time. But, he wasn’t overwhelmed, nor did he wallow. But, his verses do suggest he swung back and
forth, as someone struggling with a great confusion might. Verses 1, 3, and 5 –
upbeat, content-- are intermingled with valleys of torment in verse 2 and 4. Sounds
like Psalms, doesn’t it?
What did Luther think of his song after his family had been
killed? Was he singing, though desperately confounded, maybe angry as anyone might
who's abruptly lost so much? It’s amazing, if in fact the song was written in this
way. Luther becomes a 20th Century Job, a blameless, God-fearing hero,
unfairly robbed by life’s cruelty. On the other hand, Luther may have been
giving voice to others’ tragic circumstances, or thinking of his future that he
expected to contain difficult episodes. In any case, Luther wanted to sing
through them. ‘How?’, someone mutters. This 25-year old guy proposed one way in
1910, but it wasn’t novel. There was another fellow (William Congreve, The Mourning Bride) who said ‘Music
has charms to soothe a savage breast’ in 1697, but it probably wasn’t novel
with him either. Got a guess where they learned this therapy? Who invented
music? Same answer.
Sources for the song story are the book “The Complete Book
of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J.
and Ardythe Petersen, 2006; and the following websites:
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