Softly and Tenderly -- William Lamartine Thompson

Maybe the words first appeared on a scrap piece of paper, among the other various items that might have been found in this 33-year-old’s pockets at the time. William Lamartine Thompson admitted that many of the songs he wrote were those he penned on impromptu occasions, so what was he thinking and where was he when the verses of “Softly and Tenderly” were first recorded? Did he know someone who needed to be coaxed toward God, or consider the poem’s verses as he remembered someone who’d just ‘gone home’? Perhaps it was the words of a speaker, perhaps in or near his East Liverpool, Ohio hometown (see photo of its downtown area) that had moved him so, spurring his thoughts to reach out with words and music toward someone he had been unable to reach otherwise. It was what came to be known as ‘an invitation’, and one that Will did not want to go undelivered.

Spontaneity may have been one of Will Thompson’s musical habits, but his pursuit of what he must have considered his life’s calling was well-considered over a stretch of several years. It began in his teenage years when he began writing hymns, as well as secular tunes. After graduating from Mount Union College in Ohio, he kept pursuing music at the New England Conservatory, and then later across the ocean in Germany. He must have had a dogged attitude, since a commercial publisher’s rejection of his music did not deter him, but led to the formation of his own publishing company – Will L. Thompson & Company, in East Liverpool, Ohio; he later established another company in Chicago. He was the kind of fellow who listened whenever he heard something he thought might work musically, and often was said to instinctively write down the words on-the-spot wherever he was. ‘Softly and Tenderly’ was written when he was in his early 30s and published by 1880, showing that Thompson was not content to pursue his musical ventures in the secular arena, where he’d been pretty successful. One gets the sense from reading his poetry that Thompson had sat one day during a sermon’s conclusion and thought that the special call of the minister’s words needed a proper ending, a song to gently but firmly persuade hearers. His words suggest the message he heard was not one of the ‘fire and brimstone’ variety, but rather one that related the compassionate side of the Divine One. ‘Come home’, as Will wrote and sang them in the refrain, are poignant. Perhaps he intended them for use by some of the popular evangelists of his time, as they travelled from place to place to bring a message of hope, belonging, and redemption to those who would listen. God is Love, He declares about himself, and Will’s hymn communicates that with an emotional potency.        

It’s said that Will Thompson often travelled himself to communities in Ohio to sing his songs and gently urge people to consider what they heard. His words did not confine themselves to those small communities, though. Reportedly, the well-known evangelist Dwight Moody, on his deathbed told his good friend Will how much he loved the hymn ‘Softly and Tenderly’, and so the hymn has travelled considerably further than Ohio – in fact, across the ocean in Britain where Moody and Ira Sankey would spend considerable efforts to preach and sing His message. ‘Come home’ – is there anyplace else you’d rather be? Will Thompson thought that might resonate with you and me. Was he right?

See more information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; and 101 Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1985. 

See this site for all of the original verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/s/o/f/softlyat.htm

See a few brief details of the composer’s life here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/t/h/o/m/thompson_wl.htm

See also author’s biography here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Lamartine_Thompson