How Long Has It Been? -- Thomas Mosie Lister

 

Was he perhaps on his knees as he thought over what he wanted to verbalize? “How Long Has It Been?”, Mosie Lister wanted to ask so many people for whom he was praying one day. He may have even been reading and reflecting on the way God Himself was postured in a garden during His own most difficult earthly episode (see the artwork here of Christ in Gethsemane, by Heinrich Hofman in 1866). Lister had been studying, singing, and composing music for some time, and yet he probably didn’t come upon what he wanted to say the first time he considered his acquaintances who had drifted away from a faith they once held. Instead, it more likely was a gnawing feeling that stayed with him, until one day he happened upon the words, some that he’d been rolling over in his mind. So why not use these words?

 

That question was so simple, that Mosie Lister barely waited another moment to start scribbling the words to voice his musical question. That episode did not mean that Mosie’s songwriting penchant was a ‘natural’ thing however, a fact to which his own parents and his educational pursuits would attest. Though he would say that the words to ‘How Long…’ were finished in ten minutes, one would have been surprised to expect that from the youngster whom the Lister parents coaxed to start singing in rural Georgia in the 1920s/early 1930s. He apparently possessed no ear for musical tones, but through lots of effort, including his pre- and post-World War II pursuits to formally study music, he overcame the deficiencies his parents had initially identified. By his mid-to-late 20s, Mosie had been in three professional singing groups before he altered course into songwriting and forming a publishing company in his early 30s (by 1953). By this time, he surely had seen at least a few people around him also alter course, but in a negative way to walk away from God. This bothered Mosie deeply, readily provoking the thoughts that were on his heart to say to them, some of whom had abandoned God years before. Mosie’s purpose was obvious – convict them, turn them around. And, it wasn’t just a casual conversation that he suggested they pursue. Besides being on their knees (vv.1 and 3), these wayward who wanted to return to Him should share ‘…hidden secrets’ (v.1) and speak with God all night (vv. 1 and 4). One of Mosie’s longings for the lost people was that they would find peace, compassion, friendship, and purpose for living that begins with submission in prayer (vv. 2 and 4).

 

Mosie’s words resonated with thousands, even millions of people. Over a million copies of ‘How Long…’ had reportedly been reproduced by the early 1960s, five years after Mosie’s hand first wrote in a burst what his spirit was feeling. Mosie must have thought that a prayer is one of the most effectual enterprises. From a personal and professional standpoint, how great was it that Mosie’s 10-minute effort garnered more than a million copies of profit? But, in an infinitely greater way, how effective is it to pray to God? He’s called the Almighty, and so many other names because it’s really impossible to capture Him in just a few names, or even dozens or scores of names. He’s infinite, many times more than a million. And, I can pray to Him. What is standing in the way of you connecting with the unbounded God? Mosie asked you, too. Are you ready to ask yourself?

   

See the source for the song story in this source: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006. 

 

See the story here also: https://thescottspot.wordpress.com/2016/09/16/how-long-has-it-been-written-in-1956/

 

See brief biography of the author here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/l/i/s/t/lister_tm.htm

See more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosie_Lister

Where No One Stands Alone -- Mosie Lister

This fellow was by himself, but then again, he really wasn’t. He was physically alone, yet anything but abandoned. A road in the northern part of Georgia (with scenery off  to the side perhaps something like this picture, near Helen) was where Mosie Lister was en route to somewhere, when he must have been thinking of solitude. “Where No One Stands Alone” was a place and a circumstance that Mosie thought really mattered more than that isolated car trip in the hilly area where he found himself that day. He thought about not just some temporary methods to get himself through that lonely stretch of road, but about his whole life and beyond. Mosie would need more that what crossed his mind that day in 1955; he would, in fact, need some other inspiration a year later to complete the thought that began during his automobile journey.

The 34-year old Thomas Mosie Lister had lived only about one-third of his life when he composed the first portion of “Where No One Stands Alone”. He’d been composing for 15-20 years already, so he knew what he was doing, and had discovered that time in a car was not wasted. No, he said that something about the pulse of the car helped his mind concoct musical ideas. On that day in 1955, he sang the song’s chorus section, with only the air in the vehicle for company.  He’d certainly felt lonely, at least a few times, and expected to encounter additional similar experiences. And, there was also the ‘unknown’ that no one eagerly anticipates. So Mosie, who’d been in the car countless times, came up with his own therapy for loneliness. He admits the chorus was not accompanied by verses for many months; perhaps the time by himself in a vehicle was what really got to his spirit initially, like what other people might say who feel abandonment acutely. You just call out for the touch of someone else. Later, he says he sought to write the verses by thinking of another lonely person’s desperation. What was it like for him, Lister mused, as he read the great Psalmist David’s words (Psalm 27)? That’s when the words flowed, and Mosie found the rest of his musical voice. What was it like to be king, and yet feel forsaken? That’s where I don’t want to be, Mosie reasoned. And, if God could answer David, he’ll listen for my forlorn voice too. What Mosie couldn’t have known at that point, was that he’d be around as a mortal for nearly another 60 years, before standing in the ‘unknown’ territory of eternity. He had plenty of life remaining, multiple ventures to pursue, songs to write, honors to accumulate. But, nothing else matters if you don’t have companionship.

Mosie would go on to write hundreds of songs and be inducted into two music halls of fame (Gospel Music, 1976; Southern Gospel Musical Association, 1997) before retiring from mortal existence and earning his next life’s reward after 93 years. What did he learn along the way? While he wrote about lonesomeness-avoidance, it’s revealing that Mosie must have sought some isolation while living – otherwise, he couldn’t have written “Where No One…”. I couldn’t read and write about Mosie, if not for some alone time too. There was another fellow who was alone once, also (1 Kings 19) – and discovered that he wasn’t, in spite of everything. You think that maybe being alone, is really to discover you’re not alone after all? Listen for Him. He’s there.    

The following was the only source for the above song story: Stories Behind Popular Songs and Hymns, by Lindsay Terry, Baker Book House, 1990 and 1992.  

See also the following for the composer’s biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosie_Lister

He Knows Just What I Need -- Thomas Mosie Lister

He was a 34-year old Southerner living in Atlanta (see the city’s seal here)  

who’d been engaged in music since he was a teenager, mostly as a singer, though his approach had changed just a few years earlier. Thomas Mosie Lister’s adjustment in his music life may have helped spawn “He Knows Just What I Need” that he composed in 1955, though the beliefs and musical talents no doubt had already been gestating in his being already. Was there something in what he penned that had been waiting to make its appearance, something he’d been feeling that he finally found the words to say? Perhaps it was the greater focus on the musical gift that spurred this song’s emergence. Mosie also must have experienced some challenges too, some holes in his life that found their voice in his composition.

Mosie Lister had sung in various Southern Gospel quartets for over a decade in the mid-20^th Century, a career that helped prepare him for another musical role in the 1950s and gave rise to the words he’d write in 1955. He’d had a respiratory infection that forced him to suspend singing for a while, but after recovering he resumed singing with the Statesmen, perhaps the most well-known of the groups that included his bass voice. By 1953 he had started his own music publishing enterprise, wherein he composed and arranged as an extension of his musical avocation. He soon made it his full-time professional venture, with his wife Wylene’s encouragement, and it was soon thereafter that he wrote “He Knows…”. What was his experience at the time, as he and his family resided in Atlanta? The words of two of the three verses he wrote speak of lonesomeness, a sense of being abandoned. Was this a personal admission Mosie was making? Or, maybe he wrote for someone close to himself, perhaps his wife or one or both of his twin daughters. Mosie and his family must also have been churchgoers, a place where he might have observed heartaches of spiritual family members too. This was an environment from which he did not try to escape apparently, as Mosie later became a minister. He knew, either personally or vicariously, that this inner struggle was common, but also knew how to address a friendship-starved heart.   

Theres’ no wavering in Mosie’s tone, even as he shares that he or someone he knew was in a struggle. Note how he begins two of the verses with some significant words – ‘My Jesus knows’. He acknowledges the human condition may leave one empty, but he doesn’t wallow in that. Begin by realizing He’s watching, and take that barren sensation that nags at you to Him. Mosie must have been confident to write this way, certain that God, perhaps even through people around him, could help. Believe He’s engaged, even if you have no proof. It’s called faith.

See this link for composer’s website: http://mosielister.com/Bio_2_8CA5.html

Also see here for more biographic information on composer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosie_Lister