"Savior, More Than Life to Me"

The famous blind hymnist, Fanny Crosby (1820-1915) wrote the Sunday School hmyn, “Savior, More Than Life to Me.” Blinded from the age of six weeks, Crosby never let her disability stop her from serving her Lord, whom she came to know at an early age through the devotion of her grandmother who raised her. Her father died while she was still and infant, and her mother had to work to make a living for the family, and so she was left in the care of her grandmother. This particular song, “Savior, More Than Life to Me” was one that Fanny Crosby kept dear to her heart for many years.

Crosby’s dear friend, W. Howard Doane (1832-1915) wrote the melody to “Savior, More Than Life to Me.” While Doane was a great musician, helping direct choirs while attending college at Woodstock Academy, his vocation was not music. In fact, he was president of the J.A. Faye woodworking machinery company in Cincinatti, Ohio. But, he love of music and of God made him devoted to an “avocation” in the Christian music industry, writing Sunday School hymns and melodies, as well as, directing Sunday School services at his church, Mount Auburn Baptist in Cincinnati, Ohio.

“Savior, More Than Life to Me”

Savior, more than life to me,

I am clinging, clinging, close to Thee;

Let Thy precious blood applied,

Keep me ever, ever near Thy side.

Refrain

Every day, every hour,

Let me feel Thy cleansing power;

May Thy tender love to me

Bind me closer, closer, Lord to Thee.

Through this changing world below,

Lead me gently, gently as I go;

Trusting Thee, I cannot stray,

I can never, never lose my way.

Refrain

Let me love Thee more and more,

Till this fleeting, fleeting life is o’er;

Till my soul is lost in love,

In a brighter, brighter world above.

Refrain

The story behind “Savior, More Than Life to Me” goes that Doane wrote the piece of music and sent it to Crosby by mail, asking her to come up with a hymn that would be called “Every Day and Every Hour.” Those are the first words of the refrain.

“Savior, More Than Life to Me”

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