Thanks to God Hymn Notes
Swedish Thanksgiving Sacred Song by Storm and Hultman, Tack O Gud
Thanksgiving hymn, Thanks to God!, written by August Storm, has a bearing on Ephesians 5:20 from the Bible which says: "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Tune name is "Tack, O Gud."
Thanks to God! (Tack O Gud)
This sacred song is another Swedish heritage. Thanks to God! is one of the most popular Swedish hymns that found its way into many evangelical hymnals. There is so much gratitude, warmth of text and a folk-like quality in the music that appeals to any believer.
Hymn-writer August Ludvig Storm
August Ludvig Storm was born on October, 1862, in Motala, and converted to Christ in a Salvation Army meeting. He joined the Salvation Army Corps and became one of its leading officers. He wrote this hymn's text for the Army publication, Stridsropet (The War Cry), on December 5, 1891. The Original Swedish version had four stanzas, with each verse beginning with the word 'tack' (thanks," having a total of thirty-two "thanks" in all.) The gratitude expressed to God ranges from the "dark and dreary fall" to the "pleasant, balmy springtime," and "pain" as well as "pleasure."
Storm suffered a back ailment at the age of 37 that left him crippled for life but he continued to administer his Salvation Army duties until his death. A year before his death, he wrote another poem in which he thanked God for the years of calm as well as pain.
Storm's text later appeared in the Swedish Salvation Army songbook with a Welsh tune. It wasn't until 1910, when J.A. Hultman included the text with his own tune in the publication Solskenssonger, that the hymn became popular, both in Sweden and in the U.S.
Text Translator to English, Carl Backstrom
Carl Ernest Backstrom, the original text translator pastured Evangelical Mission Covenant churches in Nebraska, Iowa, and Ohio. He translated it for the Covenant Hymnal, 1931. He omitted stanza three form the original Swedish, but incorporated many of its ideas into the present translated verses.
Composer John A. Hultman
John Alfred Hultman (July 6, 1861 - August 1942) was born in Sweden and migrated to the U.S. with his family as a young boy. The family settled in Iowa. His unusual ability in music especially in singing was apparent early in life. For more than 60 years, he concertized the gospel in his informal, inspirational singing ways, and divided his time between Sweden and the United States. He became known as "Sunshine Singer" because of his musical style and cheerful personality.
Hultman was not just a singer and composer. He also pastored Mission Covenant Churches, taught in a college in Chicago, Illinois, a church organist, and manufacturer of pianos. He composerd more than 500 songs, and published numerous hymnal collections. He died at 81 years old, August 7, 1942.
Arranger and further Translator Norman E. Johnson
Norman E. Johnson, a long-time associate with the Singspiration Publishing Company and church music director in the Evangelical Covenant denomination, arranged and further translated "Thanks to God!."
"Thanks to God!"
(First stanza)
"Thanks, O God, for boundless mercy
From Thy gracious throne above;
Thanks for ev'ry need provided
From the fullness of Thy love!
Thanks for daily toil and labour
And for rest when shadows fall;
Thanks for love of friend and neighbour
And Thy goodness unto all!
Related Thanksgiving Hymn Links:
- Best Loved Thanksgiving Hymns
- For the Beauty of the Earth
- We Gather Together to Ask the Lord's Blessing
Sources:
101 More Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck. Michigan: Kregel Publications, 1985
Thanks to God!
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