Do you know my Jesus?

Words: V. B. Vep Ellis, 1957 (stanzas); William F. Lakey, 1956 (chorus) – Music: William F. Lakey, 1956; arranged by V. B. Vep Ellis, 1957.  Vesphew Benton Ellis (1917-1988), who went by the nickname “Vep,” was one of the most prolific gospel songwriters of the modern era. The Hymnary.org database lists 107 songs to his credit, and he is estimated by one count to have written over 500.  He was a minister of the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) for nearly half a century, and served as music director for the well-known televangelist Oral Roberts.(Southern Gospel History) A search of Worldcat.org reveals that Ellis edited gospel songbooks for the Tennessee Music Company during the 1940s and 1950s, and that several albums of his songs have been recorded by the chorus of Lee University. Both institutions are located in Cleveland, Tennessee and are historically associated with the Church of God. From the frequency of their occurrence in hymnals (Hymnary.org) and in recordings (Southern Gospel History), Ellis’s most popular songs appear to be “The love of God,” “I’m free again,” and “Over the moon.” “Do you know my Jesus?” runs close behind these. It has been recorded by classic gospel quartets such as the Blackwood Brothers, the Stamps Quartet, the Chuck Wagon Gang, the Oak Ridge Boys, the Statesmen, and the Kingsmen.(Southern Gospel History) Allmusic.com also lists recordings of this song by country artists such as Skeeter Davis and Don Gibson, as well as gospel standard-bearers such as George Beverly Shea and the Gaithers. William F. “Bill” Lakey was a songwriter (primarily a lyricist) associated with Ellis in the Tennessee Music Company. Hymnary.org lists about two dozen songs by Lakey, most of them appearing in these songbooks from that publisher: Songs of the Redeemed (1955), Billows of Love (1957), Echoes of Calvary (1958), and Forward in Faith (1959). Records of the U.S. Copyright Office show that Lakey co-wrote at least nine other songs with Vep Ellis, and continued his work with the Tennessee Music Company through the 1960s. If the), his last publication was Jesus, Jesus, Jesus: lifting His name in song: new sacred poetry & music by Bill Lakey.  “Do you know my Jesus?” is a great example of the benefit of collaboration. According to the authorship data given in Praise for the Lord, Lakey wrote the refrain first; this is the heart of the song, confronting the hearer with the all-important question that gives the song its title, but it is not quite enough to stand on its own. Ellis then wrote the stanzas, posing questions about the hearer’s life which lead into the stanza in a natural progression of thoughts. It is a model of evangelism put to music; the listener is approached where he or she is in life, led to question the direction of that life, and then gently brought to the great question we all someday must answer.