Stories of the Music
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O Give Me Back My Prophet Dear
Hymn to the Prophet
Persecutions
O How Great
Joseph and Emma
The Witnesses
Irene (Your Baby Was Here)
The Spirit of God
Missouri Mobs
Savior, Redeemer of My Soul
My Kindness Shall Not Depart From Thee
A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief
Praise to the Man

O Give Me Back My Prophet Dear

Text by John Taylor
Music by Rob Gardner

John Taylor loved the Prophet Joseph very much. Taylor’s words when speaking of him possess a power and authority that never fail to amaze and inspire me. I originally found his poem, "O Give Me Back My Prophet Dear," in the 1948 edition of the LDS hymnbook. The lyric was incredible, but the tune failed to impress me. So, I wrote a new tune, rather simple and plaintive, that I felt more adequately expressed the feeling of the lyric.

John Taylor had this to say about the Prophet: "I testify that I was acquainted with Joseph Smith for years. I have travelled with him; I have been with him in private and in public; I have associated with him in councils of all kinds; I have listened hundreds of times to his public teachings, and his advice to his friends and associates of a more private nature. I have been at his house and seen his deportment in his family. I have seen him arraigned before the tribunals of his country, and seen him honorably acquitted, and delivered from the pernicious breath of slander, and the machinations and falsehoods of wicked and corrupt men. I was with him living, and with him when he died, when he was murdered in Carthage gaol by a ruthless mob, headed by a Methodist minister, named Williams, with their faces painted. I was there and was myself wounded; I at that time received four balls in my body. I have seen him, then, under these various circumstances, and I testify before God, angels, and men, that he was a good, honorable, virtuous man--that his doctrines were good, scriptural, and wholesome--that his precepts were such as became a man of God--that his private and public character was unimpeachable--and that he lived and died as a man of God and a gentleman. This is my testimony; if it is disputed, bring me a person authorized to receive an affidavit, and I will make one to this effect. . ."

The poem in its entirety as it was originally penned is as follows. It was first printed in the Aug. 1 edition of the Times and Seasons in Nauvoo. The words were modified just a bit for the music.

O give me back my Prophet dear,
And Patriarch, O give them back;
The Saints of latter days to cheer,
And lead them in the gospel track.
But ah! they're gone from my embrace,
From earthly scenes their spirits fled;
Those two, the best of Adam's race,
Now lie entombed among the dead.

Ye men of wisdom tell me why,
When guilt nor crime in them were found,
Why now their blood doth loudly cry,
From prison walls, and Carthage ground
Your tongues are mute, but pray attend,
The secret I will now relate,
Why those whom God to earth did lend,
Have met the suffering martyr's fate.

It is because they strove to gain,
Beyond the grave a heaven of bliss;
Because they made the gospel plain,
And led the Saints in righteousness.
It is because God called them forth,
And led them by his own right hand
Christ's coming to proclaim on earth,
And gather Israel to their land.

It is because the priests of Baal
Were desperate their craft to save;
And when they saw it doomed to fail,
They sent the Prophets to the grave.
Like scenes the ancient Prophets saw,
Like these, the ancient Prophets fell;
And till the resurrection dawn,
Prophet and Patriarch-Fare thee well.