Oh How He Loves You and Me

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hD0NDUlWHjeGAvDUmczcZJ7tSI8bsGf6/view?usp=drivesdk

Story behind the song: ‘Oh How he Loves you and Me’

Lindsay Terry, email lindsay976@earthlink.net.

Posted Sep 9, 2016 at 12:05 AM

Kurt Kaiser is one of the greatest musicians Christianity has ever known.

For more than 40 years, his name has been synonymous with Christian keyboard artistry, songwriting, conducting and arranging. He received an honorary doctorate of sacred music from Trinity College in Illinois and an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

Kaiser was born in the “Windy City,” Chicago, Illinois, in 1934. He said, “I was 7 years old when one Sunday evening we were all gathered around the piano in the living room of our home, singing, as was our custom each week. I began having a real urge from the spirit of God to know him and to give my heart and life to Christ. My mother went with me to my bedroom, and we knelt down by the bed and I accepted Christ into my life.”

From the young age of 4, he had private piano teachers. This continued throughout his high school years and on through college. It was not until 1969, that he got the opportunity to try his hand at serious writing. Kaiser has now written more than 400 songs.

Following is his account of the writing of his most popular song:

“Through the years I have been in the habit of keeping my ears tuned to things that people say, a phrase that may give me an idea for a song. I’ll write it down quickly. Occasionally, I will pull these things out and look at them. One day I came across this line, “Oh how he loves you and me,” and I wrote it down. I remember very well writing it across the top of a piece of manuscript paper, and that’s all I had.”

“In 1975, I sat down to think about that phrase and the whole song quickly came to me. I could not have spent more than 10 or 15 minutes writing the whole of it. That’s how rapidly it all came, the lyrics and the melody together. I sent it off to secure a copyright. I could not believe what came back in the mail.”

“The Copyright Office in Washington said that there was not enough original lyric to warrant the granting of a copyright. I was extremely disappointed because I knew the song was very singable. A couple of days went by and I decided to write a companion verse, or a second set of lyrics. I sent it back to Washington, and this time I got the copyright.”

“Oh How He Loves You and Me” has traveled far and wide and into the hearts of millions of people. Many hymnals and chorus books have included it, as well as numerous choral collections. In the opinion of this writer, the second set of lyrics, or the second verse gives marvelous support to the original song. The message Jesus to Calvary did go… showing just how much he loves you and me, is truly soul-stirring.

“And we have known and believed

the love that God hath to us. God is love;

and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God,

and God in him.” -1 John 4:16

Your friend,

Tiffany