Lyrics
When I was but a little child, how well I recollect,
How I would grieve my mother with my folly and neglect;
And now that she has gone to heav'n, I miss her tender care,
O Savior, tell my mother I'll be there!
Tell mother I'll be there, in answer to her prayer;
This message, blessed Savior, to her bear;
Tell mother I'll be there, heaven's joys with her to share;
Yes, tell my darling mother I'll be there.
Though I was often wayward, she was always kind and good;
So patient, gentle, loving when I acted rough and rude;
My childhood griefs and trials she would gladly with me share:
O Savior, tell my mother I'll be there!
When I became a prodigal, and left the old rooftree,
She almost broke her loving heart in mourning after me;
And day and night she prayed to God to keep me in His care:
O Savior, tell my mother I'll be there!
One day a message came to me, it bade me quickly come
If I would see my mother ere the Savior took her home;
I promised her, before she died, for heaven to prepare:
O Savior, tell my mother I'll be there!
Public domain hymn text (1898). Words and music by Charles M. Fillmore.
The Story Behind the Hymn
Charles M. Fillmore wrote 'Tell Mother I'll Be There' in 1898, one of many gospel songs from this period centered specifically on grief over a mother's death, a theme common enough in late nineteenth-century hymnody to form its own recognizable category of songs.
The hymn's opening verse names a very particular, uncomfortable form of grief, regret over a childhood of 'folly and neglect' toward a mother now gone, giving the singer no remaining chance to make amends directly, only the hope of eventual reunion.
That admission of past failure, rather than simple loving tribute, sets the hymn apart from purely sentimental mother-themed songs of the era, acknowledging real guilt alongside grief instead of only celebrating a parent's memory.
Its central request, asking the Savior to personally 'tell my mother I'll be there,' pictures Christ as a direct messenger carrying comfort across the boundary of death, addressing the mother's own presumed longing as much as the singer's.
Songs built around a mother's death and the hope of heavenly reunion were especially common in American hymnody through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a period of high maternal and childhood mortality when such losses touched an unusually large share of congregations directly.
The hymn found particular use at funerals and in revival meetings that included calls to reconciliation, since its underlying message, that unresolved guilt need not be the final word, gave listeners carrying similar regret a specific hope to hold onto.
Fillmore's straightforward, singable melody and clearly stated refrain made the hymn easy for congregations to pick up quickly, and it remained a fixture of gospel hymnals well into the twentieth century, particularly at services observing Mother's Day.
