523. Creation (Dese Bones Gwine to Rise Again)
[This is not the "Creation Song" as found in Cox also known as the "History of The World." Athough titled "Creation," in the Brown Collection of NC Folklore No. 523 (lyrics below), it is a version of "These Bones Going to Rise Again" which was published in 1880 under the title "Dese Bones Shall Rise Again." The song is found in Perrow 1909 as "Dese Bones Gwine to Rise Again." White makes two references dating back to the 1880s.
Mentioned in Brown notes (by Brown editor N. I. White, I presume) to this song is the "Creation Song" as found in Cox also known as the "History of The World." This is a completely different song, see "Adam And Eve" in my collection under Traditional and Public Domain Gospel songs A-B . Matteson 2011]
523. Creation
In ANFS 83-5, White, who prints several versions, states that this appears in several printed collections of Negro songs (which he cites), that it is often sung by whites as a picnic song, and that the refrain is apparently based on Ezekiel 217- Cf. Sandburg
ASB 470-1.
A. No title. With music. From an anonymous MS, without date and address.
The Lord He thought he'd make a man,
A little bit of dirt, a little bit of sand.
These old bones gwine-a rise again.
Chorus: I know it, indeed, I know it,
These old bones gwine-a rise again.
B. 'Dese Bones Gwine to Rise Again.' Text given in June 1948 to A. P. Hudson by Miss Marjorie Craig. Brevard, Transylvania county, with note: "Version by Gene Carter, Mrs. Lucille Reid's cook in Wentworth, N. C. Recorded by Miss Nancy Withers." Wentworth is in Rockingham county.
1. De Lord thought he'd make him a garden so fair,
Dese bones a-gwine to rise again.
Thought he'd put him a man in there.
Dese bones a-gwine to rise again.
2. Took a little sand, took a little clay.
Dese bones, etc.
Out of these Uncle Adam he made.
Dese bones, etc.
3. Thought he'd make him a woman to squeeze.
Dese bones, etc.
Snatched out a rib and he made Miss Eve.
Dese bones, etc.
4 In that garden was an apple tree.
Dese bones, etc.
De Lord tole 'em to let 'em apples be.
Dese bones, etc.
5. Up come Satan with a skip and a jump.
Dese bones, etc.
At Miss Eve one eye he wink.
Dese bones, etc.
6. Eve took a look, then she took a pull.
Dese bones, etc.
Den she filled her apron full.
Dese bones, etc.
7. De Lord called out in a mighty voice.
Dese bones, etc.
Shook dem heavens from joist to joist.
Dese bones, etc.
8. Turned 'em out and give "em a plow.
Dese bones, etc.
9. That's the reason we're ploughing right now.
Dese bones, etc.
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523
Creation
'Dese Bones Gwine to Rise Again.' Anonymous singer, no place or date given. As there is no recording by Miss Nancy Withers, contrary to the statement in III 580, and none given in catalogue crediting her with this
song, our anonymous version may be hers. Our text, however, is exactly that of the anonymous version 523A.
F-465
The Lord he thought he'd make a man, A lit - tie v
bit of dirt, a lit - tie bit of sand. These old bones are gwine - a rise again.
I know it, in - deed, I know it., These old bones — gwine to a - gain.
For melodic relationship cf. ***FSoA 148; EAS, No. 22; **SHP 38; RAS 40, measures 3-4 and 7-8 of stanza only; ASb 470, the last two measures of stanza and chorus in each. It is interesting to find that the first four measures are identical with an old German Drinking Song, the chorus
of 'Crambambuli.' Cf. also ASoWS 188.
Scale : Mode III. Tonal Center : d. Structure : aabccib^ (2,2,2,2,2,2) ; although the epode is extremely short, the basic form of a bar is evident: mmno- o^ni = bar plus bar. The tonal center is the lowest tone.