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Ain't Gonna Grieve My Lord No More/I Ain't Gonna Grieve My Lord No More/Oh You Caint Go to Heaven/You Can't Get To Heaven/Ain't Going to Worry My Lord No More
Traditional Old-Time, Bluegrass Gospel and Spiritual;
ARTIST: Indiana University Sheet Music Collections: Performer: Mack and Mike
Publisher: Thoro Harris
YOUTUBE: Bob Dylan covers the song on his Witmark demo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8m6is2RB24
CATEGORY: Traditional Bluegrass Gospel Spiritual;
DATE: 1865 (public domain music); First Recorded in 1928 by Commonwealth Quartet, "I Ain't Gonna Grieve" (Conqueror 7079, 1928)
RECORDING INFO: You Can't/Caint Get to Heaven [Me III-C 49]
Leisy, James / Songs for Pickin' and Singin', Gold Medal Books, sof (1962), p150 (Ain't Gonna Grieve My Lord No More)
Lynn, Frank (ed.) / Songs for Swinging Housemothers, Fearon, Sof (1963/1961), p332 (Ain't Gonna Grieve My Lord No More)
Best, Dick & Beth (eds.) / New Song Fest Deluxe, Hansen, Sof (1971/1948), p145 (I Ain't Gonna Grieve My Lord No/Any More)
Winds of the People, Sing Out, Sof (1982), p 83 (Preacher Went Down)
Blood, Peter; and Annie Patterson (eds.) / Rise Up Singing, Sing Out, Sof (1992/1989), P 74 (Preacher Went Down)
Sandburg, Helga (ed.) / Sweet Music, Dial, Bk (1963), p137 [1960ca]
Allen, Ella Kate. Solomon, Jack & Olivia (eds.) / Sweet Bunch of Daisies, Colonial Press, Bk (1991), p 56 [1960ca] (O, You Can't Get to Heaven)
McMahon, Charles. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume II, Songs of the South and ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p386/#300 [1928/04/03] (Oh You Can't Get to He
EARLY RECORDINGS:
Commonwealth Quartet, "I Ain't Gonna Grieve" (Conqueror 7079, 1928)
Walter "Kid" Smith & Norman Woodlief with Posey Rorer, "I Ain't Gonna' Grieve My Lord Anymore" (Champion 15812 [as by Jim Taylor and Bill Shelby]/Supertone 9494 [as by Jordan & Rupert]/Conqueror 7277, 1929)
Kentucky Coon Hunters, 1931 Louisville KY.
Canova Family 1933
OTHER NAMES: "I Ain't Gonna Grieve My Lord No More;" "Ain't Gonna Worry My Lord No More;" "You Cain't Get To Heaven"
SOURCES: Mudcat; Folk Index; Meade
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Randolph 300, "Oh You Caint Go to Heaven" (1 text)
BrownIII 549, "Ain't Goin' to Worry My Lord No More" (1 text, perhaps somewhat adapted (e.g. the second verse is "If you get there before I do... Punch a little hole and pull me through"), but too short and too similar to this to separate)
Silber-FSWB, p. 22, "Ain't Gonna Grieve My Lord No More" (1 text)
Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 82-84, "I Ain't Gonna Grieve My Lord No More" (1 text, 1 tune -- probably composite, though the conflation may be the work of the informant rather than the Pankakes)
NOTES: "Ain't Gonna Grieve My Lord No More" is a spiritual that has been traced back to the Civil War. It appears in the Brown Collection as "Ain't Gonna Worry My Lord No More." From its revivalist roots it has become a campfire song with numerous humorous verses.
The song has been collected by numerous sources and titles in the early 1900s. Here's a spiritual type verse with chorus.
I grieve my Lord From day to day
I'm off the straight And narrow way
I ain't gonna grieve my Lord no more,
I ain't gonna grieve my Lord no more,
I ain't gonna grieve my Lord no more.
The chorus is usually sung 3 or 4 times. The song was recorded by early country artists. Bob Dylan covers the song on his Witmark demo.
An Inventory of Spoken Word Audio Recordings in the Vincent Voice Library, Michigan State University, contains a sermon by Aimee Semple McPherson from 1931 in which the choir sings:
"Can you talk about me? Just as much as you please.
I talk about you down on my knees [unclear]
I ain't a-gonna grieve my Lord anymore."
It's known as an echo song because the verses are usually sung:
Oh, you can't get to heaven (Oh, you can't get to heaven)
On roller skates (On roller skates)
'Cause you'd roll right by ('Cause you'd roll right by)
Those pearly gates (Those pearly gates)
I AIN'T A GON A GRIEVE MY LORD- Indiana University Sheet Music Collections: Performer: Mack and Mike; Publisher: Thoro Harris
1. If you get to heaven before I do,
Just bore a hole and pull me through.
I ain't a-gonna grieve my Lord no more.
CHORUS: I ain't a-gonna grieve my Lord no more.
I ain't a-gonna grieve my Lord no more.
I ain't a-gonna grieve my Lord no more.
I ain't a-gonna grieve my Lord no more.
I ain't a-gonna grieve my Lord no more.
2. Oh, the deacon went down to the cellar to pray,
But he fell asleep and he stayed all day.
I ain't a-gonna grieve my Lord no more.
3. Oh, you can't get to heaven in a motor boat,
'Cause a motor boat on air won't float.
I ain't a-gonna grieve my Lord no more.
4. You can't get to heaven in a putt-putt car,
'Cause a putt-putt car won't go that far.
I ain't a-gonna grieve my Lord no more.
5. You can't get to heaven in dirty blue jeans,
'Cause the Lord don't have no washin' machines.
I ain't a-gonna grieve my Lord no more.
6. You can't get to heaven on roller skates,
'Cause you'll roll right past those pearly gates.
I ain't a-gonna grieve my Lord no more.
7. If I get to heaven before you do,
I'll plug that hole with shavings and glue.
I ain't a-gonna grieve my Lord no more.
8. You can't get to heaven if you've sinned all day,
'Cause if you've sinned all day you'll go the other way.
I ain't a-gonna grieve my Lord no more.
9. You can't get to heaven in a rocking chair,
'Cause the Lord don't allow no lazy folks there.
I ain't a-gonna grieve my Lord no more.
10. You can't get to heaven with nickels in your jeans,
'Cause the Lord don't have no slot machines.
I ain't a-gonna grieve my Lord no more.
11. You can't get to heaven in a limousine,
'Cause the Lord don't sell no gasoline.
I ain't a-gonna grieve my Lord no more.
12. Oh, the devil is mad and I am glad.
He lost a soul he thought he had.
I ain't a-gonna grieve my Lord no more.
13. That's all there is. There ain't no more.
St. Peter himself just closed the door.
I ain't a-gonna grieve my Lord no more.
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