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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: Coll. by Mrs. Emma M. Backus, Grovetown, GA; submitted by Howard W. Odum, Jour. American Folk-Lore, 1913, vol. 26, no. 102, pp. 374-376.
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."
Brown has a similar song under "Ain't Gonna Worry My Lord No More," vol. 3 no. 549, with music, coll. 1919-1920 from W. S. Sander, possibly Durham NC.
First verse:
O, down in the valley where I was told
The grace of God is better than gold.
Down in the valley where I was told
Grace of God is better than gold.
Ain't gonna grieve my Lord no more,
Ain't gonna grieve my Lord no more.
Two verses from Mudcat:
One of these days, 'bout twelve o'clock
This old world's gonna reel and rock,
I ain't gonna grieve my Lord no more,
I ain't gonna grieve my Lord no more,
I'm goin' to Heaven and I'm gonna ride
Six white horses side by side,
I ain't gonna grieve my Lord no more
I ain't gonna grieve my Lord no more.
AIN'T GWINE GRIEVE MY GOD NO MORE- Coll. by Mrs. Emma M. Backus, Grovetown, GA; submitted by Howard W. Odum, Jour. American Folk-Lore, 1913, vol. 26, no. 102, pp. 374-376. Odum says: The following negro hymn, collected by Mrs. Emma M. Backus at Grovetown, Ga., has not, I believe, been published in this form; that is, under the name "Ain't gwine grieve my God no more," and with these stanzas composing the hymn. A number of the stanzas have been published under different songs, and with different versions: Allen, Slave Songs in the United States; Pike, The Jubilee Singers; Fenner & Rathbun, Cabin and Plantation Songs; Lippincott's, vol. ii, pp. 617-623; Century, vol. xxxvi, p. 577; Atlantic, vol. xix, p. 685; American Journal of Religious Psychology and Education, vol. iii, pp. 265-365.
1. Hypocrite, hypocrite, God despise,
His tongue so sharp he will tell lies;
Hypocrite, hypocrite, God despise,
His tongue so sharp he will tell lies.
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more,
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more.
2. Oh, wait, let me tell you what the hypocrite do,
He won't serve God, and he won't let you;
Wait, let me tell you what the hypocrite do,
He won't serve God, and he won't let you.
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more,
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more,
3. Stop, let me tell you what the hypocrite do,
He won't go to heaven, and he won't let you;
Stop, let me tell you what the hypocrite do,
He won't go to heaven and he won't let you.
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more,
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more.
4. Oh, if I had died the day when I was young,
I would not had this troubled race to run;
Oh, if I had died the day when I was young,
I would not had this troubled race to run.
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more,
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more.
5. If you want to get to heaven, let me tell you how,
Treat your neighbor like you ought to right here now;
If you want to get to heaven, let me tell you how,
Treat your neighbor like you ought to right here now.
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more,
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more.
6. I don't want to stumble, I don't want to fall,
I want to get to heaven when the roll is called;
I don't want to stumble, I don't want to fall,
I want to get to heaven when the roll is called.
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more,
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more.
7. The old Satan is mad, and I am glad,
And he missed that soul he thought he had;
The old Satan is mad, and I am glad,
And he missed that soul he thought he had.
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more,
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more.
8. The old Satan have him in a tight compress,
When the bugle blow he change his dress;
The old Satan have him in a tight compress,
When the bugle blow he change his dress.
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more,
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more.
9. The old Satan wear an iron shoe,
If you don't mind, he gwine step on you;*
The old Satan wear an iron shoe,
If you don't mind, he gwine step on you.
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more,
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more.
10. The Old Satan is a liar and a conger too, (conjuror)
If you don't mind he gwine conger you;
The Old Satan is a liar and a conger too,
If you don't mind he gwine conger you.*
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more,
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more.
11. When I was walking down in dead men's lane,
Wrapt and tired in my sin and shame,
When I was walking down in dead men's lane,
Wrapt and tired in my sin and shame.
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more,
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more.
12. The very hour I thought I was lost,
My dungeon shook and my chains fell off;*
The very hour I thought I was lost,
My dungeon shook and my chains fell off.
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more,
Ain't gwine grieve my God no more.
Variants:
*Old Satan wear an iron shoe,
If you don't mind gwine er slip it on you.
*Old Satan thought he had me fas',
I broke my chains an' am free at las'.
*Ole Satan's a liar an' cunjurer, too,
If you don't mind he'll cut you in two.
(A few others also cited).
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