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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: Walter "Kid" Smith & Norman Woodlieff 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)
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. 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 GONNA GRIEVE MY LORD ANYMORE
Source: transcription of Smith & Woodlieff 'I Ain't Gonna Grieve My Lord Anymore' recorded in Richmond, Ind, on 30 March 1929 and issued as Supertone 9494. Reissued on Walter Smith & Friends Vol I Document DOCD-8062.
I'm so glad and the devil's mad
I'm so glad and the devil's mad
I'm so glad and the devil's mad
Lost two souls than he thought he had.
I ain't a-gonna grieve my Lord anymore
I ain't a-gonna grieve, I ain't a-gonna grieve
I ain't a-gonna grieve my Lord anymore
Some go to church to sing and shout (x3)
Before six months they're all turned out
I ain't gonna grieve …
Just let me tell you what the hypocrites do (x3)
They talk about me and they talk about you
I ain't a-gonna grieve …
You can't go to heaven in your powder and paint (x3)
For the lord will know that you're no saint
I ain't a-gonna grieve …
You can talk about me as much as you please (x3)
I'll talk about you down on my knees
I ain't a-gonna grieve …
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