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Ain't Gonna Lay My Religion Down/Ain't Gwine Lay My 'Ligion Down
Tradtional Old-Time, Gospel;
ARTIST: from J. M. Gates 1926
CATEGORY: Traditional and Public Domain Bluegrass Gospel;
DATE: 1900s; 1958 Angola Prison Spirituals
RECORDING INFO: Not A Gonna Lay My Religion Down
Rt - Hell and Heaven ; Buked and Scorned
Lunsford, Bascom Lamar. Folk Songs of America. The Robert Winslow Gordon Collection...., Library of Congress AFS L68, LP (1978), trk# 3c [1925/10/19]
RECORDING INFO: Hell and Heaven
Rt - Not A Gonna Lay My Religion Down
Lomax, J. A. & A. Lomax / American Ballads and Folk Songs, MacMillan, Bk (1934), p588
RECORDING INFO: Buked and Scorned
Rt - Not A Gonna Lay My Religion Down
Grossman, Bob. Bob Grossman, Elektra EKL 215, LP (1961), trk# A.04
Odetta. Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues, Tradition TLP 1010/TCD 1, CD (1996/1956), trk# 7
Odetta and Larry. Odetta and Larry, Fantasy 3252/3345, LP (1959), trk# B.05 (I've Been 'Buked and I've Been Scorned)
OTHER NAMES: "Not A-Gonna Lay My Religion Down," "Ain't Gwine Lay My 'Ligion Down"
RELATED TO: "Buked and Scorned;" "Hell and Heaven"
SOURCES: Folk Index; Angola Quartet (Sextet) from Camp 6. Angola Prison Spirituals, Arhoolie 9036, CD (2003), trk# 16 [1958ca]
NOTES: Rev. J. M. Gates 1926 recording is the first African-American version, following a recording in 1925 by Lamar Bascom Lunsford that comes from African-American sources. The Gates version uses only two lines before the last answering line which differs from the other versions in this collection. Gates pronounces the chorus closer to "Ain't gonna lay my 'ligion down" and has a brief spoken intro about folk giving up on the old-time religion.
"Ain't Gwine Lay My 'Ligion Down," a 1888 version of "Not A Gonna Lay My Religion Down" by Bascom Lamar Lunsford is better known as the traditional African-American spiritual, "Ain't Gonna Lay My Religion Down." The spiritual titled "Ain't Gwine Lay My 'Ligion Down" is included in the song section of the 1888 book, "In Old Alabama: Being the Chronicles of Miss Mouse, the Little Black Merchant" By Anne Hobson, Carol McPherson, Doubleday, Page & Company.
The song is closely related to "Buked and Scorned" also know as "I've Been Buked and Scorned" which was a song in the repertoire of Odetta. The Lomaxes collected a related version titled "Heaven and Hell" which appeared in their 1934 book, American Ballads and Folk Songs.
NOTES from Folk-Songs of America: The Robert Winslow Gordon Collection, 1922-1932:
"Not A-Gonna Lay My Religion Down" probably came to Lunsford directly or indirectly from Afro-American traditions. In a spoken announcement, not reproduced on this LP, Lunsford remarks only that he learned it from a "Mrs. Graniver at Marion." In tune, stanza form, and text it resembles a number of spirituals. See, for example, the songs "Hell and Heaven" published by the Lomaxes (pp. 588-91), and "I've Been Buked and I've Been Scorned" recorded in 1917 or 1918 by the Tuskegee Institute Singers. Lunsford made another recording of this song in 1935 for the Archive of Folk Song (AFS 1830 B1).
NOT A-GONNA LAY MY RELIGON DOWN- Bascom Lamar Lunsford; Asheville, North Carolina; October 19, 1925; Gordon cyl. A13, ms. NC13 http://www.loc.gov/folklife/Gordon/sound/Nota-gonna.mp3
Ain't but one thing grieves my mind,
Ain't but one thing grieves my mind,
Ain't but one thing ‘at grieves my mind,
Judgement day am a tryin' time.
Chorus: Not a-gonna lay my religion down,
Not a-gonna lay my religion down,
Not a-gonna lay my religion down,
Not a-gonna lay my religion down.
My poor mother's dead and gone,
My poor mother is dead and gone,
My poor mother is dead and gone,
Left me here to follow on.
Not a-gonna lay my religion down,
Not a-gonna lay my religion down,
Not a-gonna lay my religion down,
Not a-gonna lay my religion down.
I've been tempted and I've been tried,
I've been tempted and I've been tried,
I've been tempted and I've been tried,
Been to the river and I been baptized.
Not a-gonna lay my religion down,
Not a-gonna lay my religion down,
Not a-gonna lay my religion down,
Not a-gonna lay my religion down.
God made me a living soul,
God made me a living soul,
God made me a living soul,
Trained me [?] to sing while the ages roll.
AIN'T GWINE LAY MY 'LIGION DOWN- from 1888 book, "In Old Alabama: Being the Chronicles of Miss Mouse, the Little Black Merchant" By Anne Hobson, Carol McPherson, Doubleday, Page & Company.
I been 'buked en I been scorned,
I been 'buked en I been scorned,
I been 'buked en I been scorned,
I been talked 'bout sho' ez you bawn.
CHORUS: I ain't gwine lay my 'ligion down,
I ain't gwine lay my 'ligion down,
I ain't gwine lay my 'ligion down,
Dark cloud risin' an' I'm so fer fum home,
Lawd, I ain't gwine lay my 'ligion down.
Mary weeped en Marthy moaned,
Mary weeped en Marthy moaned,
Mary weeped en Marthy moaned,
Long los' soul you mus' be foun'.
CHORUS:
Graveyard is my buryin groun',
Graveyard is my buryin groun',
Graveyard is my buryin groun',
Lawd, I ain't gwine lay my 'ligion down.
CHORUS:
AIN'T GONNA LAY MY RELIGON DOWN- J.M. Gates 1926
Spoken: Folks talkin' bout the old time religion, I'm not going to lay that old-time religion down
[sings] Lord I ain't gonna lay my religion down,
Lord I ain't gonna lay my religion down,
Lord I ain't gonna lay my religion down.
Never live for the things money can buy
Never live for the things money can buy
Oh the rich would live but the poor will die.
Oh when I get to heaven gonna shake-a my hand
When I get to heaven gonna shake-a my hand
He's gonna greet me like a natural man
Lord I ain't gonna lay my religion down,
Lord I ain't gonna lay my religion down,
Lord I ain't gonna lay my religion down.
There ain't but the one thing I done wrong
There ain't but the one thing I done wrong
*Livin' but the dead do not have long.
Lord I ain't gonna lay my religion down,
Lord I ain't gonna lay my religion down,
Lord I ain't gonna lay my religion down.
*unclear
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