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Not A Gonna Lay My Religion Down/Ain't Gonna Lay My Religion Down/Ain't Gwine Lay My 'Ligion Down
Tradtional Old-Time, Gospel;
ARTIST: Bascom Lamar Lunsford 1925; From the Folk-Songs of America: The Robert Winslow Gordon Collection, 1922-1932
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: "Not A Gonna Lay My Religion Down" is Bascom Lamar Lunsford's version of 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.
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