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Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around/Keep on Walkin'/ Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around
Traditional Old-Time, Gospel and African-American Spiritual;
ARTIST: American Negro Songs, John W. Work, Dover Publications 1940
CATEGORY: Traditional Gospel;
DATE: 1800s; Blind Willie McTell recorded the song first in April 1935 for Decca. There's a chance Jimmy Davis, who recorded it under the title "I Ain't Gonna Let Ol' Satan Turn Me Round" in 1936 Davis, picked it up from him or someone who also knew the song. It was recorded by Fairfield Four as "Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around" backed by "Standing in The Safety Zone," on Dot in 1947-1948.
RECORDING INFO: Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around
Carawan, Guy & Candie / Sing for Freedom, Sing Out, sof (1990), p 62
Winds of the People, Sing Out, Sof (1982), p 32
Blood, Peter; and Annie Patterson (eds.) / Rise Up Singing, Sing Out, Sof (1992/1989), p 58
Freedom Singers. We Shall Overcome, Mercury MG 20879, LP (1963), trk# b.01
Lester, Julius. Freedom Is a Constant Struggle, Folk Era FE 1419, CD (1994), trk# 1.09 [1994]
Pete Seeger, "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round" (on Selma)
Jimmie Davis "I Ain't Gonna Let Ol' Satan Turn Me Round" (Decca 5235, 1936)
OTHER NAMES: "Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around," "Keep On a-Walkin'" "I Ain't Gonna Let Ol' Satan Turn Me Round"
SOURCES: Folk Index; Ballad Index
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Scott-BoA, pp. 374-375, "Keep On a-Walkin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 303, "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round" (1 text)
cf. Greenway-AFP, p. 234, "Don't Turn Around" (1 text, probably a union adaption of this song)
Doncher Let Nobody Turn You Roun', Johnson, Green Pasture Spirituals C1930
NOTES: This traditional spiritual was adapted by the Civil Rights movement in Albany (Georgia) by Reverend Ralph Abernathy during the summer of 1962 when mass arrests and demonstrations erupted for the second time. He taught it one night to a mass meeting of the Negro community at Mount Zion Baptist Church. It immediately caught on and became widely used in the demonstrations. A nationally televised CBS documentary showed spirited students rhythmically clapping and singing "ain't gonna let Chief Pritchett turn me 'round" while the policemen picked them up, two to a student, and carried them into the paddy wagons. "...anybody who thinks this town is going to settle back and be the same as it was, had got to be deaf, blind, and dumb."
-an African-American woman in Albany, Georgia
It was first printed in White's 1927, Forty Negro Spirituals as "Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around." In 1930 Hall Johnson arranged Doncher Let Nobody Turn You Roun', Johnson fro Carl Fisher Pub in Green Pasture Spirituals.
Blind Willie McTell recorded the song first in April 1935 for Decca. Jimmy Davis, who recorded it under the title "I Ain't Gonna Let Ol' Satan Turn Me Round" in 1936adapted it from McTell or someone who also knew the song. It was recorded by Fairfield Four as "Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around" backed by "Standing in The Safety Zone," on Dot in 1947-1948. Besides it's popularity in the 1960's it was a rock hit for Steve Miller.
AIN'T GONNA LET NOBODY TURN ME 'ROUN'- Traditional
Ain't gonna let nobody turn me 'roun'
Turn me 'roun'
Ain't gonna let nobody turn me 'roun'
I'm gonna wait until my change comes.
Don't let nobody turn you 'roun'
Turn you 'roun'
Don't let nobody turn you 'roun'
Wait until your change comes
I say I'm gonna hold out
Hold out, hold out
I say that I'm gonna hold out
Until my change comes
AIN'T GONNA LET NOBODY TURN ME 'ROUND- Civil right's adaptation
Source: Sing for Freedom: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement through its songs, edited and compiled by Guy and Candie Carawan (Sing Out Corporation, 1990, 1992) (pp. 62-63)
Ain't gonna let nobody (Lordy) turn me 'round,
turn me 'round, turn me 'round,
Ain't gonna let nobody turn me 'round;
I'm gonna keep on a-walkin'
Keep on a-talkin',
Marching up to freedom land.
Ain't gonna let Nervous Nelly turn me 'round.... (term applied to typical segregationist)
Ain't gonna let Chief Pritchett...
Ain't gonna let Mayor Kelly...
Ain't gonna let segregation...
Ain't gonna let Z.T.... (Z.T. Mathews, sheriff of Terrell County, Georgia)
Ain't gonna let no jail house...
Ain't gonna let no injunction... (after a federal injunction prohibiting further demonstations)
Additional verses from Everybody Says Freedom, by Pete Seeger and Bob Reiser:
Ain't gonna let no police dogs...
Ain't gonna let no Uncle Tom...
Ain't gonna let no fire hose...
DON'T YOU LET NOBODY TURN YOU AROUND- American Negro Songs, John W. Work, Dover Publications- Tradtional Spiritual
CHORUS: Don't you let nobody turn you aroun',
Turn you aroun', turn you aroun',
Don't you let nobody turn you aroun',
Keep the straight an' the narrow way.
VERSES: I was at the river of Jordan,
Baptism was begun,
John baptized the multitude,
But he sprinkled nary a one.
The baptis' they go by water,
The methodes' go by lan',
But when they get to heaven
They'll shake each other's han'.
You may be a good baptis'
An' a good methodes' as well,
But if you ain't the pure in heart
Yo' soul is boun' for hell.
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