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Ain't Got Time to Die/ I Ain't got Time To Die/Keep So Busy
Gospel attributed to Hall Johnson circa 1956
ARTIST: Kuumba Chorus;
CATEGORY: Gospel;
DATE: 1956 Hall Johnson
RECORDING INFO: A
Six Spirituals: Ain't Got No Time to Die, Christopher Parkening & Kathleen Battle
No Time to Die · John Jo Carpenter
Kalil Wilson sings- Ain't Got Time to Die
Endless Your Grace Concordia Choir Concordia Recordings / TuneCore
Canton Gospel Soul Children Canton Gospel Soul Children With Randolph Watson, Family and Friends Mardi Gras Records / IODA
Ultimate Gospel Fest Various Artists Mardi Gras Records / IODA
Home On The Range The University Of Utah Singers The University Of Utah Singers / SongCast
He'll Bring It to Pass Louise Toppin Albany Records / IODA
Jubilation IV - A Cappella The Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir Justin Time Records
He's Got The Whole World In His Hands: Spirituals Marian Anderson Living Stereo
Umama!! Hodeiertz abesbatza Elkar / The Orchard
A Capella Praise The Golden Gospel Singers Blue Flame / The Orchard
Oral Moses Sings America Oral Moses Albany Records / IODA
Gospel Music Hall of Fame Series - The Fisk Jubilee Singers The Fisk Jubilee Singers Songs Of Faith / IODA
Vocal Recital: Davis, Osceola / Hynninen, Jorma - Negro Spirituals Osceola Davis Ondine
The Storm The Golden Gospel Singers EMG Records
Let It Shine Jubilate Sacred Singers Jubilate Scared Singers / CD Baby
OTHER NAMES: "I Ain't got Time To Die;" "Keep So Busy;"
SOURCES: Online
NOTES: "Ain't Got Time to Die" is attributed to Francis Hall Johnson (1888-1970) arranger of traditional gospel songs and spirituals. Whether the song is based on a traditional song is not known.
Otehr songs like Br5-49's "Ain't Got Time" on their "Tangled in the Pines" bear a lyric resemblence:
C. Mead, C. Scruggs
It don't matter if I get my picture on the cover of a magazine
You'll never know that I always try to do things right
It ain't no sweat if I always forget to get caught up in the small town scene
Cause life's too short and I want to get it straight tonight
Ain't got time ain't got time
I've got to go on living cause I ain't got time to die
(Francis) Hall JOHNSON (1888-1970)
He was born in Athens, Georgia. His father Rev. William D. Johnson gave him the opportunity to hear old slave songs. He acquired his musical training in several institutions, including the University of Pennsylvania and the Institute of Musical Art in New York.
In 1925 he gathered a band of eight singers who believed in the necessity for preserving the integrity of the Negro spiritual. Then he founded Hall Johnson Negro Choir (1928) who performed on stage and in films like "Green Pastures".
Francis Hall Johnson was born in Athens, Georgia on March 12, 1888. His father was a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal church and his grandmother, who was born a slave, sang spirituals to him. In 1910 he received his B.A. Degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Later he attended Juilliard School and the University of Southern California. Around 1914 he settled in Harlem in New York City, where as a working musician he played violin and viola in various groups including the Negro String Quartet, a touring company and several orchestras. He and William Grant Still, also an important composer, were in the Broadway orchestra for the first black musical, Shuffle Along, with Josephine Baker in the chorus.
The preservation of the uniqueness of the spiritual was his passion. He gathered eight like-minded singers and founded the Hall Johnson Negro Choir. The choir grew to twenty and in February 1928 made its debut at Pythian Temple and a month later sang at New York's Town Hall. The choir became very popular, both in live performance and in radio, and soon had a recording contract with RCA Victor.
Two years later Johnson's choir sang spirituals that he had arranged for the Broadway play The Green Pastures. His own folk drama Run Little Children was on Broadway in 1933. When The Green Pastures was made into a movie (1936), Johnson took his choir to Hollywood to sing in the production. He worked there for many years as chorus director and sometimes arranger for other films including Lost Horizon (1937), Way Down South and Birth of the Blues. His last film, Cabin in the Sky (1943), had an all-black cast including Lean Horne, Ethel Waters, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. MGM lost money because southern theaters would not show the film.
Back in New York he composed an Easter Cantata, Son of Man (1946) premiered by Johnson's new Festival Negro Chorus, which gave concerts on a regular basis. In 1951 he and his chorus were invited by the State Department to represent the U.S. at the International Festival of Fine Arts in Berlin. Afterward the group continued to tour Europe for several months.
Two books of his arrangements, The Green Pastures Spirituals (1930) and Thirty Negro Spirituals for Voice and Piano have shaped what we today know as spirituals. By preserving the authenticity of these folk songs he has given us a great gift of emotionally fulfilling, or should I say soul-satisfying, experience through song.
He died on April 30, 1970 in an apartment fire in New York city. He was 82 years old. He was eulogized by Marian Anderson in the New York Times on May 24: "Hall Johnson was a unique genius. For although he invented no new harmonies, designed no new forms, originated no new melodic styles, discovered no new rhythmic principles, he was yet able to fashion a whole new world of music in his own image."
AIN'T GOT TIME TO DIE
Spiritual As sung by the Kuumba Chorus
[The parts marked SATB below can be unison congregational or choral responses.]
(lead) Lord I keep so busy praisin' my Jesus...
(SATB) Keep so busy praisin' my Jesus (2x)
Ain' got time to die.
Hm, I'm praisin' my Jesus (3x)
Ain' got time to die.
CHO:
'Cause it takes all o' my time to praise my Jesus
All of my time to praise my Lord
If I don't praise Him de rocks gon-ter cry out:
"Glory an' hon-nuh, glory an' hon-nuh!"
Ain' got time to die.
(lead) Lord, I keep so busy workin' fer de Kingdom...
(SATB) Keep so busy workin' fer de Kingdom (2x)
Ain' got time to die.
Hm, I'm workin' fer de Kingdom (3x)
Ain' got time to die.
(repeat Chorus)
(lead) Lord I keep so busy servin' my Master
(SATB) Keep so busy servin' my master (2x)
Ain' got time to die.
Hm, I'm servin' my master (3x)
Ain' got time to die
(repeat Chorus)
Now won't you git out o' my way, lemme praise my Jesus?
Out o' my way, lemme praise my Lord
If I don't praise Him de rocks gon-ter cry out:
"Glory an hon-nuh, glory and hon-nuh!"
Ain' got time to die.
AIN'T GOT TIME TO DIE
Words and Music by Hall Johnson circa 1956
Lord, I keep so busy praisin' my Jesus,
Keep so busy praisin' my Jesus,
Keep so busy praisin' my Jesus,
Ain't got time to die.
'Cause when I'm healin' de sick,
I'm praisin' my Jesus,
When I'm healin' de sick,
I'm praisin' my Jesus,
When I'm healin' de sick,
I'm praisin' my Jesus,
Ain't got time to die.
'Cause it takes all o' ma time
To praise my Jesus,
All o' ma time
To praise my Lord.
If I don' praise Him
The rocks gonter cry out,
"Glory an' honor,
Glory an' honor!"
Ain't got time to die.
Lord, I keep so busy workin' fer de Kingdom,
Keep so busy workin' fer de Kingdom,
Keep so busy workin' fer de Kingdom,
Ain't got time to die.
'Cause when I'm feedin' the po',
I'm workin' fer de Kingdom,
When I'm feedin' the po',
I'm workin' fer de Kingdom,
When I'm feedin' the po',
I'm workin' fer de Kingdom,
Ain't got time to die.
'Cause it takes all o' ma time
To praise my Jesus,
All o' ma time
To praise my Lord.
If I don' praise Him
The rocks gonter cry out,
"Glory an' honor,
Glory an' honor!"
Ain't got time to die.
Lord, I keep so busy servin' my Master,
Keep so busy servin' my Master,
Keep so busy servin' my Master,
Ain't got time to die.
'Cause when I'm givin' my all,
I'm servin' my Master,
When I'm givin' my all,
I'm servin' my Master,
When I'm givin' my all,
I'm servin' my Master,
Ain't got time to die.
'Cause it takes all o' ma time
To praise my Jesus,
All o' ma time
To praise my Lord.
If I don' praise Him
The rocks gonter cry out,
"Glory an' honor,
Glory an' honor!"
Ain't got time to die.
Now, won't you git out o' ma way,
Lemme praise my Jesus?
Git out o' ma way,
Lemme praise my Lord.
If I don' praise Him
The rocks gonter cry out,
"Glory an' honor,
Glory an' honor!"
Ain't got time to die.
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