All My Trials
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
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Lyrics:
Hush little baby, don't you cry
You know your mama was born to die.
All my trials, Lord, soon be over.
The River of Jordan is muddy and cold,
Well, it chills the body, but not the soul.
All my trials, Lord, soon be over.
I've got a little book that was given to me
And every page spells liberty.
All my trials, Lord, soon be over.
Chorus
Too late, my brothers,
Too late, but never mind.
All my trials, Lord, soon be over.
If religion were a thing that money could buy
The rich would live and the poor would die.
All my trials, Lord, soon be over.
There is a tree in Paradise
And the pilgrims call it the Tree of Life.
All my trials, Lord, soon be over.
Chorus
"All My Trials", "Bahamian Lullaby" and "All My Sorrows" is a folk song which<br> became popular during the social protest movements of the late 1950s and 1960s.<br> The origins of the song are unclear, as it appears to not have been documented<br> in any musicological or historical records (such as the Roud Folk Song Index,<br> Archive of American Folk Song, or an ethnomusicologist's field recordings or<br> notes) until after the first commercial recording was released (as "Bahamian<br> Lullaby") on Bob Gibson's 1956 debut album Offbeat Folksongs.<br> The next two artists to release it, Cynthia Gooding (as "All My Trials" in 1957)<br> and Billy Faier (as "Bahamian Lullaby" in 1959), both wrote in their albums'<br> liner notes that they each learned the song from Erik Darling. Gooding explained<br> it was "supposed to be a white spiritual that went to the British West Indies<br> and returned with the lovely rhythm of the Islands", presumably as told to her by<br> Darling. Faier wrote that he heard Darling sing the song "four or five times in<br> spring 1954" when Darling would have been performing with his folk group The<br> Tarriers. However, bibliographic folk song indexes, such as the Traditional<br> Ballad Index do not mention the Bahamas as an origin, listing it as unknown.<br> The Joan Baez Songbook (published 1964; Baez released the song as "All My<br> Trials" in 1960) suggests it began as a pre-Civil War era American Southern<br> gospel song, which was introduced to the Bahamas where it became a lullaby<br> and was forgotten in the US until it was brought back from the Bahamas and<br> popularized during the roots revival.<br> The song was recorded numerous times by folk artists, including Harry Belafonte,<br> Bob Gibson, Pete Seeger, Dave Van Ronk, Anita Carter, Joan Baez, The Seekers,<br> Peter, Paul and Mary, Nick and Gabrielle Drake, and The Kelly Family among many<br> others.<br> Pop and rock artists have also released interpretations of the song, including<br> Paul McCartney (1990), Dick and Dee Dee, Ray Stevens and Cerys Matthews.<br> Another version of the song, "All My Sorrows", was made popular by the Kingston<br> Trio, who recorded it in 1959, followed by The Shadows in 1961 and The Searchers<br> in 1963 on Sugar and Spice.<br>
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