If the Good Lord's Willing and the Creek Don't Rise

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"If The Good Lord's Willing and the Creek Don't Rise" is a 1955 American country song by Jerry Reed which was particularly popularized by the 1958 recording of Johnny Cash and has been covered by multiple artists. [1]

Contents

Lyrics

The lyrics play on the expression Lord willing and the creek don't rise, which is thought to originate from Alabama. The catchphrase itself was associated with Hank Williams. Marty Stuart places the words "If the Good Lord's willin' and the creek don't rise, we'll see you in the mornin'." in Williams' mouth in his tribute album Hillbilly Heaven. [2] In the Reed song and Cash cover the verses vary the rhyme, so the opening line commences:

If the good Lord's willing and the creek stays down I'll be in your arms time the moon come around.

But in following verses the rhyme changes through "creeks don't rise", "creek stay low", back to "creeks don't rise".

The expression is incorrectly attributed on modern social media[ citation needed ] to an Indian agent, Benjamin Hawkins, in the late 18th century in a rumored letter not found in any archive to the U.S. President. In response to a request that he return to Washington D.C., he wrote, "God willing and the Creek don't rise." However, the first President to move to Washington was John Adams on 1 November 1800. [3] The capitalization of the word Creek supposedly referred to the Creek behind his house rather than a tribe of indians. [4] [5]

Versions

By date order (spelling and titling may vary):

Unrelated songs

References

  1. ↑ Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, Stephen Thomas Erlewine All Music Guide to Country 0879307609 2003 Page 629 Jerry Reed "Here I Am collects his complete recordings for Capitol (30 songs), most of which were originals. "If the Good Lord's Willing and the Creek Don't Rise" was later covered by Johnny Cash during his tenure at Sun, and a few of the other tracks here ..."
  2. ↑ Curtis W. Ellison Country Music Culture: From Hard Times to Heaven ISBN   1604739347, p. 89. The first to appear is Hank Williams, whose voice can be heard opening the album with his familiar fatalistic banter to the country faithful, "If the Good Lord's willin' and the creek don't rise, we'll see you in the mornin'."
  3. ↑ "John Adams". White House . Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  4. ↑ Estes, Roberta (20 August 2012). "God Willing and the Creek Don't Rise". Nativeheritageproject.com. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  5. ↑ "World Wide Words: God willing and the creek don't rise". Worldwidewords.org. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  6. ↑ "William Clark Green: 'Ringling Road' Album Review". Ne-countrymusic.com. 29 April 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
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