("Give Me That") "Old-Time Religion" (and similar spellings) is a traditionalGospel song dating from 1873, when it was included in a list of Jubilee songs,[1] or earlier. It has become a standard in many Protestanthymnals, though it says nothing about Jesus or the gospel, and has been covered by many artists. Some scholars, such as Forrest Mason McCann, have asserted the possibility of an earlier stage of evolution of the song, in that "the tune may go back to English folk origins"[2] (later dying out in the white repertoire but staying alive in the work songs of African Americans). In any event, it was by way of Charles Davis Tillman that the song had incalculable influence on the confluence of black spiritual and white gospel song traditions in forming the genre now known as southern gospel. Tillman was largely responsible for publishing the song into the repertoire of white audiences. It was first heard sung by African-Americans and written down by Tillman when he attended a camp meeting in Lexington, South Carolina in 1889. Popular versions of the song were recorded in the 1950s by singers including Tennessee Ernie Ford and Jim Reeves.
Oh! this old-time religion This old-time religion This old-time religion It is good enough for me
Following Tillman's nuanced changes[3] that accommodated the song more toward the tastes of white southern church congregations, Elmer Leon Jorgenson[4] and other editors preferred the more-formalized first line "'Tis the old-time religion" (likewise the repeated first line of the refrain).[5]
British folk busking duo The Brotherhood (Don Partridge and Pat Keene) recorded a lively version of this song on their 1966 album "Singin' 'n' Sole-In"[7]
Numerous parodic folk verses for "Old-Time Religion" exist, made famous by Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger in live performances and on their live album Precious Friend. The parody verses make reference to a very wide range of "old-time religions" that most Christians would consider pagan.[8]
Referenced by 2018 video game Dusk for the name of Episode 1, Level 3 "Old Time Religion" as centered around a rural church building.
Referenced by artist Will Wood in the song "The Song with Five Names, a.k.a. Soapbox Tao, a.k.a. Checkmate Atheists! a.k.a. Neospace Government, a.k.a. You Can Never Know", repeating twice with the second time ending with "It’s good enough but not enough to be good enough for me".
↑ McCann, Hymns & History: An Annotated Survey of Sources (Abilene, TX: ACU Press, 1997), ISBN0-89112-058-0, p. 595.
↑ Tillman published his arrangement in his compilation Revival (Atlanta: Charlie D. Tillman, 1891), Item 223.
↑ Great Songs of the Church, Number Two Edition (Louisville: Word and Work, 1937), Item 275.
↑ See, e.g., Ruth Winsett Shelton, editor, Best Loved Songs and Hymns (Dayton, TN: R. E. Winsett Music Company, 1961), Item 347. Shelton rendered the song title as "Old-Time Religion" and credited it as an "Old melody" arranged by her first husband R. E. Winsett.
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