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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]
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]
By date order (spelling and titling may vary):
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The expression "...the creek don't rise" is an American slang expression implying strong intentions subject to complete frustration by uncommon but not unforeseeable events. It presumably evokes occasional and unpredictably extreme rainfall in Appalachia, that has historically isolated one rural neighborhood or another temporarily inaccessible on several or many occasions. It is sometimes thought that the word "Creek" instead refers to the Creek Indians, but this is unlikely.