Dese Bones Gwine to Rise Again [Laws I18]

DESCRIPTION: A light retelling of the Biblical creation myth: God makes Adam, then Eve; Eve, tricked by the serpent, takes an "apron full" of fruit to Adam. God, spotting the peels, accuses Adam of stealing the fruit; Adam blames Eve; God throws them out of the garden
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1899 (Barton-OldPlantationHymns)
KEYWORDS: Bible humorous animal
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (16 citations):
Laws I18, "Dese Bones Gwine to Rise Again"
Arnold-FolkSongsofAlabama, pp. 148-149, "Dese Bones Gwine Rise Ag'in" (1 text, 1 tune)
Barton-OldPlantationHymns, p. 32, "These Bones Gwine Ter Rise Again" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 523, "Creation" (1 text plus a fragment)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 523, "Creation" (1 tune plus a text excerpt)
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, pp. 470-471, "Dese Bones Gwine to Rise Again" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 249, "Dese Bones Gwine Rise Again" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-AmericanBalladsAndFolkSongs, pp. 597-600, "Dese Bones Gwine to Rise Again" (1 text, 1 tune, composite)
Coleman/Bregman-SongsOfAmericanFolks, pp. 88-89+91 (book is mis-paginated), "Dese Bones Gwine to Rise Again" (1 text, 1 tune)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, pp. 230, 239, 288, 289, 307, 308, 318, 325, 398, 399, 498, "Dem Bones"/"De Creation and the Fall" (sic.) (notes only; Averill identifies the piece as Laws I18, but I wonder if it isn't "Dem Bones (I)" or another Ezekiel-Seeing-the-Dry-Bones song)
Harbin-Parodology, #397, "Dem Bones Gonna Rise Again" (1 short text)
Zander/Klusmann-CampSongsNThings, p. 20, "Dese Bones Gwine Rise Again" (1 text, 1 tune)
Zander/Klusmann-CampSongsPopularEdition, p. 12, "Dese Bones Gwine to Rise Again" (1 text)
Delamar-ChildrensCountingOutRhymes, p. 106, "Dem Bone Are Gonna... Rise Again" (1 text, with verses typical of "Old Uncle Noah" but the chorus of "Dese Bones Gwine to Rise Again" [Laws I18])
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Gloria Dickens, "Childhood Songs from North Carolina" Vol. XXI, No. 1 (Apr 1973), pp. 8-9, "(The Lord decided he'd make a man" (1 text)
DT 793, DESEBONE*

Roud #4184
RECORDINGS:
Frank & James McCravy "These Bones G'wina Rise Again" (Victor 20869, 1927) (Brunswick 3778, 1928 [as "De's Bones Gwine to Rise Again"])
Rutherford & Foster "These Bones G'wina Rise Again" (Conqueror 7276, 1929)

CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ezekiel in the Valley" (theme)
cf. "Dem Bones" (theme)
cf. "I Saw the Light from Heaven" ("Dry Bones" (I)) (theme)
SAME TUNE:
[T.C.] Johnson-[Tom "Bluecoat"] Nelson-Porkchop "G. Burns is Gonna Rise Again" (OKeh 8577, 1928; on GoodForWhatAilsYou). [It is not know who the vocalist "Porkchop" was, nor the significance of "G. Burns", if any. - PJS]
NOTES [35 words]: The details here generally come from what scholars call the "J" or "second" account of the creation, found in Genesis 2:4b-3:24. The mention of bones rising again comes from Ezekiel's vision in Ezek. 37:1-14 - RBW
Last updated in version 6.4
File: LI18

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography

The Ballad Index Copyright 2024 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.