You mought be rich as cream,
And drive you coach and four horse team;
But you can’t keep the World from moverin’ round,
Nor Nat Turner from gaining ground.
You mought be reader and writer too
And wiser’n Old Solomon the Jew
But you can’t keep the World from moverin’ ‘round,
Nor Nat Turner from gainin’ ground.
And your name it mought be Ceaser sure
And got you cannon can shoot a mile or more
But you can’t keep the World from moverin’ ‘round
Nor Nat Turner from gainin’ ground.
You mought be a Carroll from Carrollton,
Arrive here night afo’ Lawd make creation,
But you can’t keep the world from moverin’ around
And not turn her back from the gaining ground.
And drive you coach and four horse team;
But you can’t keep the World from moverin’ round,
Nor Nat Turner from gaining ground.
You mought be reader and writer too
And wiser’n Old Solomon the Jew
But you can’t keep the World from moverin’ ‘round,
Nor Nat Turner from gainin’ ground.
And your name it mought be Ceaser sure
And got you cannon can shoot a mile or more
But you can’t keep the World from moverin’ ‘round
Nor Nat Turner from gainin’ ground.
You mought be a Carroll from Carrollton,
Arrive here night afo’ Lawd make creation,
But you can’t keep the world from moverin’ around
And not turn her back from the gaining ground.
Contributed by Dq82 - 2024/12/6 - 18:09
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- First discovered as "The Gainin’ Ground" in Pete Seeger Where Have All the Flowers Gone pg. 236
- later discovered it in John Greenway American Folksongs of Protest pg. 92-93
-and Russell Ames, The Story of American Folk Song, 1955, p.151-152. Ames contributes an additional verse in Story of American Folksong, p. 151. It appears with the heading “Virginia 1831” below the three main verses in the lyrics.
all three attribute discovery of the song to Lawrence Gellert
This is confirmed by Gellert, published in Mainstream Vol.16, No.2 February, 1963
Si vedano anche
The Ballad of Nat Turner - Nat Turner - The Ballad of Nat Turner - Nat Turner / The Gainin' Ground / Virginia 1831 - Tribute to a Slave