Sunday, June 15, 2025

Ain't No Grave

CHORUS

There ain’t no grave gonna hold my body down

There ain’t no grave gonna hold my body down

When I hear the trumpet sound

Gonna get up outa the ground

There ain’t no grave gonna hold my body down

 

Well go down yonder Gabriel

Put your foot on the land and sea

But don’t you blow that trumpet 

until you hear from me [Chorus]

 

Well look way over yonder

See people dressed in white

I know it was God’s people 

I seen ’em doin right [Chorus]


Oh look way over Jordan

What do you think I see

I see a band of angels 

and they’re comin’ after me [Chorus]


Well I goin to the river of Jordan

Bury my knees in the sand

Gonna holler high Hosanna 

til I reach that promised land [Chorus]


Well meet me Jesus meet me

Meet me in the middle of the air

And if these wings should fail me 

there won’t be no other pair [Chorus]


Ain't No Grave - The Isaacs


Ain't No Grave - Twang

Twang is an all girl string band from Mountain View, Arkansas. Note the quintessential instruments that define Bluegrass music - mandolin, fiddle, guitar, banjo, and upright bass. (As with jazz performance, there are usually segments of bluegrass songs that feature each single instrument.)


There is another version of this song with wholly different lyrics on the verses. I would classify this performance as "praise" style.

Ain't No Grave - FBA Worship

Shame is a prison

Cruel as the grave

Shame is a robber 

And he's come to take my name

Love is my redeemer

Lifting me up from the ground

Love is the power

Where my freedom song is found

CHORUS

Fear is a liar

With a smooth and velvet tongue

Fear is a tyrant

Always telling me to run

Love is a resurrection 

Love is a trumpet sound

Love is my weapon

Gonna take my giants down

CHORUS

Oh there was a battle

A war between death and life

And there on a tree

The lamb of god was crucified

He went down to grave

And took back every key

He rose up as a lion

And he set all captives free


PRAISE INTERLUDE --

HE'S ALIVE ALIVE

ALIVE HALLELUJAH

ALIVE FOREVER AMEN

PRAISE AND GLORY TO THE LAMB

WORTH IS THE LAMB

WORTHY OF OUR PRAISE

WORTHY IS THE ONE WHO HAS OVERCOME THE GRAVE

LET THE PEOPLE DANCE

LET THE PEOPLE SING

WORTHY IS THE MIGHTY KING


If you walked out of the grave

I'm walking too

CHORUS

* * *

Here is some interesting information about the history of the song and the composer Claude Ely -

Claude Ely, a songwriter and preacher from Virginia, describes composing the song while sick with tuberculosis in 1934 when he was twelve years old. His family prayed for his health, and in response he spontaneously performed this song. An African-American gospel song, "C'aint no grave," has been traced back to a 1933 Church of God in Christ hymnal by blogger Debi Simons.

 Blog post by Debi Simons

That version was recorded by Bozie Sturdivant in July 1942 (and released in 1943 as "Ain't No Grave Can Hold My Body Down") in a slower, gospel style 

Bozie Sturdivant

and in 1946-7 by Sister Rosetta Tharpe with barrelhouse piano, Tharpe having grown up in COGIC.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

The song in Ely's version was recorded (and copyrighted) in 1953, even though he wrote it as early as 1935.


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