From the 1935 opera “Porgy and Bess”.
Words by Dubose Heyward.
Music by George Gershwin.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
- It ain’t necessarily so
It ain’t necessarily so
De t’ings dat yo’ li’ble
To read in de Bible
It ain’t necessarily so - Li’l David was small, but oh my
Li’l David was small, but oh my
He fought big Goliath
Who lay down an’ dieth
Li’l David was small, but oh my
Wadoo, wadoo
Zim bam boddle-oo
Zim bam boddle-oo
Hoodle ah da wa da
Hoodle ah da wa da
Scatty wah, scatty wah, Yeah
- Oh, Jonah, he lived in de whale
Oh, Jonah, he lived in de whale
Fo’ he made his home in
Dat fish’s abdomen
Oh, Jonah, he lived in de whale - Li’l Moses was found in a stream
Li’l Moses was found in a stream
He floated on water
Till Ole Pharaoh’s daughter
She fished him, she says, from that stream
Wadoo, wadoo
Zim bam boddle-oo
Zim bam boddle-oo
Hoodle ah da wa da
Hoodle ah da wa da
Scatty wah, scatty wah, Yeah
It ain’t necessarily so
It ain’t necessarily so
Dey tell all you chillun
De debble’s a villun
But ’tain’t necessarily so
To get into Hebben
Don’ snap for a sebben
Live clean! Don’ have no fault
Oh, I takes dat gospel
Whenever it’s pos’ble
But wid a grain of salt
Methus’lah lived nine hundred years
Methus’lah lived nine hundred years
But who calls dat livin’
When no gal’ll give in
To no man what’s nine hundred years?
I’m preachin’ dis sermon to show
It ain’t necca, ain’t nessa, ain’t nessa
Ain’t nessa, ain’t necessarily so
Sung here by Laurence Rubenstein: