It ain’t necessarily so, (repeat)
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! (rpt)
He fought big Goliath
Who lay down an’ dieth!
Li’l David was small, but oh my!
Oh, Jonah, he lived in de whale, (rpt)
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, (rpt)
He floated on water
Till Ole Pharaoh’s daughter
She fished him, she says, from that stream.
It ain’t necessarily so, (rpt)
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 poss’ble,
But wid a grain of salt.
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 nessa, ain’t nessa,
ain’t nessa, ain’t nessa,
Ain’t necessarily so.
Da "Porgy and Bess" di George Gershwin
1935