Gershwin: It Ain’t Necessarily So
It Ain’t Necessarily So by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin from the play Porgy and Bess.
It ain’t necessarily so,
It ain’t necessarily so,
The things that you’re liable,
To read in your Bible,
It ain’t necessarily so.
Little David was small, but oh my!
Little David was small, but oh my!
He fought Big Goliath,
Who lay down and dieth,
Little David was small, but oh my!
Now Jonah he lived in a whale,
Now Jonah he lived in a whale,
For he made his home in,
That fish’s abdomen,
Now Jonah he lived in a whale.
Little Moses was found in a stream,
Little Moses was found in a stream,
That child floated on water,
Till Old Pharaoh’s daughter,
She fished him (she says!) from that stream.
It ain’t necessarily so,
It ain’t necessarily so,
They tell all you children,
The devil’s a villain,
But it ain’t necessarily so!
Ah, get in to heaven,
Don’t snap an old seven,
Live clean, don’t have no fault!
Now, I takes that gospel
Whenever it’s possible,
But with a grain of salt.
Methuselah lived nine hundred years,
Methuselah lived nine hundred years,
But who calls that living,
When no gal will give in,
To no man what’s nine hundred years?
I’m preaching this sermon to show,
It ain’t nece—
Ain’t nece—
Ain’t nece—
Ain’t nece—
Ain’t necessarily so!
