Dese Bones G'wine Rise Again is an American Negro spiritual that tells the story of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.
In this spiritual, a caller tells the story in rhymed couplets; each line of the couplet is followed by the final line of an abbreviated chorus sung in answer by the audience or congregation. Between each couplet, a complete chorus is sung. In the example below, the sung chorus is given in italics; the other words are the caller's lyrics:
De Lawd, He thought He’d make a man
Dese bones gwine rise again
Made ‘im outa mud an’ a han’ful o’ san
Dese bones gwine to rise again
(Chorus)
I knowed it Indeed I knowed it, brother
I knowed it Dese bones gwine to rise again
There are several variants of the lyrics; the dramatic and creative talents of the caller generate considerable variation. For one version of the lyrics, see the external link below.
Famous quotes containing the words rise again, bones and/or rise:
“Ah, Faustus,
Now hast thou but one bare hour to live,
And then thou must be damned perpetually!
Stand still, you ever-moving spheres of heaven,
That time may cease and midnight never come!
Fair Nature’s eye, rise, rise again and make
Perpetual day; or let this hour be but
A year, a month, a week, a natural day,
That Faustus may repent and save his soul!”
—Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)
“Critical acumen is exerted in vain to uncover the past; the past cannot be presented; we cannot know what we are not. But one veil hangs over past, present, and future, and it is the province of the historian to find out, not what was, but what is. Where a battle has been fought, you will find nothing but the bones of men and beasts; where a battle is being fought, there are hearts beating.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“To business that we love we rise betime,
And go to’t with delight.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)