No. 217 Never Turn Back (A), Osh 381
Pentatonic, cannot be classified (I II 3 — V — 7)
When to that blessed world I rise,
I’ll never turn back any more;
And join the anthems in the skies,
I’ll never turn back any more.
Any more, any more, any more, my Lord,
I’ll never turn back any more.
This was a recording from the 1840’s. Another, in the Social Harp of 1855, p. 52, has the more indigenous reading “I’ll never turn back no more.” See ‘Never Turn Back (B)’ in this collection. A negro variant is in Marsh, p. 174. John Powell tells me that Lydia, negro servant in the Powell house in Richmond, Virginia, and a remarkable singer, sings a variant of this tune to the words:
King cried: “no mo’, no mo’, my Lord,
I’ll never turn to go back to E-jup Land no mo’.”