All My Trials

 All My Trials  is a folk song during the social protest movements of the 1950s and 1960s. It is based on a Bahamian lullaby that tells the story of a mother on her death bed, comforting her children, "Hush little baby, don't you cry./You know your mama's bound to die," because, as she explains, "All my trials, Lord,/Soon be over." The message — that no matter how bleak the situation seemed, the struggle would "soon be over" — propelled the song to the status of an anthem, recorded by many of the leading artists of the era.

The song is usually classified as a Spiritual because of its biblical and religious imagery. There are references to the "Lord", "a little book" with a message of "liberty", "brothers", "religion", "paradise", "pilgrims" and the "tree of life" awaiting her after her hardships, referred to as "trials". There is an allegory of the river Jordan, the crossing thereof representing the Christian experience of death as something which "...chills the body but not the soul." The river/death allegory was popularised by John Bunyan in his classic, The Pilgrim's Progress and the wording echoes the teaching of Jesus, to "...fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul." (Matthew 10:28) The video twists the message of the song somewhat and shows children in distress from the problems of more recent times such as Darfur, Iraq, and Syria. Will "all my trials...soon be over" for them and is it "never mind (mine)"?

To download the easy alphanotes and chords sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

Hush little baby, don't you cry You know your mama was born to die All my trials, Lord, soon be over The river of Jordan is muddy and cold Well, it chills the body but not the soul All my trials, Lord, soon be over I've got a little book with pages three And every page spells liberty All my trials, Lord, soon be over Too late my brothers Too late, but never mind All my trials, Lord, soon be over If living were a thing that money could buy You know the rich would live And the poor would die All my trials, Lord, soon be over There grows a tree in Paradise And the Pilgrims call it the tree of life All my trials, Lord, soon be over Too late my brothers Too late, but never mind All my trials, Lord, soon be over All my trials, Lord, soon be over