It Ain't Necessarily So

(album: The Complete Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong on Verve - 1997)

[Sporting Life]
It ain't necessarily so,

[All]
It ain't necessarily so.
[Sporting Life]
De t'ings dat yo li'ble
To read in de Bible
It ain't necessarily so.
Lil' David was small, but oh my!

[All]
Lil' David was small, but oh my!
[Sporting Life]
He fought Big Goliath
Who lay down and dieth
Lil' David was small, but oh my!
Wadoo!

[Ensemble]
Wadoo!

[Sporting Life]
Zim bam boddle-oo!

[Ensemble]
Zim bam boddle-oo!

[Sporting Life]
Hoodle ah da waah da!

[Ensemble]
Hoodle ah da waah da!

[Sporting Life]
Scatty way!

[Ensemble]
Scatty wah!

[Sporting Life]
Yeah!
Oh Jonah, he lived in de whale

[All]
Oh Jonah, he lived in de whale.

[Sporting Life]
Fo' he made his home in
Dat fish's abdomen
Oh Jonah, he lived in de whale.
Lil' Moses was found in a stream

[All]
Lil' Moses was found in a stream

[Sporting Life]
He floated on water
'Til Ole' Pharaoh's daughter
She fished him, she says from dat stream.
Wadoo!

[Ensemble]
Wadoo!

[Sporting Life]
Zim bam boddle-oo!

[Ensemble]
Zim bam boddle-oo!

[Sporting Life]
Hoodle ah da waah da!

[Ensemble]
Hoodle ah da waah da!

[Sporting Life]
Scatty way!

[Ensemble]
Scatty wah!

[Sporting Life]
Yeah!
It ain't necessarily so

[All]
It ain't necessarily so

[Sporting Life]
Dey tell all you chillun
De Debble's a villun
But 'tain't necessarily so.
To get into Hebbben

Don't snap fo' a sebben
Live clean! Don' have no fault!
Oh, I takes dat gospel
Whenever it's pos'ple
But wid a grain of salt!
Methus'lah lived nine hundred years,

[All]
Methus'lah lived nine hundred years,

[Sporting Life]
But who calls dat living
When no gal'll give in
To no man what's nine hundred years?
I'm preaching dis sermon to show
It ain't nessa, ain't nessa,
Ain't nessa, ain't nessa

[All]
It ain't necessarily so!