McCorkle was born in Berkeley, California. She studied modern languages at the University of California, Berkeley. McCorkle began singing professionally after hearing recordings of Billie Holiday in Paris in the late 1960s. She nearly became an interpreter at the European Commission in Brussels, but moved instead to London in 1972 to pursue a career in singing. While in the UK, she made two albums which, although well received, enjoyed only limited circulation.
In the late 1970s, McCorkle returned to the United States and settled in New York City, where a five-month engagement at the Cookery in Greenwich Village brought her to wider public attention and elicited rave reviews from critics.
During the 1980s, McCorkle continued to record; her maturing style and the darkening timbre of her voice greatly enhanced her performances. In the early 1990s, two of the albums McCorkle made for Concord Records, No More Blues and Sábia, were enormously successful and made her name known to the wider world. She was recorded by the Smithsonian Institution which at the time made her the youngest singer ever to have been included in its popular music series. McCorkle played Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher and Alice Tully Halls five times and Carnegie Hall three times, and was featured soloist with Skitch Henderson and the 80-piece New York Pops in a concert of Brazilian music.
Thanks to her linguistic skills, McCorkle translated lyrics of Brazilian, French, and Italian songs, notably those for her Brazilian album Sabia. McCorkle also had several short stories published and, in 1991, began work on her first novel. She published fiction in Mademoiselle, Cosmopolitan Magazine, and non-fiction in the New York Times Magazine and in American Heritage, including lengthy articles on Ethel Waters, Bessie Smith, Irving Berlin and Mae West.
McCorkle suffered for many years from depression and cancer, and took her own life at age 55 by leaping off the balcony of her highrise Manhattan apartment. She was alone in her home at the time. The police immediately entered her home after identifying her body and found no foul play. Suicide was ruled the cause of death.
It ain
Susannah McCorkle Lyrics
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Ole Adam an' Eve had to flee
Sure, dey did dat deed in
De Garden of Eden
But why chasterize you an' me?
It ain't necessarily so
It ain't necessarily so
To read in de Bible
It ain't necessarily so
Li'l David was small, but oh my
Li'l David was small, but oh my
He fought Big Goliath
Who lay down an' dieth
Li'l David was small, but oh my
Wadoo, zim bam boddle-oo
Hoodle ah da wa da
Scatty wah
Oh yeah
Oh Jonah, he lived in de whale
Oh Jonah, he lived in de whale
Fo' he made his home in
Dat fish's abdomen
Oh Jonah, he lived in de whale
Li'l Moses was found in a stream
Li'l Moses was found in a stream
He floated on water
Till Ol' Pharaoh's daughter
She fished him, she said, from dat stream
Wadoo
Well, it ain't necessarily so
Well, it ain't necessarily so
Dey tells all you chillun
De debble's a villun
But it ain't necessarily so
To get into Hebben
Don' snap for a sebben
Live clean ! Don' have no fault
Oh, I takes dat gospel
Whenever it's pos'ble
But wid a grain of salt
Methus'lah lived nine hundred years
Methus'lah lived nine hundred years
But who calls dat livin
When no gal will give in
To no man what's nine hundred years
I'm preachin' dis sermon to show
It ain't nece-ain't nece
Ain't nece-ain't nece
Ain't necessarily... so
The song "It Ain't Necessarily So" by Susannah McCorkle is a cover of the song from the opera "Porgy and Bess." The original song was composed by George Gershwin and duBose Heyward. The song is a satirical look at some of the stories in the Bible, suggesting that they may not be entirely accurate. The first verse talks about the story of Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden of Eden after they ate from the Tree of Knowledge. The second verse is about the story of David and Goliath, and how the small David was able to defeat the large Goliath. The third verse is about the story of Jonah and the whale, and the fourth verse is about the story of Moses being found in a stream.
The chorus "It ain't necessarily so" suggests that the stories in the Bible may be interpreted in different ways, and that there may be other versions of the truth. This implies that people should think for themselves and not blindly follow what they are told. The line "Live clean! Don' have no fault" suggests that people should live a virtuous life, but also with a bit of common sense and skepticism.
Overall, the song encourages the listener to think critically about what they are told and not believe everything blindly. It is a reminder that things may not always be as they seem and that stories can be interpreted in different ways.
Line by Line Meaning
Way back in 5000 B.C.
Once upon a time, about 7000 years ago,
Ole Adam an' Eve had to flee
Adam and Eve were forced to leave,
Sure, dey did dat deed in
De Garden of Eden
Yes, they committed that sin in the Garden of Eden,
But why chasterize you an' me?
But why should you and I be punished for it?
It ain't necessarily so
Things are not always as they seem,
The t'ings dat yo' li'ble
To read in de Bible
The things that you are likely to read in the Bible,
Li'l David was small, but oh my
David was small in size, but remarkable,
He fought Big Goliath
Who lay down an' dieth
He fought against the giant Goliath, who fell and died,
Oh Jonah, he lived in de whale
Jonah lived inside a whale,
Fo' he made his home in
Dat fish's abdomen
Because he took refuge in that fish's belly,
Li'l Moses was found in a stream
Moses was discovered in a river,
He floated on water
Till Ol' Pharaoh's daughter
She fished him, she said, from dat stream
He floated on water until the Pharaoh's daughter fished him out of the stream,
Well, it ain't necessarily so
Well, it's not always true,
Dey tells all you chillun
De debble's a villun
But it ain't necessarily so
They tell all you children that the devil is evil, but it's not necessarily true,
To get into Hebben
Don' snap for a sebben
Live clean ! Don' have no fault
Oh, I takes dat gospel
Whenever it's pos'ble
But wid a grain of salt
To get into heaven, don't beg for anything, live cleanly, and don't have any faults. Oh, I believe in the Gospel whenever possible, but with a bit of skepticism,
Methus'lah lived nine hundred years
Methuselah lived for 900 years,
But who calls dat livin
When no gal will give in
To no man what's nine hundred years
But who considers that life, when no woman is willing to be with a man who is 900 years old,
I'm preachin' dis sermon to show
It ain't nece-ain't nece
Ain't nece-ain't nece
Ain't necessarily... so
I'm preaching this sermon to demonstrate that things aren't always what they seem.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., RALEIGH MUSIC PUBLISHING
Written by: Dorothy Heyward, Du Bose Heyward, George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind