All My Trials

In the first commercial release on the 1956 album Offbeat Folksongs, Gibson did not mention the history of the song. The next two artists to release it, Cynthia Gooding (as "All My Trials" in 1957{{Cite AV media notes|title = Faithful Lovers and Other Phenomena|others = Cynthia Gooding|year= 1957|url = https://ssli.ebayimg.com/images/g/p7EAAOSw8vNaWFfO/s-l1600.jpg|last = Gooding|first = Cynthia| type = liner notes|publisher= Elektra|location= New York}}) and Billy Faier (as "Bahaman Lullaby" in 1959{{cite web|title=Discography of the Riverside Label|url=http://www.bsnpubs.com/new/riverside.pdf|website=bsnpubs.com|publisher=Both Sides Now Publications|access-date=19 February 2018|page=34|date=July 14, 2011}}), both wrote in their albums' liner notes that they each learned the song from Erik Darling. Gooding explained it was "supposed to be a white spiritual that went to the British West IndiesIn the late 1950s this included the Bahamas and returned with the lovely rhythm of the Islands," presumably as told to her by Darling. Faier wrote that he heard Darling sing the song "four or five times in spring 1954," when Darling would have been performing with his folk group The Tarriers.{{Cite AV media notes|title = Travelin' Man|others = Billy Faier|year= 1959|url = https://www.discogs.com/Billy-Faier-Travelin-Man/release/2936726#images/26834151|last = Faier|first = Billy|at = Reeves Sound Studios|type = liner notes|publisher= Washington Records|location= New York}} However, bibliographic folk song indexes, such as the Traditional Ballad Index"[http://www.csufresno.edu/folklore/BalladIndexTOC.html The Traditional Ballad Index - Fresno State University] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180220151932/http://www.csufresno.edu/folklore/BalladIndexTOC.html |date=2018-02-20 }}" eds. Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle do not mention the Bahamas as an origin, listing it as unknown.{{cite web|last1=Waltz|first1=Robert B.|last2=Engle|first2=David G.|title=All My Trials|url=http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/FSWB359B.html|website=The Traditional Ballad Index - Fresno State University|access-date=20 February 2018}}

The Joan Baez Songbook (published 1964; Baez released the song as "All My Trials" in 1960) suggests it began as a pre–Civil War era American Southern gospel song, which was introduced to the Bahamas where it became a lullaby, and was forgotten in the US until it was brought back from the Bahamas and popularized during the roots revival.{{cite book|last1=Baez|first1=Joan|editor1-last=Solomon|editor1-first=Maynard|title=The Joan Baez Songbook|date=1964|publisher=Amsco Pub.|location=New York|isbn=9780825626111|edition=1st}}

The song 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.{{Original research inline|date=February 2018}}

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 of which represents the Christian experience of death as something which "...chills the body but not the soul." The river/death allegory was popularized 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){{Original research inline|date=February 2018}}

{{Infobox song

| name = All My Trials

| cover = All_My_Trials_single,_1990.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Paul McCartney

| album = Tripping the Live Fantastic: Highlights!

| B-side = C Moon

| released = 26 November 1990

| recorded = 27 October 1989

| studio =

| venue = Palatrussardi, Via Antonio Sant'Elia{{cite web|url=https://www.paulmccartney.com/live/the-paul-mccartney-world-tour|title=The Paul McCartney World Tour|publisher=paulmccartney.com|accessdate=2024-07-24}}

| genre = Rock

| length =

| label = Parlophone

| writer = Traditional, arranged by McCartney

| producer =

| prev_title = The Long and Winding Road

| prev_year = 1990

| next_title = Hope of Deliverance

| next_year = 1992

}}

Paul McCartney issued the song as a single from the "Highlights" version of the Tripping the Live Fantastic live album.

Two versions of the CD single were released, having white and black covers. The b-sides of the black cover single are identical to "The Long and Winding Road" single, while the white cover single features an exclusive John Lennon tribute medley recorded in Liverpool on 28 June 1990.

The single debuted at No. 35 in December 1990 and spent six weeks on the UK Singles Chart.{{cite web|title=All My Trials Official Charts Company|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/search/singles/all-my-trials/|website=The Official Charts|publisher=The Official UK Charts Company|access-date=20 February 2018|language=en}}

• 7-inch

1. "All My Trials" – 3:21
2. "C Moon" – 3:39

• White cover CD

1. "All My Trials" – 3:21
2. "C Moon" – 3:39
3. "Strawberry Fields Forever / Help / Give Peace a Chance" – 6:46

• Black cover CD

1. "All My Trials" – 3:21
2. "C Moon" – 3:39
3. "Mull Of Kintyre" – 5:35
4. "Put It There" – 2:34

• In February 1964, Dick and Dee Dee's debuted at No. 89 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed on the chart for three weeks.{{cite magazine|title=Dick and DeeDee All My Trials Chart History|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/dick-and-deedee/chart-history/hsi/|magazine=Billboard|access-date=20 February 2018}}[http://musicvf.com/song.php?title=All+My+Trials+by+Dick+and+Dee+Dee&id=11857 Dick and Dee Dee, "All My Trials" chart position] Retrieved May 2, 2015
• In August 1971, Ray Stevens released a version of the song which stayed on the Hot 100 for six weeks, peaking at No. 70{{cite magazine|title=Ray Stevens All My Trials Chart History|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/ray-stevens/chart-history/hsi/|magazine=Billboard|access-date=20 February 2018}} and stayed on the Easy Listening charts for eight weeks, peaking at No. 6.{{cite magazine|title=Ray Stevens All My Trials Adult Contemporary Chart History|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/ray-stevens/chart-history/asi/|magazine=Billboard}}

• The song was recorded numerous times by folk artists, including Harry Belafonte, Bob Gibson, Pete Seeger,{{cite web|title=American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 4 [1961] - Pete Seeger|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/american-favorite-ballads-vol-4-1961-mw0001972236|website=AllMusic}} Dave Van Ronk, Anita Carter, Joan Baez,{{Gilliland |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19789/m1/ |title=Show 31 - Ballad in Plain D: An introduction to the Bob Dylan era. [Part 1]}} Track 2. The Seekers, Peter, Paul and Mary, Nick and Gabrielle Drake, and The Kelly Family among many others.
• Another version of the song, "All My Sorrows", was made popular by the Kingston Trio, who recorded it in 1959, followed by The Shadows in 1961 and The Searchers in 1963 on Sugar and Spice
• The melody and chord changes were used as the basis of the Brandywine Singers' "Summer's Come and Gone" (Billboard No. 129, 1963).{{Citation needed|reason=not sure if it being obvious if you listen to it means it doesn't need a source|date=February 2018}}
• Swedish folk group The Hootenanny Singers released a Swedish language version titled "Stanna en stund" ("Pause for a moment") in 1964.
• A fragment of the song is used in the Mickey Newbury anthem "An American Trilogy", also recorded by Elvis Presley.{{cite magazine|last1=Greene|first1=Andy|title=The 10 Best Elvis Presley Songs|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/readers-poll-the-10-best-elvis-presley-songs-20150121/an-american-trilogy-20150121|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=20 February 2018|date=January 21, 2015}}
• Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham did his own arrangement of the Kingston Trio's "All My Sorrows" on his 1992 solo album Out of the Cradle.{{cite web|title=All My Sorrows - Lindsey Buckingham|url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/all-my-sorrows-mt0011985957/attributes|website=AllMusic}}
• Pop-rock artist Cerys Matthews released the song on her debut solo album Cockahoop in 2003.
• Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit released a version as a bonus track on their 2010 album The Big Black and the Blue.
• Syrian-American musician Bedouine released a single version "All My Trials" in 2020.
• Words exist to the tune in French (La fin du voyage [journey's end]) and German (Am Ziel meiner Reise [my journey's goal]); Nana Mouskouri has recorded all three (English in 1985, the other two in 1984).

{{Reflist}}

{{Dick and Dee Dee}}

{{Paul McCartney singles}}

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Category:1956 songs

Category:1964 singles

Category:1990 singles

Category:Peter, Paul and Mary songs

Category:Joan Baez songs

Category:Ray Stevens songs

Category:The Kingston Trio songs

Category:Dick and Dee Dee songs

Category:Paul McCartney songs

Category:Warner Records singles

Category:Live singles

Category:American folk songs

Category:Year of song unknown

Category:Songs with unknown songwriters