It's Not My Cross to Bear

"It's Not My Cross to Bear"
Song by The Allman Brothers Band
from the album The Allman Brothers Band
ReleasedNovember 4, 1969
Recorded1969
Genre
Length5:04
LabelCapricorn
Songwriter(s)Gregg Allman
Producer(s)Adrian Barber

"It's Not My Cross to Bear" is a song by the Allman Brothers Band, written by Gregg Allman, that was released on their 1969 debut album. The song was written about a former lover.[1] It was also one of the first songs Allman introduced to the group.[2] In 1986, Allman recorded an arrangement for his record, I'm No Angel.

Blues resemblance

The song conveys the feel and tone of a blues song, but does not follow any of the usual eight-bar blues or twelve-bar blues progressions. The song has harmonic resemblance to Howlin' Wolf's recordings of "Sitting on Top of the World" in its inclusion of a minor IV chord in the fourth measure of the progression, while also harmonically resembling "Trouble in Mind", a blues standard.[3] The eight-bar blues progression in "It's Not My Cross to Bear" is played using B major as the tonic chord:[3]

I7 I7 IV7 iv7
I   VI II   V7 I7 V

References

  1. ^ Freeman, Scott (1996). Midnight Riders: The Story of the Allman Brothers Band. Little, Brown and Company. p. 60. ISBN 978-0316294522.
  2. ^ Browne, David (27 May 2017). "Gregg Allman: 20 Essential Songs". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  3. ^ a b Christopher M. Reali (2018). "The Allman Brothers Band: Conveying the Blues Idea". Rock Music Studies. 5 (2): 109–110. doi:10.1080/19401159.2017.1416448. S2CID 195007040.


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