| "It's Not My Cross to Bear" | |
|---|---|
| Song by The Allman Brothers Band | |
| from the album The Allman Brothers Band | |
| Released | November 4, 1969 |
| Recorded | 1969 |
| Genre | |
| Length | 5:04 |
| Label | Capricorn |
| 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
- ↑ Freeman, Scott (1996). Midnight Riders: The Story of the Allman Brothers Band. Little, Brown and Company. p. 60. ISBN 978-0316294522.
- ↑ Browne, David (27 May 2017). "Gregg Allman: 20 Essential Songs". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
- 1 2 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.
