Down by the Riverside

"Down by the Riverside" (also known as "Ain't Gonna Study War No More" and "Gonna lay down my burden") is a Negro spiritual song. Its roots date back to before the American Civil War, though it was first published in 1918 in Plantation Melodies: A Collection of Modern, Popular and Old-time Negro-Songs of the Southland, Chicago, the Rodeheaver Company. The song has alternatively been known as “Ain' go'n' to study war no mo'”, “Ain't Gwine to Study War No More”, “Down by de Ribberside”, “Going to Pull My War-Clothes” and “Study war no more”. The song was first recorded by the Fisk University Jubilee Quartet in 1920 (published by Columbia in 1922). and there are at least 14 black gospel recordings before World War II.

Because of its pacifistic imagery, "Down by the Riverside" has also been used as an anti-war protest song, especially during the Vietnam War.

The song has many lyrical variations, though usually each stanza follows a standard form, with one sentence that differs from one stanza to the next. The song often begins:

Gonna lay down my sleepy head
Down by the riverside (3×)
Gonna lay down my burden
Down by the riverside

With the chorus:

I ain't gonna study war no more
Study war no more
Ain't gonna study war no more

Other lines that can appear in stanzas, in place of "Gonna lay down my burden", include:

The song's central image is of casting off negativity and aggression, and putting on spiritual garb, at the side of a river before crossing it. The image has several meanings: it refers to baptism, which in the Southern Baptist tradition usually involves wearing a white robe and being submerged in a body of water. It also refers to ascending to heaven after death, using the metaphor of the River Jordan, which in the Old Testament was the final passage before the Hebrews entered the Promised Land after their years in the desert. As with many Negro spirituals, the biblical imagery can also be read as a hidden allusion to escaping slavery, with the river representing the Ohio River, which was a border between states where slavery was allowed and prohibited before the American Civil War.

...
Wikipedia