I Had a Good Father and Mother

"I Had a Good Father and Mother"
Single by Washington Phillips
B-side	"The Church Needs Good Deacons"
Format	10" 78rpm single
Recorded	December 2, 1929; Dallas, TX
Genre	Gospel blues
Length	3:01
Label	Columbia 14566-D
Songwriter(s)	Washington Phillips
Producer(s)	Frank B. Walker
Washington Phillips singles chronology
"A Mother's Last Word to Her Daughter" / "String Module Error: Match not found" (String Module Error: Match not found) "I Had a Good Father and Mother" / "String Module Error: Match not found" (String Module Error: Target string is empty)
"A Mother's Last Word to Her Daughter" / "I've Got the Key to the Kingdom" "I Had a Good Father and Mother" / "The Church Needs Good Deacons"

"I Had a Good Father and Mother" is a 1929 gospel blues song by Washington Phillips (1880–1954, vocals and zither). The song has sometimes been covered as "I Had a Good Mother and Father"; or with, in both cases, "Real" inserted before "Good".

Unusually, the song does not have a conventional refrain; instead, the verses are separated by a wordless vocalise.

The final verse reflects a concept mentioned several times in the Gospel of John:

The recording history suggests that the song was composed by Phillips himself: there seems to be no earlier or contemporary version, nor any cover version until 64 years after his recording of the song.

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Wikipedia