The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #18   Message #4101198
Posted By: cnd
07-Apr-21 - 01:39 PM
Thread Name: Foot race with Death - Black gospel recording
Subject: RE: Foot race with Death - Black gospel recording
The song "garst" was looking for is The Race by Eugene "Flip" Forrest. It was released in 1976 on Savoy 4360, the flip-side of "I. O. U.." It was written by Eugene Bruns

Here are the lyrics, as I hear them:
Job said that man borned of a woman is but of a few days and full of trouble. I wanna tell you the story today of a young man who was a noted athlete. He'd ran many races in his life, and never been defeated.

And one day they matched him in a race and brought his opponent out. And when they did the young man looked at his opponent and said "Do you you mean to tell me you've matched me in a race with this man?" Said, "Look at him! His hair's gray! His back is bent! His foot steps are slow! Say, I think it's a disgrace."

The old man looked at him and said, "Just get on the track young fellow, and run with me."

The young man said "Alright, but I hate to disgrace ya." The old man said "You just run."

So they got on the track and the starter fired the gun and the race began. The young man eased along with graceful speed and the old man just jogged alongside of him. And as they made the first round along the track, the young man decided he'd put on a little more speed. And when he did, the old man put on a little more speed too.

The young man couldn't understand it--how the old man could keep up with him. Then they came around to the last lap in the race. The young man flexed his muscles, reared his head back, and put on all the speed he had. And when he did, the old man reared his old gray head back and he put on all the speed he had. And when they came to the finish line, the race was so close they had a photo finish. And while they were developing the film, the old man and the young man sit down on the bench.

The young man looked at the old man, he says "listen, say, what's you're name?" Said "I've been running races all over the world, I ain't never lost a race. It's a funny thing I've never heard about you." The old man said, "Well, listen. Before I tell ya my name, lemme tell you about a few of the races that I've had."

He said, "young man, the first race I ever had I ran against a man named Adam. And I outran him. Then they matched me up with his sons, Cain and Able, and I outran them. [chuckle] Then one day they matched me up with Moses, and I caught up with him on the mountain top. They put me in a race with Abraham and I outran him. And didn't you know what, one day, they matched me with a man named Jesus and I caught up with him on Calvary's Hill." Said, "don't you know who I am?" He said, "my name is death. And there's no way you can win. Because when they bring back the pictures, I'll be the winner. So I'm saying to you today in simple terms, man borned of a woman is but of a few days full of trouble. And by sin came death."