[Sportin' Life]
It ain't necessarily so,

[All]
It ain't necessarily so.
[Sportin' Life:]
De t'ings dat yo li'ble
To read in de Bible -
It ain't necessarily so.
Lil' David was small, but oh my!

[All]
Lil' David was small, but oh my!
Sportin' Life:
He fought Big Goliath
Who lay down and dieth -
Lil' David was small, but oh my!
Wadoo!

[Ensemble]
Wadoo!

[Sportin' Life]
Zim bam boddle-oo!

[Ensemble]
Zim bam boddle-oo!

[Sportin' Life]
Hoodle ah da waah da!

[Ensemble]
Hoodle ah da waah da!

[Sportin' Life]
Scatty way!

[Ensemble]
Scatty wah!

[Sportin' Life]
Yeah!
Oh Jonah, he lived in de whale

[All]
Oh Jonah, he lived in de whale.

[Sportin' Life]
Fo' he made his home in
Dat fish's abdomen -
Oh Jonah, he lived in de whale.
Lil' Moses was found in a stream

[All]
Lil' Moses was found in a stream

[Sportin' Life]
He floated on water
'Til Ole' Pharaoh's daughter
She fished him, she says from dat stream.
Wadoo!

[Ensemble]
Wadoo!

[Sportin' Life]
Zim bam boddle-oo!

[Ensemble]
Zim bam boddle-oo!

[Sportin' Life]
Hoodle ah da waah da!

[Ensemble]
Hoodle ah da waah da!

[Sportin' Life]
Scatty way!

[Ensemble]
Scatty wah!

[Sportin' Life]
Yeah!
It ain't necessarily so

[All]
It ain't necessarily so

[Sportin' Life]
Dey tell all you chillun
De Debble's a villun
But 'tain't necessarily so.
To get into Hebbben

Don't snap fo' a sebben -
Live clean! Don' have no fault!
Oh, I takes dat gospel
Whenever it's pos'ple -
But wid a grain of salt!
Methus'lah lived nine hundred years,

[All]
Methus'lah lived nine hundred years,

[Sportin' Life]
But who calls dat livin'
When no gal'll give in
To no man what's nine hundred years?
I'm preachin' dis sermon to show
It ain't nessa, ain't nessa,
Ain't nessa, ain't nessa -

[All]
It ain't necessarily so!

Copyright: BMG Rights Management, Downtown Music Publishing, Kanjian Music, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Royalty Network, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Writer(s): Dorothy Heyward, Dubose Edwin Heyward, George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin