Ralph Stanley, bluegrass musician, died yesterday at 89. He was probably most known for singing, “O Death,” a traditional American folk song:
Won’t you spare me over til another year
Well what is this that I can’t see
With ice cold hands takin’ hold of me
Well I am death, none can excel
I’ll open the door to heaven or hell
Whoa, death someone would pray
Could you wait to call me another day
The children prayed, the preacher preached
Time and mercy is out of your reach
I’ll fix your feet til you cant walk
I’ll lock your jaw til you cant talk
I’ll close your eyes so you can’t see
This very hour, come and go with me
I’m death I come to take the soul
Leave the body and leave it cold
To draw up the flesh off of the frame
Dirt and worm both have a claim
Well what is this that I can’t see
With ice cold hands takin’ hold of me
Well I am death, none can excel
I’ll open the door to heaven or hell
Whoa, death someone would pray
Could you wait to call me another day
The children prayed, the preacher preached
Time and mercy is out of your reach
I’ll fix your feet til you cant walk
I’ll lock your jaw til you cant talk
I’ll close your eyes so you can’t see
This very hour, come and go with me
I’m death I come to take the soul
Leave the body and leave it cold
To draw up the flesh off of the frame
Dirt and worm both have a claim
O, Death
O, Death
O, Death
Won’t you spare me over til another year
My mother came to my bed
Placed a cold towel upon my head
My head is warm my feet are cold
Death…
My mother came to my bed
Placed a cold towel upon my head
My head is warm my feet are cold
Death…
Stanley, interestingly, came from a Primitive Baptist Universalist background. This tiny Appalachian denomination is distinctive in that they do not believe in any type of parachurch ministry (the “primitive” part), they practice “believers’ baptism” by adults, and …. they deny the existence of an eternal hell.
But it is worth also considering the testimony of Scripture, for those who are in Christ Jesus: “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55 ESV)
Veracity 
What do you think?