The creek do n't rise - Wikipedia The creek do n't rise Look up Lord_willing_and_the_creek_don't_rise in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. The expression ``... the creek do n't rise '' is an American slang expression implying strong intentions subject to complete frustration by uncommon but not unforeseeable events. It presumably evokes occasional and unpredictably extreme rainfall in Appalachia, that has historically isolated one rural neighborhood or another temporarily inaccessible on several or many occasions. Classic versions of its use tend to be along the lines of `` The good Lord willing, and creek does n't rise '' -- i.e. `` If God so wills, and as long as intense rain does not wash away bridges or parts of dirt roads, or cover roads too deeply for safely following them. '' It may take the form of real or mock dialect, in variations like ``... Lor ' willin ' an ' th ' crick don ' rise. '' Contents 1 Notable occurrences 1.1 Song titles and lyrics 1.2 Prose 1.3 Moving - image works Notable occurrences Song titles and lyrics Jerry Reed wrote by 1955, and he and Johnny Cash each recorded, his If the Good Lord 's Willing and the Creek ( s ) Do n't Rise ; the recordings of each of them use, at the same point within different verses, different phrases ( ``... creek stays down '', ``... creek stay low '', ``... creeks do n't rise '' ) that accommodate different rhymings, and at least three additional artists have recorded what are frank variations of that song. At least five later separately composed modern songs in English have been recorded since 1960, evoking the `` God... '' or `` Good Lord willing '' expression or the `` creek ( s ) do n't rise '' one, two of them coupling the two phrases, and in the order Reed used. Tori Amos included the repeated lyric ' Good Lord willin ' and the creek do n't rise ' in her song Up the Creek, released on the 2017 album Native Invader. Prose -- > Moving - image works Spike Lee 's documentary series If God Is Willing and Da Creek Do n't Rise This United States -- related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. This language - related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_creek_don%27t_rise&oldid=794947433 '' Categories : United States stubs Language stubs American English idioms Talk Contents About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 11 August 2017, at 01 : 13. About Wikipedia

Question: where did the saying god willing and the creek don't rise come from
Answer: Appalachia