It's Not My Cross to Bear

"It's Not My Cross to Bear" is a song by the Allman Brothers Band, written by Gregg Allman, that was released on their 1969 debut album. The song was written about a former lover.^[1] It was also one of the first songs Allman introduced to the group.^[2] In 1986, Allman recorded an arrangement for his record, I'm No Angel.

"It's Not My Cross to Bear"
Song by The Allman Brothers Band
from the album The Allman Brothers Band
Released	November 4, 1969
Recorded	1969
Genre	Electric Blues Southern rock
Length	5:04
Label	Capricorn
Songwriter	Gregg Allman
Producer	Adrian Barber

Blues resemblance

The song conveys the feel and tone of a blues song, but does not follow any of the usual eight-bar blues or twelve-bar blues progressions. The song has harmonic resemblance to Howlin' Wolf's recordings of "Sitting on Top of the World" in its inclusion of a minor IV chord in the fourth measure of the progression, while also harmonically resembling "Trouble in Mind", a blues standard.^[3] The eight-bar blues progression in "It's Not My Cross to Bear" is played using B major as the tonic chord:^[3]

I7	I7	IV7	iv7
I   VI	II   V7	I7	V