Today’s featured song: Travelin’ Shoes by Intrusion from the 1982 album Life Messages.

As I mentioned on an earlier post, my JM tapes were a mix of what I heard on the radio, and sometimes what I heard on vinyl LPs. The song for today is not only from a record, but it is from a record that I borrowed from a friend. I liked some of the tracks well enough to copy them onto this cassette, but not enough, apparently, to try to buy the album for myself. (At this time in 1984, my finances were extremely tight; though not a good excuse, it was my reason at the time.)

What is interesting about this album by the group Intrusion is that there is very little about it that has survived to be posted on the Internet. The only place where I found any useful info (rather than just copied and reposted stuff) was at Christian Music Archive (specifically, at this page), where I at least found an album cover. Sadly, there is not anything else available about this group available anywhere that I can find (a name like “Intrusion” is one for which it is hard to find many useful hits).

I liked what I heard on the album well enough that I put three tracks on this tape; the other two will be coming up shortly in this list. This particular track seems to be a song in the spiritual tradition. It may be an old song that was jazzed up for the CCM audience, or a song written in the spiritual style. There are other groups (Beam and Acapella) that have also recorded this song, which suggests that Intrusion and these other groups may have taken it from the same source. In any case, it is not very deep in Biblical meaning, but was a fun song to listen to.

Who-whoa, death come a knockin’ on that sinner’s door
Said, O sinner are you ready to go?
He said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
Because I ain’t got on my travellin’ shoes!
(Ain’t paid my dues)
Well, no, no, no, O Lordy, no, no, no
Because I ain’t got on my travellin’ shoes

Who-whoa, death come a knockin’ on that liar’s door
Said, O liar are you ready to go?
He said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
Because I ain’t got on my travellin’ shoes!
(Ain’t paid my dues)
Well, no, no, no, O Lordy, no, no, no
Because I ain’t got on my travellin’ shoes

Who-whoa, death come a knockin’ on that gambler’s door
Said, O gambler are you ready to go?
He said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
Because I ain’t got on my travellin’ shoes!
(Ain’t paid my dues)
Well, no, no, no, O Lordy, no, no, no
Because I ain’t got on my travellin’ shoes

Who-whoa, death come a knockin’ on that Christian’s door
Said, O Christian are you ready to go?
He said, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,
Because I just got on my travellin’ shoes!
(He paid my dues)
Well, yes, yes, yes, O Lordy, yes, yes, yes
Because I just got on my travellin’ shoes

Who-whoa, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes
(Swing down, sweet chariot, stoppin’ right on by)
Because I just got on my travellin’ shoes