Real OTR
(Gimme That Real Old Time Religion)

REAL OTR is classic humor from the Witchcraft/Wiccan/Neo-Pagan/Magical community orginating sometime in the 1970's. REAL OTR was already considered to be a "Neo-Pagan Classic" by the 1980's when I entered the community, when I heard some of these verses. Joe Bethancourt at http://www.whitetreeaz.com/vintage/realotr.htm has collected over a thousand verses of this song. Allegedly, there may be as many as 8,000 variations of verses involving everything from Buddhism to the Cthulhu Mythos.

The song begins with its chorus, which is sung between each verse.

Chorus:
Gimme that old time religion,
Gimme that old time religion,
Gimme that real old time religion,
It's good enough for me.

It was good enough for Cupid,
It was good enough for Cupid,
His wings don't look-that stupid
But it's good enough for me!

We worship Aphrodite,
Though she's a little flighty,
She never wears a nighty,
And she's good enough for me.

We will sing for great Diana,
Who will teach us love and honor,
But you truly gotta wanna!
And she's good enough for me.

O Aradia 'neath the moon,
She sang a charming tune,
And asked Diana for a boon,
That's good enough for me.

It was good for Hecate!
With me she is O.K.!
Just let her hounds romp and play
And it's good enough for me!

Young Bacchus in the springtime,
Leads the dancers round the grapevine--
Soon those grapes are gonna be wine,
And that's good enough for me.

It was good for fair Apollo,
For the Sun's rays he doth follow,
He'll be back again tomorrow,
And that's good enough for me.

We will go and worship Vesta,
For her cooking is the best-a,
All the food at the fiesta,
Which is good enough for me.

We will call on Minerva.
If you really want to serve her,
Learn crafty wisdom further,
That's good enough for me.

We will all go worship Plutus,
And with riches he'll salute us,
All that gold would surely suit us,
And it's good enough for me.

There's that lusty old Priapus,
He's just itching to unwrap us.
(He'd do more to us than tap us,
And that's good enough for me.)

At the dancing Pan will gloat
And to yells give lusty throat-
He could really get your goat,
But he's good enough for me.

Let us dance with Dionysus
And get drunk on wine and spices,
The Christians call them "vices,"
But they're good enough for me.

We had better worship Neptune,
We had better worship Neptune,
If we don't we'll all be wet soon,
And that's wet enough for me!

We will all bow down to Venus,
As we dance upon Mt. Zenos,
We will worship with our....voice,
And that's good enough for me.

To Our Lady of Ephesians,
Who has taps for all secretions,
We'll dance for all the seasons,
Which is good enough for me.

At Troy nobody was mean-a
Than the Great Goddess Athena,
Mopped them up with Ajax clean-a,
And that's good enough for me.

Now the candles are a-gleaming
And the Cauldron is a-steaming
And the Full Moon is a-beaming
It's good enough for me!

Come and join our celebration
Pour the Gods a libation
Ah--you don't need initiation
And that's good enough for me!

Let's all hug our Earthy Mother
There is nothin' that I'd druther
She's better then any other
And She's good enough for me!

Let us all join with the Dryads,
Let us all join with the Dryads,
Trees may not be quite the Triad,
But they're good enough for me.

Let's dance with the Bacchantes,
For they're not your maiden Aunties,
And they don't wear underpanties,
But they're wild enough for me.

You can dance and wave the thyrsos
And sing lots of rowdy verses--
Till the neighbors holler curses,
And that's good enough for me!

When the Wild Hunt fills the evening,
With a howling and a screaming,
Diana's eyes are a gleaming,
And that's where I wanna be.

We will sing a verse for Eris
(Golden apples for the fairest!)
Though she sometimes likes to scare us,
But she's good enough for me.

Let us sing to old Discordia,
Cause it's sure she's never bored ya,
And if she's good enough for ya,
Then she's good enough for me.

I asked questions of the Sybil,
And she gave me back a riddle,
And she left me in a muddle,
But that's good enough for me.

Let us worhip like the Druids
Running naked thought the woo-ods
Drinking mead and whiskey fluids!
It's good enough for me.

When we all bowed down to Nuit,
There was really nothin' to it,
(Alex Sanders made me do it...)
But that's good enough for me.

Let us not forget ol' Isis,
She will help you thru your crisis,
'N make your magic glow brightest,
And that's good enough for me.

Bumper stickers of all sizes,
At quite reasonable prices,
They say, "'Ankh' if you love Isis,"
And that's good enough for me.

We will worship feline Bast,
Though we know she's sort of fast,
Pass the 'nip and raise the glass,
She's sure good enough for me.

We will have a mighty Party
In the honor of Astarte,
Grab your chiton - don't be tardy,
'Cause she's good enough for me.

We will go and worship Baal,
For he is the Lord of All,
In the fields and in the hall,
He is good enough for me.

We will hang out with Anansi,
He's the spider God we fancy--
Some folks call 'em Aunt Nancy,
But he's good enough for me!

If you're really into dancing,
And you wanna try some trancing,
Then the Voodoo gods are prancing,
And that's good enough for me.

Was a time, so I've heard tell-a,
Fine and promising young fella,
Gave his all to serve Cybele,
But that's damn well not for me!

There are some that call it folly
When we worship Mother Kali.
She may not be very jolly,
But she's good enough for me.

We will sing a verse for Loki,
He's the old Norse god of Chaos,
Which is why this verse don't rhyme or scan or nothin'
But it's good enough for me...

We'll sing a verse for Thor,
In bed, he's not a bore,
That hammer isn't all he's famous for,
So he's good enough for me.

If you wanna worship Woden
You don't need a tie or coat on
You just and slap a little woad on
So it's good enough for me!

I hear Valkyries a-comin'
In the air their song is comin'
They forgot the words! They're hummin'!
But they're good enough for me!

When the Unseelie are riding
And the Trollwives are striding
I'm sure going into hidin'
'Cause that time is not for me!

If you want to dance with fhe Faerie
Set them out a little dairy,
Their music is most merry,
And it's good enough for me!

Let us join the Earth Spirits,
Let us join the Earth Spirits,
By the stones they will heal us,
And its good enough for me.

We will party with the Sidhe
For a hundred years or three,
And get duct-taped to a tree,
And that's good enough for me.

There's this Druid who was Jewish
Scholarly and -sometimes- foolish
"Isaac you don't -look- Dru-ish!"
"Let's define our terms," says he!

Well old Gerald got it goin',
Old Gerald got it goin',
Now a Wiccan wind is blowin',
And that's good enough for me.

Dancing at the Wiching Hour,
By Bud and Leaf and Flower,
Wiccans raise a Cone of Power.
And that's where I want to be!

We will worship Frey and Freya,
Yao and Vesta, Lugh and Gaia,
Any more? Perun! and Maia!
That's still not enough for me!

Oh my neighbor is a Buddhist,
And my roommate is Voodooist,
Me, I'm just a nudist,
But that's good enough for me.

Real Old Time Religion in "The Goddess Aradia and Other Subjects"
Real OTR collected by W.J. Bethancourt III
"Yet Another Wicca..." home page