Tom Dooley (Lied)
Tom Dooley is an old North Carolina folk song based on a historical event. Laura Foster was murdered in 1866 in Wilkes County. Impoverished Confederate veteran Tom Dula, her sometime lover, was convicted of the crime and hanged in 1868. His last name was pronounced "Dooley," leading to some confusion in spelling over the years. (The pronunciation of "a" like "y" is an old feature in Appalachian speech. Note the term "Grand Ole Opry.") Dula's lover Annie Melton, whose comments led to the discovery of the body, was acquitted in a separate trial based on his word. Many believed she was the real killer and he was protecting her. Though Dula's trial was widely publicized for its time, and a former governor represented him pro bono, fanciful legends soon sprang up based on interpretations of the song. The "Grayson" in the song has sometimes been characterized as a romantic rival of Dula's or a vengeful sheriff who captured him and presided over his hanging. Col. James Grayson was actually a Tennessee politician who had employed Dula on his farm when the young man left North Carolina under suspicion. Grayson did help capture Dula and return him to North Carolina, but otherwise played no role in the case. The doleful ballad was probably first sung shortly after the execution and is still commonly sung in North Carolina. The song was selected as one of the Songs of the Century.
Several notable recordings have been made:
- Grayson and Whitter, Victor, 1929. The first recorded version by a group well-known at the time.
- Frank Warner, Elektra, 1952. Warner, a folklorist, unaware of the 1929 recording, in 1940 took down the song from Frank Proffitt and passed it to Alan Lomax who published it in Folk Song: USA.
- The Kingston Trio, Capitol, 1958. This recording sold in excess of six million copies and is often credited with starting the "Folk Boom" of the late 1950s and 1960s. It only had three verses (and the chorus four times).
- Doc Watson, Vanguard Records, 1964. This version considerably extended the scope of the song. It is the Doc Watson lyrics given below.
References
Lomax, Alan, Editor, (1947). Folk Song: U.S.A. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce. (Also printed under the title Best Loved American Folk Songs).
West, John Foster (1993). "Lift Up Your Head, Tom Dooley" Asheboro, N.C., Down Home Press.