Tom Dooley (Lied)
"Tom Dooley" is an old North Carolina folk song based on the 1866 murder of a local girl named Laura Foster in Wilkes County. Impoverished Confederate veteran Tom Dula, her sometime lover, was convicted of the crime and hanged in 1868. The lyrics to the song were written by a local poet, Thomas C. Land, shortly after the hanging. Ninety years later, a hit recording made the song world famous.
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 that Dula admitted guilt to protect her. Though Dula's trial was widely publicized for its time, and former governor Zebulon Vance 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. Some variant lyrics of the song portray Grayson in that light. Col. James Grayson was actually a Tennessee politician who had hired Dula on his farm when the young man fled North Carolina under suspicion and was using a false name. Grayson did help capture Dula and return him to North Carolina, but otherwise played no role in the case.
Dula was tried in Statesville, because it was believed he could not get a fair trial in Wilkes county. He was given a new trial on appeal but he was again convicted, and he was hanged on May 1, 1868. His alleged accomplice, Jack Keaton, was set free.
Dula's last name was pronounced "Dooley," leading to some confusion in spelling over the years. (The pronunciation of a final "a" like "y" is an old feature in Appalachian speech, as in the term "Grand Ole Opry").
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.
In addition, the song and the legend were parodied by a one-record novelty act called Waldo, Dudley and Dora, whose 45-rpm Grayson Goofed was issued as Awful Records release #PU-1. The record is a direct parody of the 1958 Kingston Trio version. In it, verses sung to the Tom Dooley melody alternate with mini-skits (Dooley's fateful encounter with Laura Foster, Grayson alerting the sheriff of Dooley's deed, Dooley's trial), "John" Grayson's public reputation erodes from "a fine man" to "a stoolie" (i.e., stool pigeon) to "a gink" (defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as "A man, especially one regarded as foolish or contemptible"). The record was backed with another novelty track called "The Other Side."
Lyrics
- Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
- Hang down your head and cry
- Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
- Poor boy you're bound to die.
- You left her by the roadside
- Where you begged to be excused
- You left her by the roadside
- Then you hid her clothes and shoes
- Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
- Hang down your head and cry
- Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
- Poor boy you're bound to die.
- You took her on the hillside
- For to make her your wife
- You met her on the mountain
- And stabbed her with your knife
- You dug the grave four feet long
- And you dug it three feet deep;
- You rolled the cold clay over her
- And tromped it with your feet.
- Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
- Hang down your head and cry
- Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
- Poor boy you're bound to die.
- "Trouble, oh it's trouble
- A-rollin' through my breast;
- As long as I'm a-livin', boys,
- They ain't a-gonna let me rest.
- I know they're gonna hang me,
- Tomorrow I'll be dead,
- Though I never even harmed a hair
- On poor little Laurie's head".
- Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
- Hang down your head and cry
- Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
- Poor boy you're bound to die.
- "In this world and one more
- Then reckon where I'll be;
- If is wasn't for Sheriff Grayson,
- I'd be in Tennessee.
- You can take down my old violin
- And play it all you please.
- For at this time tomorrow, boys,
- It'll be of no use to me".
- Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
- Hang down your head and cry
- Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
- Poor boy you're bound to die.
- "At this time tomorrow
- Where do you reckon I'll be?
- Away down yonder in the holler
- Hangin' on a white oak tree.
- Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
- Hang down your head and cry
- Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
- Poor boy you're bound to die.
Vorlage:Start box Vorlage:Succession box
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.