"In the Pines" Performance (acapella)
Added 2020-07-16 12:36:06 +0000 UTCf#DF#AD (Reuben tuning). I first learned to sing "In the Pines" (Where Did You Sleep Last Night) from a 1930s Library of Congress recording of Huddie William Ledbetter (better known as LEADBELLY). Later, when I was 14 or 15, I learned to play it on the banjo from George Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky. Most of my lyrics come from Gibson.
If I had wings like Noah's dove
I would fly to my true love's home,
I'd walk the porch from post to post
Hang down my head and mourn! (Gibson)
If I'd a'listened to what Mamma said
I would not a'been here today,
I would not a'been in this old jailhouse
Just rotting my sweet life away! (Gibson)
The fastest train I ever saw
Carried away that girl of mine,
And the longest train I ever saw
Ran down that Brown Cove line! (Gibson)
The day I left my mother's house
Was the day I left my home,
And the day you turned your back on me
Was the day you lost a friend!
Black girl black girl don't lie to me
Tell me where did you stay last night?
In the longleaf pine where the sun never shines
Babe I shivered when the cold wind blew! (Leadbelly)
Comments
Wow. Love it.
Connie and Al Kogler
2020-07-25 14:37:53 +0000 UTCThat's interesting, Doug. I'd often wondered about origins of those sea shanty work songs. The call-and-response structure always struck me as African, and I always assumed white sailors must've picked that up from black sailors, slaves, or laborers who loaded/unloaded the ships.
Clifton Hicks
2020-07-20 22:09:12 +0000 UTCI think work songs are really interesting especially sea shanties, which I used to think were a British thing but on reading about them it turns out a lot of them are African American or Caribbean in origin.
Doug Potts
2020-07-20 21:40:34 +0000 UTCIt's not always easy to sing and hoe, but it sure is fun. Thank you, Deborah.
Clifton Hicks
2020-07-18 01:09:42 +0000 UTCGreat rendition! I frequently listen to the Leadbelly version on YouTube. I'm equally impressed you can sing while doing hard labor.
DEBORAH K BOZEK
2020-07-18 00:03:36 +0000 UTCGreat stuff
Dirty Bacon
2020-07-17 07:15:55 +0000 UTCGreat voice!
John Herd
2020-07-16 21:29:08 +0000 UTCYou've an old soul sometimes Clif
Mark D Van Dyke
2020-07-16 21:06:07 +0000 UTC....but no match for mr hicks. ha.
s_ou_b
2020-07-16 20:50:17 +0000 UTCthere's a fellow named Bennett Konesni who teaches old work songs, really cool stuff. he has a website folks here might be interested in: worksongs.org
s_ou_b
2020-07-16 20:49:21 +0000 UTCPerfect
Sam Shelley
2020-07-16 18:44:18 +0000 UTCGreat job cliff ... nice clean strong voice you got there... mix that in with hard work and it moves even closer to the tradition
Jett Quezada
2020-07-16 17:18:16 +0000 UTC
