Added: 4 years ago
From: AlanPaladin
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  • Outstanding version no doubt !

    Also Joan Baez's version - the studio single is also outstanding !

  • what wrong with these people Lefty is the only only one that can sing this song thats all their is to it . It's great love it they must be hard of hearing wouldn't you say i've seen him several times years ago he was just great great!!!!

  • What a great song and a fantastic country music artist. I will post one of my favorites, thanks for sharing.

  • Nobody can sing this song like Lefty what a sound!!!!!!!

  • @bobbycharles80 I agree a million percent. Lefty gives it a haunting kind out sound to it I dont hear in other verions

  • @rockinrobintweets His voice doesn't sound that sad. The effects of the video give it an echo, sure, but his voice itself isn't haunting. Johnny Cash's version is my favourite, his voice is deeper and sounds sadder to me.

  • @Arrow370 I like and enjoy Johnny Cash, wonderful singer but to me this is Lefty s song, and I say this with all the respect in rthe world to John R Cash, and ALL talented singers. I think we alll have our favorites and that s as it should be. Mine is Lefty but I do enjoy a dang talented ssinger Johnny Cash is one. Actually I place Buddy Holly over ALL of them HE melts me

  • @rockinrobintweets Lefty does a wonderful job of singing this song and was the first to record it...however, he didn't write it.

  • @Arrow370 I see what you're saying but even though he doesn't sound obviously sad, he gives it subtle expressiveness which still sounds haunting to me.

  • i wonder how many guys did something like this.?

  • This is music at its finest. Cannot be replaced or improved upon. RIP Lefty

  • AWESOME - brings back great memories!!

  • Great tune. Peter Hayes of BRMC also did a terrific cover.

  • Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard's version will make you cry out like a hound dog in pain.

  • this is a lot better then johnny

  • i sure do miss country music like alan jackson and george straights song title muder on music row theirs been an awful murder down on music row. R.I.P COUNTRY MUSIC you are gone but not forgotten!

  • Lordy, I fell in love with this song when it first came out. Some other versions are good but this is the best!

  • 16 people dont like this song think some people need to get a life and not surf you tube alld ay

  • i love the haunting sound of this song

  • For a pleasant suprise listen to the rendition of the video response by Josh Bevins. He is super nice.I predict one day, he will be a super star.

  • I really like going down memory lane with these songs thank u!!!

  • Good gosh tis is absolutely bad ass...thank you Lefty!

  • my favorite version

  • Super.  Hard to say this, but it may just be better than Johnny's... Sorry Johnny!

  • I've listened to tons of versions of this song (including Cash) and I gotta say this is my favorite. The feeling in Frizzel's voice and guitar playing are perfect for this song imo.

  • His brother david did this with Gene watson, a truly geat cover.

  • When Lefty died, I seem to recall it was said that he took sick after a concert and died of pnuemonia. In checking now, I find he died of a massive stroke and that he was a heavy drinker. Any comments?  He and his music are missed!

  • True Country/Honky Tonk...best version of this song...no offense to anyone. I listen to this over and over...sad song, but true classic! I am lucky to have the record! 42342bet

  • This is a song that I heard before I could walk, in the impromptu family gathering bluegrass jams at my uncle's house. This song is tradition -- and it is everything fantastic about bluegrass/country. Having grown up in NE TN/SW VA, this song is the truth... This is the life of our grandfathers, great grandfathers, and all the men and women who lived in remote hollers, houses packed with 12 or 14 kids, dirt floors, big dreams, hearts both light and heavy, and callused hands..

  • This is the first time I have heard Lefty Frizzell's version of The Long Black Veil. He leaves the others for DEAD. I always thought Johnny Cash had the best version, but I am now converted. Now searching for more of his songs.

  • like no other...........  song of songs

  • Lefty's voice was made of silk.

  • I wish I could find the 14 morons that clicked "dislike". Lefty's voice was like no other. Great stuff!

  • Lefty Frizzell's voice was pure country. He was one of the true greats. 

  • Well I love this song for the story. Personally I feel Lefty started this song and Mike Ness finished it. Mike's cover is awesome, it's here on youtube so take a listen.

  • love this song his heart is so in it

  • Made my ballsack shrivel. And it ain't cold here.

  • Some songs are so good any version is good. This "country" one, spare and intimate, is one of the good ones, fer sure. There are many more and curiosity should push music lovers to explore, learn and grow in appreciation. Much interesting stuff by all sorts and you'll surprise yourself liking new music. THANX!

  • Lefty sings this song the best!

  • Lefty Frizzell is one of my favorite country singers. He is definitely a great singer with a great voice.

  • Lefty sings it best

    

  • Lefty Frizzell: What God had in mind when He created Country Music.

  • Lefty sounds better singing this then Johnny Cash

  • I grew up on The Band's version of this song, but there's something special about the artist performing his own song.

  • I'm related to him :)

  • This has been one of my favorites since I was a kid, even when I was rockin' in the 70's- I'll always take time to listen to this one.

  • lefty, one of the best. Thanks for posting this Mesillamaan

  • Exceptional. The production with the slight echo is haunting.

  • @consanna I agree 100%. That's what I love about the song, how haunting it is because of the echo. I want to write songs and find someone who can sing them (I can't) and they would have this sound to them.

  • Heavens to Murgatroid! THANKS for posting this! One of the truly classic songs of country music...sung by one of the ICONS of that genre! I recently browsed thru a new bio of Lefty, written by his brother David. What a life! Truly a unique talent...he left us MUCH too soon.

  • Certainly one of all time favorites ... for years. May the 'classics' live forever! Lefty will always be in my heart.

  • Macsnafu, I'm with you on your CSI comment. This song has always bugged me...how come this (fictitious) female person gets immortalized in song for allowing her boyfriend to hang? Beautiful song or not, she deserves to be eaten by (fictitious) zombies.

  • anyone that can't feel this song in their bones is already DEAD

  • Thank you Lefty,

  • songs like this are sacred and should never be sung by some young upstart but only by seasoned artists. most of the finest artists are no longer with us.

  • My daddy's favorite song, I love you, Clyde. RIP L.D. Walker, we won that tournamnet for you. Pie and Bud said they love you.

  • It should be illegal for anybody else to sing this song.

  • @johnrambo55555 Except Johnny Cash. I love his version.

  • @horrorfan13666 I aint heard his version yet but I'll check it out.

  • No one could sing em like Lefty he was one of kind. What a great voice.

  • heres to lefty,what a song this is.

  • i agreeonly lefty can sing this song like no other it belongs to him

  • one of the best it will be around forever I play my giitar and sing this song and it puts me in a world of my own. a country fan debbie mae

  • I saw him in 1959 in Des Moines Iowa and he was great. as this song is.

  • i saw lefty in el paso in1960 when i was in the army at fort bliss tx tlc thanks

  • It is too bad Lefty was taken from us so soon, he makes me get goosebumps with this song! I love his voice, where have all the good country singers went too! Now they all sound like pop to me!

  • @Camelwoman13 I completly agree with you

  • Now, if a CSI team had been working the case, there wouldn't be such an injustice as this--they'd have found the real killer, and they probably would have found out that the narrator had been with his best friend's wife, to boot! ;-)

  • Yes i agree! however, i would also submit "an old flame (can't hold a candle to you)", any version,or "streets of laredo"., or, angel(flying too close....).

  • check out Rosanne Cash version from The List!

  • Dozens of really good singers have recorded this song over the years but no one has come close to Lefty's original version. I am very much an amature singer but I have always wanted to record this song. Finally got my chance. Stop by my channel and check it out sometime.

  • One of my all-time favorites...also...pretty sure Bieber isn't worth the sweat off Lefty's sack...

  • @mesillamaan beiber can lick lefty's tate

  • @mesillamaan Bieber is a demon sent from hell to ruin the youth, if Hank Sr. or Lefty could see what the world has come to......hell, it only made johnny cash blind and almost deaf before he died

  • I used to listen to this record when I was in Iceland back in 1957. Very sad and lonely song but great music.

  • Wonderful Song ! Love it ! A very old favourite ! This is the best version by far ! Great Video ! Thank you so much Christie1947 for sending ! Many thanks to AlanPaladin for this excellent upload !

  • Haunting and so real, Joan Baez also does this its a toss up who can bring more chills .

  • u can not compare a 50 year old classic like this to any j. beiber shit this song will still be played in another 50 years but beiber wont even be a memory in 10 years

  • 55 must be to old to know who Justin is, and might be a good thing not to know,or care.............

  • 55 must be to old to who Justin is!!!!

  • lets see if this song can get more views than justin bieber!!!

  • I am sorry to say I don't know who Lefty was but I can tell you this that this song "Lng Black Veil" is one of the greatest story songs ever written!!!!!!!!

  • I had never heard of this man, and my Grandma told me one day that Lefty was my Grandpa's cousin. I can remember my Grandpa talking about him when I was a kid, but I never really connected.

  • John Anderson does the best at sounding like Lefty

  • @Duke4Reuti John Anderson used the wrong music for this song

  • great old voice

  • Great version of a great song.Try it by Ralph Stanley on u tube.

  • Great version ... I have heard soooo many ...

    Johnny Cash . I love Joan Baez's version ...

    This is excellent !

  • Nobody did that song better.The most haunting meldoy I know.

  • @ericbeeman1

    Another great haunting style classic is ' The Rubber Room ' by Porter Wagoner 1972

  • When 4 Star Productions was on B&W TV, in the 60's there was a film starring Dick Powell, called The Ballad Of Dan Case. This was the first time I heard Long Black Veil.

  • David Gresham, Tony Rice, and Jerry Garcia do a great version of this song also.

  • Good version!

  • timeless. hauting. tragic and so beautiful.

  • One of the most haunting melodies...and voices ever. Perfect combination. If anyone knows where I could find a background track for this song I would appreciate the info. I would like to attempt this song myself.

  • Great song - Only Lefty can deliver it so well

  • Comment removed

  • Surely the greatest country singer ever!

  • Used to listen to this song over and over when I was in the Air Force. Stil gives me chills. Lefty was a great singer.

  • The BEST song ever!!!!

  • Nice pics. Love lefty! Thank you.

  • Don Helms plays the back-up steel on this recording. He sounds great and really knew how to work with a singer's voice. Just like he did when he became famous by helping to create the Hank Williams style.

  • Always one of my favorite country songs. It is so chilling. I could always picture a beautiful woman walking alone, along a ridge with her veil and long dress blowing in the wind. I always thought it would make a great movie.

  • another song I once heard in Mrs. Brigman's study hall class 8th grade first semester 1969-70. Precious memories!

  • guess only 8 carry underwood fans saw this

  • Don Helms on steel guitar

  • No disrespect to other artists - but this is simply the greatest country song ever sang. The voice and guitar lifts you out of your skin!!!. Lefty could make stones weep!!!

  • No disrespect to any of the artists, especially Lefty Frizzell, Johnny Cash and John Anderson and do not forget Bruce Springsteen, buy NOBODY sings this as well as David Allan Coe. He puts chills up your spine and tears in your heart with this song..

  • @greekgrl95 Coe does a great cover, for sure. But, come on... The Band. Rick Danko..... it can't be topped.

  • heres to all my buds in mw and fb... Cheers!

  • 8 people have no taste in music

  • this is to you mom

  • Would anyone do this for true love? I'd like to think so....

  • Gillian welch version was Painful to listen to... voices are way too whiney... lefty is smooth and easy on the ear. JMHO :) but like beauty is in the eye of the beholder.. i guess music's beauty is in the ear of the listener ;)

    Thanks for posting this.. I grew up on this stuff..

  • @CowgurlBling He (Lefty Frizzell) was the original singer because my grandpa used this song to teach me the guitar, and he told me all about it.

  • @nascar1111 yeh honey I know he was... I was saying that the remake by Gillian sucked ;) although some people evidently liked it. .

  • one of the early best singers. he is almost forgotten but not by his fans

  • good song

  • love lefty Frizzell singing this song one of the greatest.

  • The Band covered this well..I always thought it was their song until I came across this..thanks for the upload

  • I love Lefty these new guys could sure learn a lot from him!!!

  • Thats my 3rd Cousin :) I'M Benjamin Frizzell, Check out my youtube channel going to be continuing the Legacy, with VIR

  • @VictoryIsRumored and yes I lived in Corsicana and Mexia Texas fir 5 years, I didn't know the guy he died before I was born, but yep he's in my family :)

  • The steel guitarist is none other than the great Don Helms (who worked with the Drifting Cowboys).

  • I LISTENED TO THE GILLIAN WELCH VERSION. YOU MUST BE KIDDING.

  • Great great song of sin, reconciliation, and self-sacrifice.

  • This fella looked a lot like me when I was younger!

  • Awesome

  • My Daddy's favorite singer, I love you Loften D. Walker

    R.I.P. Clyde

  • great song by Lefty Frizzell....but I must say I think that Gillian Welch and David Rawlings version is my favorite.

  • too sad

  • gillian welch does the best

  • Used to think J Cash´s version was best---but this is also very good!

  • @LTandds sory the rocks to big now, can you lend me yours, it seems to be big enough for both of us

  • Saginaw, Michigan best gottcha song of all time.

  • Saginaw, Michigan best gottcha song of all time

  • Music with a message that continues to speak long after the words have ceased. Creepy and amazing!

  • i guess i will be the only one to say john anderson does a great version of this.

  • @LTandds, you must have bad ears johnny cash cant sing, try the wolftones there brill at it, lefty does a geat job though.

  • @gibbycelti if you are gonna blaspheme about johnny cash like that you can crawl back under the same rock you came from

  • one of the most memorian songs in my life. i love it

  • moosenstine, Lefty Frizzell had the original recording of this song in 1959. There was another version by Carl Mann in 1960. In 1964 there was a version by Johnny Williams & the Jokers. This recording was #1 in Houston. If you're from there this could be the version you remember.

  • who did write it? I like his way of singing it...but I have yet to hear anyone do it the way Buck Owens did...and I can't find it...lol thanks though for letting me and others know about Lefty...never heard of him...and I am glad I do know of him now.

  • thank you AlanPaladin for posting this.

    when I was very young, I heard this song on an album of different western sings: Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton (can't recall right now the many other singers), and Lefty Frizzel. am so fortunate my parents played many varieties of music in our home, still appreciate the legacy from them. MUSIC!

    Oh, I just now heard the word "moans" on the line that goes:

    "But sometimes at night when the cold wind moans..." vs. blows

    it rhymes better with "bones." 

  • I believe the lyric is "cold wind moans". Great song.

  • this is an interesting, strange song. the first version i heard was by the band; their version and this one i think are the best. one of the few (the only?)songs ive heard in which the narrator is actually dead. ( in that respect i suppose it reminds me of jim thompsons novel "The Killer Inside Me". ) an eerie, haunting tribute to selfless loyalty in love.

  • The Band's version of this is amazing

  • Beautiful!!

  • I heard the song on the radio, around 1959-1963. I've tried to find out who the artist was, but have yet to hear the singer from that time, which the disc jockeys played about every hour to hour and a half. It wasn't Johnny Cash; I don't dislike him, there are a lot of songs he does that are great.I've heard better versions than Johnny Cash's Long Black Veil; This one is better by Lefty Frizzell,but it's still not the one I heard, which was haunting and dramatic,it sounded like he had lived it.

  • @moosenstine it might have been "burl ives"

  • @moosenstine  try "burl ives"

  • This version is great but I like the way Mike Ness does it.

  • @sirwerd5 wtf great tunes

  • @sirwerd5 ROTFLMAO, too funny, trying to shake the tree are you?

  • @sirwerd5 How can you say the childern are better then the grown ups..who do childern learn from if not thier elders / betters.

  • Have to agree with the previous poster ("potatoes"). This, and the one done by Don Walser, are by far the best versions. (and I too love Cash). Some of the other renditions I've heard on YouTube, mainly by half-a**ed wannabes, ought to be burned at the stake.

  • thank u so much for this one I love johnny etc but Lefty is a forgotten hero

  • Hehe this song isn't in my normal genre of interests, but I do like it, it's quite memorable. Thanks for the chords, btw, that should become the youtube standard! Really brilliant.

  • Great song. I remember it so well. Thanx for the chance to hear it again!!!

  • Lefty was a classic.

  • Kermit the frog.

  • everytime i listen i appreciate him more. nobody does it like lefty ,although the version by gene watson and david frizzell comes pretty close

  • This song is a haunting melody. The way Lefty sings it brings chills up and down your spine. Truly a beautiful ballad that time will never tarnish.

  • the best of the best

  • Been singing this one a Looooong time! Love me some Lefty!

  • Great job, Lefty.

  • if cash had a steel guitar in the background it would have been very creepy but Cash's voice alone makes it creepy

  • great singer and song. love it no matter who sings it;but this man made it memorable.

  • Love Cash, but this is my favorite version. The others seem lack the dark creepiness that Lefty's seems to accomplish. The moaning steel guitar in the background, and the tone of his voice make you feel the cool night wind in the trees.....

  • just discovered this song, how I missed it I will never know, but of all the versions I've listened to Lefty's version strikes me the hardest, maybe because it was the first one I heard.

  • Good movie material!:)

  • How have things changed today?The wife would not be ashamed nor would the best friend.