Rise Up Singing: Tom Dooley

Collected, adapted and arranged by Frank Warner, John A. Lomax and Alan Lomax
Rise Up Singing chapter: Hard Times and Blues, p.104
G - - D7 / - - D7C G

Listen to Rob Getzschman's version of this here: http://robgetzschman.com/music/eleven-coming-back
"Buck and a Quarter" is another great one on there. An original, too.

The song is based on the execution of Tom Dula in North Carolina, 1868, for the murder of Laura Foster. Read about it:
http://www.explorewilkes.com/TomDula.htm
http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/nc/ncsites/dula.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Dula

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

I met her on the mountain, and there I took her life
I met her on the mountain and I stabbed her with my knife

Hand me down my banjo, I'll pick it on my knee
By this time tomorrow it'll be no use to me

By this time tomorrow, reckon where I'll be
If it hadn't-a been for Grayson I'd-a been in Tennessee
(If it weren't for sheriff Grayson, I'd have been in Tennessee)

By this time tomorrow, reckon where I'll be
Down in some lonesome valley, hanging from a white oak tree

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Song
• singalong
• songbook
• Rise Up Singing
• chords
• lyrics
• easy guitar
• tune
• melody
• blues
• folk
• music
• traditional
• Appalachian
• appalachia
• murder
• ballad
• US
• USA
• American
• crime
• execution
• Tom Dula
• North Carolina

[2142543]

Hi: I enjoyed your version but I also love the Kingston Trio's version. They had such a huge influence on the acoustic folk revival of the 50's and 60's. What a wonderful era of music it was. Thank God for the Kingston Trio....Dan

[matthewvaughan]

Oh, I absolutely agree. Far be it from me to put down the Kingston Trio, really. I only can't help but admit that I don't dig their rendition of this particular song much. The negativity goes no further than that. Thanks for watching and for the comment :)

[cryingsoftly]

my personal favortie versions (a tie) the Doc Watson version and the Greg Brown/Bill Morissey Version, mainly because they give respect to Dula.

[matthewvaughan]

It's been a while and I'm sorry, but thanks for the comment. I love Doc Watson's version (it was the first I heard) and I haven't heard the Brown/Morissey one, so I'll have to look it up. Thanks for the pointer.

[EffingAlbertChung]

Haha, I hate that pause too. Good job. : )

[matthewvaughan]

Thanks. Glad to know I'm not the only one.

[CompVid101]

@matthewvaughan - and BTW - you're doing the slightly syncopated KT rhythm, not the straight 4/4 Appalachian guitar rhythm. Doc Watson has the most traditional version - no syncopation there. Nice singing nonetheless.

[CompVid101]

It's a matter of taste, of course. But let's have the facts straight. The KT did NOT invent that little break. It was inserted into the song by traditionalist folkie Roger Sprung, a member of the Folksay Trio that recorded a version of the song in 1953. The Folksays did it faster - but with that little hitch. The KT took the hitch from Sprung and the lyric from Lomax's "Folksong USA." There is nothing original in their arrangement except the speed and the high chorus sung by Nick Reynolds.

[paparazzi1979]

heheee your funny,if you like it.. good,good on you =D haha your funny.. nice vid too btw sounds great!

[marcoacca]

Bravo!