SUNDAY UNDER COVERS...............History In Song. Hang Down Your Head Tom Dula
....In the Spring of 1865, Pvt Tom Dula, newly released from a union prisoner of war camp, returned to his home in the Wilkesboro area of North Carolina. He soon re-acquainted himself to Ann Melton...with whom he'd been involved before the war..(at age fifteen). If local lore can be believed he often spent the night in her bed as her husband James slept alone a few feet away. Randy old Pvt Dula was also involved with a certain Pauline Foster, a cousin of Ann's who came to work as a maid. (rumor has it that the trysts were arrainged & encouraged by Ann during her recuperation from an unnamed malady.) It is said that Pauline passed along a case of syphilis to poor old randy Tom Dula...who passed it on to Ann......and Laura Foster, another cousin with whom Tom was involved. Beyond that it gets even murkier......What we know is that on May 25, 1866, Laura Foster stole her father's horse, and she told a passing neighbor that she was eloping to Tennessee. Except that she had ridden five miles east to Reedy Branch, and thus away from Tennessee. She was never seen again. Her father said he didn't care if he ever saw Laura again, but he wanted his horse back........Three months later the state issued an arrest warrant for Tom Dula.....He was captured by at the Tennessee state line by local lawman James Grayson.
..........So here Bill Morrissey & Greg Brown perform an older version of the song, one popular in Virginia & Kentucky & western North Carolina at the turn of the last century. Roving troubadours often played local fairs & festivals, even church picnics, singing an assortment of ballads, pop tunes of the day, bawdy songs & blues. Many a local tale became par of the national conciuosness in such a way.
.........The song became wildly popular in the late fifties & early sixties folk-pop-boom.
.........and of course there's this........
Locating MOG account...
Comments (10)
Ah - Bill Morrissey - a New Hampshire-ite (is that what they call 'em New Englanders?) if I'm not mistaken. Either way, nice selections!
yes, he's based in N.H. A delightful story-teller.
no mistakin' Bill voice, thats for sure :-)
nice stuff DM
Sounds like the stuff of movies. I picture your den as walls of books and records. Lots of history reads and dusty old artifacts worth thousands of dollars.
Great story!
Hell Capn...I AM a dusty old artifact.....worth a book of S&H green stamps.
Compelling performance by Morrissey and Brown. Likewise the story. Picture of Brown & Morrissey:
Here is a rather different take on the song, including some of the old lyrics, from 1979, by Cornel Campbell - "Bandulu", released on a 12" with Ranking Dread's "Hard Times" following it.
Incidentally, I had no idea of the back story here. In the ballads I note that Tom Dula's a murderer, which makes the backstory not dissimilar to "Knoxville Girl", although from a different viewpoint - thanks for this history lesson
....All i ever knew of the song was that it was supposed to be a true story. In researching it I became fascinated with the story. It really is compelling
I'm not sure, but I think that, as a young child, the Kingston Trio's "Tom Dooley," a massive hit single that mainstreamed folk music in the early '60s, was one of the first songs that I learned by heart. Which may explain a lot about the grown-up Knife...