The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #1439 Message #2829277
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
03-Feb-10 - 06:00 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: In the Pines (Joan Baez/Leadbelly?)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: In the Pines (Joan Baez/Leadbelly?)
"Black Girl" seems to be the earliest version collected; 1917 by Sharp; only one verse:
Black Girl, black girl, don't lie to me
Where did you stay last night?
"I stayed in the pines where the sun never shines,
And shivered when the cold wind blows."
According to Wikipedia, the "longest train" verses were added and recorded in 1925. In a 1970 thesis, some 160 permutations of the song appear.